2024 The Hard Road to New York: How it Works

[dave g]

This year, The Hard Road to New York will focus on the WTA.
It will encompass six (6) North American hard-court tournaments leading up to and including The U.S. Open.


Teams

Your team must consist of 12 WTA players from the top 100 women on the WTA tour. You will have 150 credits to spend on your 12-woman team. Your initial team may not be the same as a team that has already been posted, or it will be disqualified. We'll do our best to help monitor this. However, the responsibility of adhering to the requirements of this rule falls solely in the hands of the contest participant.

The current top 100 players, as of July 22, 2024, on the WTA tour are divided into 4 categories. Each player is priced according to his ranking. You must purchase three (3) players from each category.

Categories and Player Pricing:

CATEGORY A: Players 1-15. Price 16-30 credits each.
CATEGORY B: Players 16-40. Price 9-15 credits each.
CATEGORY C: Players 41-70. Price 6-8 credits each.
CATEGORY D: Players 71-100. Price 5 credits each.

Each player on your team will be awarded points depending on how deep she goes in each tournament. The team you choose is supposed to last you the entire contest, and you only get FOUR (4) trades:

TOURNAMENTS:
7/29 - 8/4 DC 500
8/6 -8/12 Toronto 1000
8/13 - 8/19 Cincinnati 100
8/18 - 8/24 Cleveland 250
8/18 - 8/24 Monterrey 500
8/26 - 9/8 US Open


SCORING:
US Open R1: 2, R2: 7, R3: 15, R4: 25, R5: 45, Semis: 70, Finals: 100 , Winner: 200
1000 R1: 2, R2: 7, R3: 15, R4: 25, Semis: 45, Finals: 70, Winner: 100
500 R1: 1, R2: 2, R3: 7, R4: 15, Semis: 25, Finals: 45, Finals: 70
250 R1:1 , R2: 5, R3: 12, Senis: 20, Finals: 30, Winner: 45

TRADES:
If you feel that any player on your team is dead weight (performing poorly), injured, or you just don't want them on your team anymore, you are allowed to trade him for someone else whom you feel is more adequate to fulfill your team's job (help you win, of course. )

You are allowed up to FOUR (4) trades during the six-tournament contest.
Trades should be made during the week BEFORE the tournament starts.
If your trades are not submitted by the tournament's trade deadline, that trade will not go into effect until the following week.
Post your trades in the "Post your trades here" thread.

Remember: YOU MUST ALWAYS HAVE THREE (3) PLAYERS PER CATEGORY ON YOUR TEAM, AND YOU CAN NEVER HAVE SPENT MORE THAN 150 CREDITS.

The responsibility of finding out who will be playing in which events rests solely on your shoulders. The team you have at the start of each tournament is the team you're playing with.

Should your team fall in the nether regions of a TAT lake, so to speak, or if you just want to complain or have a drink to drown your sorrows, feel free to do so in the THRNY Red, White and Blue Lounge.

WILDCARDS:
Instead of choosing a player ranked 71-100 on the Category D list, each team may choose a player ranked lower than 100 as a WILDCARD. However, no team may have more than one WILDCARD at a time.

[dave g]

Players and Prices:

Category A
Rank Cost Name
1 30 SWIATEK, IGA
2 29 GAUFF, COCO
3 28 SABALENKA, ARYNA
4 27 RYBAKINA, ELENA
5 26 PAOLINI, JASMINE
6 25 PEGULA, JESSICA
7 24 ZHENG, QINWEN
8 23 SAKKARI, MARIA
9 22 COLLINS, DANIELLE
10 21 KREJCIKOVA, BARBORA
11 20 OSTAPENKO, JELENA
12 19 KASATKINA, DARIA
13 18 SAMSONOVA, LIUDMILA
14 17 KEYS, MADISON
15 16 NAVARRO, EMMA

Category B
Rank Cost Name
16 15 JABEUR, ONS
17 14 KALINSKAYA, ANNA
18 13 VONDROUSOVA, MARKETA
19 12 KOSTYUK, MARTA
20 11 AZARENKA, VICTORIA
21 10 VEKIC, DONNA
22 10 HADDAD MAIA, BEATRIZ
23 10 SHNAIDER, DIANA
24 10 FERNANDEZ, LEYLAH
25 10 GARCIA, CAROLINE
26 10 YASTREMSKA, DAYANA
27 10 NOSKOVA, LINDA
28 10 ALEXANDROVA, EKATERINA
29 10 MUCHOVA, KAROLINA
30 10 PUTINTSEVA, YULIA
31 9 SVITOLINA, ELINA
32 9 ANDREEVA, MIRRA
33 9 PAVLYUCHENKOVA, ANASTASIA
34 9 BOULTER, KATIE
35 9 MERTENS, ELISE
36 9 WANG, XINYU
37 9 CIRSTEA, SORANA
38 9 SINIAKOVA, KATERINA
39 9 KUDERMETOVA, VERONIKA
40 9 YUAN, YUE

Category C
Rank Cost Name
41 8 POTAPOVA, ANASTASIA
42 8 BOUZKOVA, MARIE
43 8 PLISKOVA, KAROLINA
44 8 BUREL, CLARA
45 8 STEPHENS, SLOANE
46 8 COCCIARETTO, ELISABETTA
47 8 KALININA, ANHELINA
48 8 LINETTE, MAGDA
49 8 TOMOVA, VIKTORIYA
50 8 ZHU, LIN
51 7 DOLEHIDE, CAROLINE
52 7 PARRY, DIANE
53 7 STEARNS, PEYTON
54 7 WANG, XIYU
55 7 SUN, LULU
56 7 KENIN, SOFIA
57 7 FRECH, MAGDALENA
58 7 VOLYNETS, KATIE
59 7 MARIA, TATJANA
60 7 BUCSA, CRISTINA
61 6 CRISTIAN, JAQUELINE
62 6 RUS, ARANTXA
63 6 TAUSON, CLARA
64 6 SIEGEMUND, LAURA
65 6 BADOSA, PAULA
66 6 UCHIJIMA, MOYUKA
67 6 BRONZETTI, LUCIA
68 6 GRACHEVA, VARVARA
69 6 WANG, YAFAN
70 6 SCHMIEDLOVA, ANNA KAROLINA

Category D
Rank Cost Name
71 5 SORRIBES TORMO, SARA
72 5 BLINKOVA, ANNA
73 5 WOZNIACKI, CAROLINE
74 5 TREVISAN, MARTINA
75 5 PERA, BERNARDA
76 5 AVANESYAN, ELINA
77 5 SAVILLE, DARIA
78 5 MINNEN, GREET
79 5 GOLUBIC, VIKTORIJA
80 5 DART, HARRIET
81 5 BOUZAS MANEIRO, JESSICA
82 5 TOWNSEND, TAYLOR
83 5 DODIN, OCEANE
84 5 OSORIO, CAMILA
85 5 PODOROSKA, NADIA
86 5 KRUEGER, ASHLYN
87 5 SHERIF, MAYAR
88 5 TSURENKO, LESIA
89 5 CARLE, MARIA LOURDES
90 5 FRUHVIRTOVA, BRENDA
91 5 ANDREEVA, ERIKA
92 5 KORPATSCH, TAMARA
93 5 RADUCANU, EMMA
94 5 NIEMEIER, JULE
95 5 ERRANI, SARA
96 5 BOGDAN, ANA
97 5 MARTIC, PETRA
98 5 ZARAZUA, RENATA
99 5 BONDAR, ANNA
100 5 HIBINO, NAO

[ashkor87]

Why restrict it to one wild card? I can easily think of two I would want...unless that would be too difficult to track, of course, in which case ...

[dave g]

Mostly, custom. For a long while, wild cards were not allowed. Then we added one wild card. We just haven't gotten around to excepting the idea of two wildcards as a community.

I did allow people to have more than one wildcard once, but that was because I felt sure that only one of the potential wildcards (Serena) were going to be able to earn a noticable amount of points. I was sure that the main result of letting people choose a second wildcard was going to be that the contestants were going to be able to express their fandom by picking a wildcard that wasn't going to earn them any extra points. I did take a little bit of flack for that decision, but I was proved correct in my assumption that they would not add any noticable amount of points.

[ashkor87]

Nowadays there are many former champions making a comeback, all wild cards...more when Kvitova, Bencic etc come back but then they may get protected ranking, I suppose..
Today there is Osaka, Halep, Wozniacki ..

[dave g]

The first tournament starts on Monday, July 29. While the qualifying matches have started at 10:00 a.m. local time, the main draw matches usually don't start until 11:00 a.m. local time. Assuming the 11:00 a.m. local time start, then the team submission deadline on Monday will be 4:00 p.m. GMT, or 11:00 US eastern time. But remember that the matches and the deadline could be one hour earlier.

[patrick]

Washington does not have a third round as the draw is 32. Is the first round worth 2 points now?

[dave g]

Washington does not have a third round as the draw is 32. Is the first round worth 2 points now?

Yes.

[dave g]

The Toronto dates on the WTA website are shown as 8/6 - 8/12, which is Tuesday to Monday. I am having some trouble believing this. LiveScore has the tournament starting tomorrow (Monday). I am believe LiveScore over wtatennis.com. Trades are due before the first match starts, whatever day that happens to be.

[tenedab]

WTA website is correct this time. Because of the Olympics MD matches start Tuesday

[dave g]

WTA website is correct this time. Because of the Olympics MD matches start Tuesday

I went to the Toronto Tournament website, and it looks like it agrees with you.

[dave g]

According to the WTA website, Cincinnati start on Tuesday. Cincinnati is in the US eastern time zone. So, assuming an 11:00 a.m. local time start, the trade deadline is Tuesday, 4:00 p.m. London time, 11:00 a.m. US eastern time, and 8:00 a.m. US pacific time.

Next week, Cleveland starts on Monday, before Cincinnati is finished.
That is probably OK, since probably no one is the semi-finals of a 1000 pt tournament is going to play a 250 pt tournament the week before the major. I will be glad when all of the ripples created by the Olympic schedule have made their way through the tennis tournament calendar.

[dave g]

Remember:

Next week, Cleveland starts on Monday, before Cincinnati is finished.
That is probably OK, since probably no one is the semi-finals of a 1000 pt tournament is going to play a 250 pt tournament the week before the major. I will be glad when all of the ripples created by the Olympic schedule have made their way through the tennis tournament calendar.

[dave g]

The deadline for US Open trades is Monday morning. :snore: (We clearly need a "snore" icon.)

[ponchi101]

The deadline for US Open trades is Monday morning. :snore: (We clearly need a "snore" icon.)

You mean like this: ?