They’re not the players to gush over but they will well and truly make your season. Let’s look at five Fantasy Tennis options from the ATP and WTA that you should strongly consider selecting for your team this year. Most of these men and women won’t necessarily start week one, but by the end of the year, I expect them to be much more expensive than their current price point.
ICYMI: Fantasy Tennis League 2018 price reveals
The Swiss Miss is a former top ten player who is only 20-years-old. After battling injuries for the better part of two years, Bencic is fit and firing on all cylinders; she has won four titles in her last seven tournaments and ascended 244 ranking places to world No.74 in almost three months. Lock her in your team and throw away the keys.
Osaka’s is Japan’s next big thing. At just 20-years-old, the world No.68 wasn’t reliable as a Fantasy Tennis option last year, but she did show significant flashes over pedigreed opponents. What’s more, Osaka played 21 Game Weeks last year, which is extremely valuable in weeks where you just need warm bodies off the bench.
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With 237 points from 18 Game Weeks, Bouchard was a total dud in Fantasy Tennis last year. And if you put a gun to my head, I’d say it won’t get much better. But this is a low risk, high reward pick. The former world No.5 is dirt cheap and still quite young, so stash her on your bench, expect disaster and be pleasantly surprised when she catches fire in a random tournament during the grass court swing.
Priced slightly higher than the others on this list, you may be wondering what’s the point in selecting Vondrousova – you could find a little more cash and select Shapovolov or Bertens. Forget that – this Czech has some serious talent. She went 60-12 on the ITF tour in 2017 and also found time to win a WTA singles title and play in the main draw of the US Open and Roland Garros. Oh yeah, and she’s only 18-years-old.
In Fantasy Tennis you need players that will play the opening rounds of 500s and 1000s and Tsitsipas projects to be that kind of player next year. The Greek started slow but lifted towards the back end of the year, reaching a semifinal in Antwerp and the second-round of the Shanghai Masters.
Thanasi Kokkinakis $3.74m, Sebastian Ofner $2.63m, Jay Clarke $1.45m, Frances Tiafoe $3.72m, Anna Blinkova $1.8m, Ajla Tomljanovic $2.64m, Elias Ymer $1.8m, Alex de Minaur $1.8m
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