Fantasy Tennis champions reveal tips for 2018

The inaugural season of Fantasy Tennis League was a huge success, with over 27,000 teams registered to play. From those teams, two coaches stood out from the rest of the pack. I caught up with both coaches to reflect on the season past and get some tips for the upcoming season.

Matej Laznick, coach of ‘Roger’ and champion of the 2017 Fantasy Tennis season with 14,769.7 points.

Mitchell Fly, coach of ‘The DreamThiem’ and runner-up of the 2017 Fantasy Tennis season with 14,395.9.

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What was your best trade this season?

Matej: Julia Goerges.

Mitchell: Honourable mentions to Thiem when he switched to clay and won Rio in Game Week 5 and getting Halep before her title in Madrid. But I valued most of all getting Sevastova in during the clay season and being the only top team to have her for her title in Mallorca which catapulted me to reaching top spot after the grass season.

What was your worst trade this season?

Matej: Borna Coric.

Mitchell: Cuevas bombing out of the first round of three consecutive clay events takes the cake.

Who was your best captain selection this season?

Matej: Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Caroline Wozniacki.

Mitchell: I’ll go with Nadal in Beijing late in the year, despite the women’s draw being worth more points, it was a lottery of who to pick and the string of upsets justified that call (unfortunately I messed up the rest of my team that week leaving Goffin on the bench when he won Tokyo!!).

Who was the MVP of your team this year and why?

Matej: Rafael Nadal. I had him in the team since Monte Carlo. He was playing solid all year and I obviously had him as captain at clay courts tournaments. I did not have Roger Federer in Indian Wells and Miami and that was a big mistake. If he was in my team at those tournaments, he would have been the MVP.

Mitchell: Roger and Rafa.

If you answered Roger or Rafa to question three, who was another player apart from those two that really helped you?

Matej: Alexander Zverev.

Mitchell: Halep I would say, dominating on clay and being solid post-Wimbledon as well. Honourable mention to Dimitrov scoring big early and late in the year — just wasn’t around long enough to beat Halep for this prize.

What advice would you give to people trying to win it all next year?

Matej: Play female tennis players. Do not be afraid of having them in your team, especially because they score more points (better return, more breaks) than male players. Of course there is a greater risk, but you have to gamble on them having good results and scoring points. Find someone with a low price who is playing a lot of tournaments and then sell him/her for a much better price; it is a good idea especially in the first quarter of the season when your budget is low and you cannot afford a lot of good players.

Mitchell: Learn from your mistakes. I, unfortunately, didn’t and tried to be too clever sometimes, costing me many large scores. I left players on the bench who won titles that week five times and twice with players who lost the final. (More than enough to get me first place). Bring in good, proven players on particular surfaces and make sure you have enough cover for every game week in case players withdraw. Also, don’t have all the best players, you need players who will play often at the lower levels of the tour and who play well at that level. Often the top players aren’t at their best in these tournaments (Federer losing to Donskoy in Dubai early this year), so always look ahead at which players usually do well and are playing regularly between the Grand Slams and Masters/Premier events.

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What strategy did you use to make sure you didn’t run out of trades?

Matej: In your team, you must have players who are playing a lot. For example Benoit Paire, Joao Sousa, Paolo Lorenzi, Kiki Bertens or Albert Ramos Vinolas. It is true that they usually do not get you a lot of points, but they have some good results and then your faith in them is paid off. That is how you can save trades for more important tournaments and also for the top players. You also have to plan your team for the next three or four weeks and when an option appears, try not no trade anyone in the following week.

Mitchell: Early on I just traded in players who were in good form and hence increasing in price, and traded them out once they started to stop increasing. Once I had a buffer in my salary cap, I planned ahead very carefully to save trades for the big scoring events, by ensuring I had cover for three weeks in advance. Back to back Masters 1000/WTA Premier mandatory events are the perfect times to save trades with the best players playing both weeks.

What advice would you give to a newcomer selecting their squad for the first time?

Matej: Points and standings after Australian Open do not really matter. You need to build the team for the next weeks. Do not spend all the money for the best players. Try to find one dark horse for the Australian Open. I recommend at least two clay courts specialists and then you are ready for the clay court season when it starts.

Mitchell: Start planning for the week after the Australian Open. It’s the David Cup so you need enough WTA players who are playing that week, but also consider the next two weeks after that as well as the top players most likely won’t be playing.

Give me one player you are definitely going to have in your team for the start of Australian Open 2018.

Matej: Belinda Bencic.

Mitchell: Will be keeping a close eye on how Djokovic performs in the lead-up, but I’ll be starting del Potro for sure, he is back to his Grand Slam winning best and with a preseason this year, he can go all the way. As for the women, have to have Barty, so much talent and so many big scalps this year, who knows what she will do with the Aussie crowd behind her!