2024 Green Acres: The Strawberries and Cream Lounge

[Oploskoffie]

And so, with the exit of Osaka, the dream of three category E (or wild card) entries winning a tournament this week is over. That leaves us with four Berrettini hopefuls and two Raducanu enthusiasts heading into this weekend. Good luck

[jazzyg]

When I asked the question about wild cards potentially replacing a player from a higher category, I was thinking about Andreescu. I would have loved to pick her, but there was no way I was taking her over Berrettini, who will be one of the three best players on grass in the world in the Wimbledon draw if he is healthy.

[ashkor87]

There should be bonus points for wild card winning a tournament?!

[Oploskoffie]

There should be bonus points for wild card winning a tournament?!

For the regular competitions, I believe we'll be sticking with the scoring "as is" However... There may be an Olympic competition coming up here at TAT2 which has some rather different ways of scoring than we're used to. So, perhaps something to be on the lookout for?

[ponchi101]

Even if she gets a WC, she will be a wasted pick.

I will have my crow sandwich now, if you don't mind.

[Oploskoffie]

Even if she gets a WC, she will be a wasted pick.

I will have my crow sandwich now, if you don't mind.

Maybe we wait until we see how well she fares against higer-ranked oponents like Boulter? Sure, she'll earn all who picked her some handy points this week, but beating Snigur and then getting a walkover, I remain... sceptical for now.

[ponchi101]

No. My point was not about Emma and her tennis. My point was about her and being a pick. And she has already paid off way more than most E picks do during our contests. So, I was irrefutably wrong. She already is/was a very good pick.

[Jeff from TX]

Even if she gets a WC, she will be a wasted pick.

I will have my crow sandwich now, if you don't mind.

Maybe we wait until we see how well she fares against higer-ranked oponents like Boulter? Sure, she'll earn all who picked her some handy points this week, but beating Snigur and then getting a walkover, I remain... sceptical for now.

From the pieces of the match that I saw against Boulter, it was a high quality match that could have gone either way. Both played well.

[Oploskoffie]

From the pieces of the match that I saw against Boulter, it was a high quality match that could have gone either way. Both played well.

That's a real positive for Emma than, nice

Also on the comeback trail, Bianca Andreescu did really well in 's-Hertogenbosch. Once Samsonova found her range during the second set things became difficult, but the fact that it went to 7-5 in the third was, imho, to Andreescu's credit. If she stays in one piece (she had to get her thigh taped, though it didn't seem to hamper her much) she'll only need a couple more tournaments to get back into the top 100.

[jazzyg]

Here are the players in each category that would have earned you the most points in the opening week:

A) DiMinaur for men, Jabeur for women
B) Korda and Samsonova/Boulter
C) Draper and Pliskova
D) Parry
E) Berrettini

Oploskoffie had seven of those nine. Very, very well done.

[ponchi101]

Impressive

[texasniteowl]

hmm. I only had 5 of those. boy do I regret passing on Berrettini and Pliskova!

[Oploskoffie]

This year the WTA 125 Veneto Open was added to possibly add some incentive to picking certain category D or E players. Five of us added Tatjana Maria to our team, myself included, possibly dreaming of her scoring some handy points this week. And then she pulled out....

(here's hoping she'll be just fine for the remaining two weeks after this one)

[jazzyg]

Kudermetova's win against Samsonova was cathartic for me.

I debated which one to pick on my initial team and was leery of both since Kudermetova is having an awful year and Samsonova has been a .500 player on grass aside from her seven-match wins streak to win Berlin in 2021. I decided to take Kudermetova because I have seen her play more often and know her game works well on grass, then had to stomach Samsonova blasting her way to a second grass title while Kudermetova lost in the second round to 138th-ranked qualifier Dalma Galfi.

I doubt Kudermetova will turn around her 0-4 record against Rybakina in the second round (none of those meetings were on grass), but it still felt good to find out she rallied from a set and a break down to beat Samsonova today in Berlin.

[Oploskoffie]

Impressive

Equally impressive this week, perhaps, is that my remaining active selection of players is already down to four. And none of those have ever won a tournament on grass. So, am I feeling optimistic?