FTL Rules (2018)

Welcome to FTL, the world’s premier fantasy tennis league!  The concept is similar to other fantasy sports leagues, where contestants accumulate points based on the individual performance of professional athletes.  In FTL, you select eight tennis players per tournament (four men, four women).  The better your players perform, the more points you receive.  Select different players each tournament, or stay loyal to your crew.  You decide!

Scoring

Here’s how it works: prior to the start of each tournament, I’ll email you the tournament draw (i.e., a list of all players with their seeding and who they are scheduled to compete against).  In response, you email me a list of four men and four women that you think will perform well.  You receive points based on three main criteria: (1) how well each player performs, (2) how high each player is seeded in that tournament, and (3) how much weight you assign to each player.  In addition, a bonus or penalty will be assessed depending on how unique your picks are.

First criterion: Performance

Players who advance to the quarterfinal of a tournament receive 1 point in this category.  Players who advance to the semifinal receive 2 points.  A player who advances to the final receives 3 points.  And the player who wins the tournament receives 4 points.

Second criterion: Seeding

Players also receive points based on their tournament seeding (not to be confused with their current world ranking), with points allocated on the basis of the following schedule:

Seed	Points	Seed	Points	Seed	Points	Seed	Points
1	1.0	5	1.8	9	2.6	13	3.4
2	1.2	6	2.0	10	2.8	14	3.6
3	1.4	7	2.2	11	3.0	15	3.8
4	1.6	8	2.4	12	3.2	16+	4.0

Note: players seeded below 16, or who are unseeded, all receive 4.0 points in this category.

Third criterion: Weight

The third criterion reflects how much weight you assign to each player’s performance.  You will assign four different weights to your four men (4 points, 3 points, 2 points, and 1 point) and four women (4 points, 3 points, 2 points, and 1 point), which will serve as a multiplier for the points accumulated from the other criteria.  Thus, players receiving larger weights will accrue more points for advancing to the quarterfinals (and beyond) than those players receiving smaller weights.

Calculating Score

Your overall score is then determined by multiplying the points each player receives across the three criteria.  For example, if one of your players is seeded 5^th in the tournament (1.8 points) and makes it to the semifinals of that tournament (2 points), and you have given that player the top weight (4 points), that player would give you 14.4 points (1.8 x 2.0 x 4.0).  Suppose also that the player you’ve given the next highest weight to (3 points) advances to the quarterfinals (1 point) and is seeded 14^th (3.6 points).  This player would give you 10.8 points (3.0 x 1.0 x 3.6).  Continuing on, let’s suppose that the player you’ve assigned the next highest weight to (2 points) is seeded 3^rd (1.4 points), but loses prior to the quarterfinals (0 points).  This player gives you 0.0 points (2.0 x 1.4 x 0.0).  And, finally, you give the bottom weight (1 point) to the top seeded player (1.0 points) who ends up winning the tournament (4 points).  This player would give you 4.0 points (1.0 x 1.0 x 4.0).

Bonuses and Penalties

The final component to calculating each player’s score is a multiplier that rewards rare picks and penalizes common ones.  FTLers making exceptionally rare picks receive a Lone Wolf Bonus.  In any given tournament, if you select a player that no one else has selected, whatever points you get from that player will be increased by 50% (i.e., multiplied by 1.50).  By contrast, FTLers making exceptionally common picks receive a Tragedy of the Commons Penalty.  If you select a player that 75% or more FTLers have selected, whatever points you get from this player will be cut by 50% (i.e., multiplied by 0.50).

Total Score

At the end of each tournament, your total score is calculated by summing the final score of all eight of your players (four men and four women).  The FTLer with the most points at the end of each tournament wins that tournament.  The FTLer with the most points accumulated at the end of the year is the FTL Champion!

Tournaments

The FTL calendar features 10 tournaments.  The ATP (men) and WTA (women) compete in all 10 events, including the four majors (Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, and US Open) and six Masters/Premier level events (Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid, Rome, Montreal/Toronto, and Cincinnati).

Note: because the four majors are considered more important, everyone’s total score will be DOUBLED for these events.

Prizes

Prizes will be awarded to (1) the champion of each major tournament, and (2) the FTL Champion (i.e., the FTLer accumulating the most points across all 10 tournaments).  As is now a tradition, this year’s FTL Champion will receive the granddaddy of them all, the FTL Champion’s Plaque, engraved with the champion’s name and his/her team name.  It has become the symbol of excellence in fantasy tennis.

Note: In the case of ties for any of the above prizes, the champion will be determined by a spirited round of odds and evens.

Submissions

Send me your picks for each tournament via email: robclark74bc@gmail.com.  Your submission should simply be a list of your players (running left to right or top to bottom) in the order in which you want them weighted.  Players listed first (appearing at the top or furthest to the left) will be given the highest weight, while players listed last (appearing at the bottom or furthest to the right) will be given the lowest weight.  Please send me your picks for both the men and the women in one email.

Acceptable submission formats:

Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray

Roger Federer

Rafael Nadal

Novak Djokovic

Andy Murray

In both of these examples, Federer would be given a weight of 4, Nadal would be given a weight of 3, Djokovic would be given a weight of 2, and Murray would be given a weight of 1.

Notes: In the event that you provide me with an ambiguous pick (e.g., “Williams”), I will select the highest seeded player available with this name.  Also, in the event that you do not send me your picks before the deadline, I will select the highest seeded players available on your behalf.

Withdrawal Points

If any of your selected players withdraws before they begin their first match of the tournament, you will receive five points for that player (this gets doubled to 10 points for the major events).  Keep in mind, though, that this is five points across the board for any player.  Regardless of the player’s seeding, regardless of where you have them weighted, regardless of whether they are subject to a Lone Wolf bonus or a Tragedy of the Commons penalty, you’ll still receive five points for that player.  Also, keep in mind that, once a player plays the first point of their first match, you are no longer eligible to receive withdrawal points (even if they retire or withdraw at some later point in that match or the tournament).  Finally, please notify me of withdrawals by the quarterfinal mark of each tournament to ensure that you will receive your withdrawal points.