Racket Rally Fantasy Insider: Post-Australian Open

This is the second installment of the new series, which features fantasy tips and rankings for Racket Rally. You can find a more detailed explanation of the series here.

After the first tournament of Racket Rally, there is already a lot to be learned. The profiles that did well were the ones that had 50 shares or close to that of just a few players and those players all did really well. It's an all-or-nothing strategy and if you pick the right players it can really pay off. Those players have already gained a massive lead in the standings that will be very difficult to overcome.

Since all players are given $100,000 and prices are determined by how many points a player was worth in the past 52 weeks, a score of over 100,000 on the whole year is a good one. Everyone in the top 100 has at least 13,000 points and the top score is currently bautistabomb's 24,670. That means the pace is being set very high already. The rest of us have some catch up work to do, but it is a very long season.

Tip of the Week: Now it is time to start thinking long term as far as strategy goes. There are a limited number of court coins and February is not a good time to be using them. They will be much more valuable at around the time of Roland Garros or US Open because there are so many big tournaments leading up to those events.

That means now is a good time to stock up on cheap players, whose value will increase as the year goes on. These are also the type of players who could win MVP, meaning more court coins when those big tournaments come around.

Top Prospects vs. Drop Prospects

Top Prospects

1. Madison Keys, 19, USA
Price per share: $1,390
This is what you call an absolute no-brainer. The Australian Open MVP is going to see her value sky-rocket. However, that doesn't happen until next week, meaning she must be bought now. Even if she never reaches another grand slam semifinals, she will be more than worth her price. She is going to start being seeded higher at tournaments, meaning easier draws and more wins.She is just about to turn 20. Don't expect her to repeat what she did in Melbourne or win another MVP, but this is a very safe buy.

2. Bethanie Mattek Sands, 29, USA
Price per share: $260
The No. 2 player in the MVP rankings and 2015 Australian Open Women's Doubles Champion is making a comeback, yet is barely receiving any protected points. The former world No. 30 need only get into the top 200 to be a valuable buy. She should be able to do much more than that this year. This is another player that must be bought now. Stock up on shares of BMS.

 

3. Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, 31, ESP
Price per share: $1020
Upcoming Tournaments: Zagreb, Rotterdam, Marseille, Dubai
You don't have to look much farther than the upcoming tournaments list to know why Garcia-Lopez is a good buy. The Spaniard also just reached the second week of the Australian Open, taking advantage of a weak draw yes, but he that means he will be seeded most-likely at each of the upcoming tournaments. Get him now before his price goes up next week. The only worry might be that he is playing all hard court events, and when we switch over to the clay he has a ton to defend and his ranking and value will both drop. Never own a player at a price more expensive than what you could rebuy him for.

4. Vasek Pospisil, 24, CAN
Price per share: $785
Upcoming Tournaments: Zagreb, Rotterdam, Marseille, Dubai
The only reason Garcia-Lopez is higher on this list is because he will be seeded in upcoming tournaments. Otherwise, Pospisil is a better long-term buy in every aspect. He was No. 5 on my list before the Australian Open and reached the third round. He has little to defend coming up meaning he will only get more expensive between now and the after Wimbledon. He lost to Garcia-Lopez in Melbourne, but will be playing the exact same four tournaments in February, so they could meet again. It's hard to beat Pospisil twice in a row.

5. Vera Zvonareva, 30, RUS
Price per share: $242
What a steal to get the world No. 2 at that kind of a price even if she doesn't turn out to be even half the player she used to be. This is by no means a "must buy" because her price won't be going up just yet. Perhaps just wait for her to win a couple matches to make sure she can perform again and then buy her that week for the rest of the season. If you don't buy her now, make sure you have someone you can sell at any time to clear room in your roster and bank account for the Russian.

Drop Prospects

1. Novak Djokovic, 27, SRB
Price per share: $11,405
Upcoming Tournaments: Dubai
If you are new to Racket Rally, it may seem bizarre that a player can go from No. 4 top prospects list to No. 1 on my drop prospects list after just one tournament - a tournament where the player reached the semifinals. However, Djokovic is a must drop player right now. He is about to take three weeks off, meaning he is burning a hole in your wallet right now without giving anything in return. Also, when he finally plays Dubai, he is going against a tough field for a maximum of 500 points at a price of over $11k. Then, even if he wins Dubai, his value will start to plummet as he tries to defend titles in Indian Wells, Miami, Rome, and Wimbledon along with a final appearance at Roland Garros. The best he can do is break even, you want players that will exceed previous results and therefore exceed their value.

2. Roger Federer, 33, SUI
Price per share: $9,875
Upcoming Tournaments: Dubai
If you have Federer, there is no possible benefit from keeping him. He isn't playing for the next three weeks, and if you really want him for Dubai, just buy him back. He will be at a lower price in just a couple weeks because of his third round exit at the Australian Open. Still, I wouldn't buy him back for a while anyways. He has a title to defend in Dubai, finalist points at Indian Wells and Monte Carlo, and semifinal points at Miami. If you are a huge Federer fan and must have him, wait to buy him back the week before Madrid. There is nothing to be gained from having Federer between now and then.

3. Rafael Nadal, 28, ESP
Price per share: $6585
Upcoming Tournaments: Rio de Janiero, Buenos Aires
This list is starting to resemble the ATP rankings, but it is hard to understate how necessary it is to sell these guys during February. Nadal won't be playing for two more weeks and his value is about to drop after losing in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open. He value won't stop dropping any time soon either. He has a title to defend in Rio de Janiero, Madrid, and Roland Garros along with finalist points at Rome and Miami. The absolute soonest that it might be a good idea to buy Nadal would be before Monte Carlo, but I would wait until the week before Roland Garros. Buy him just for that tournament and if he does any thing less than win the title sell him again only to buy him right back at a cheaper price for Wimbledon.

4. Ernests Gulbis, 26, LAT
Price per share: $2,455
Upcoming Tournaments: Rotterdam, Marseille, Dubai
This might be a tempting buy since he is going to be seeded at three tournaments in February right before playing Indian Wells and Miami, especially since he is typically very good this time of year and they are all hard court events. However, the Latvian is defending a ton of points with a lingering injury. Do not get lured into this trap. Buy him after Roland Garros when his 720 points come falling off his ranking. Hopefully by then his injury issues will be a thing of the past. At that point he will actually one of the most valuable players available as long as he is just somewhat healthy. 

5. Petra Kvitova, 24, CZE
Price per share: $6,360
The defending Wimbledon Champion is a huge achievement and for fantasy purposes, that means she comes at a huge price. She took an early exit in the Australian Open, which doesn't mean she won't do well in upcoming tournaments, but it does show the risk of spending so much money on a player with such a high-risk game. Sometimes it pays off and she's the Wimbledon champion. Other times she bows out of a tournament before giving you her fantasy value. If you had her in Melbourne, the bright side is that selling her will open a lot of room in the bank to invest in one of the top 5 prospects.

Twitter Questions:
@CarosWrist: I have $5K to spend on an ATP journeyman to bring some points in February. Any suggestions?

I would go after Dusan Lajovic. The Serb has an absolutely packed schedule and he is going to tournaments with some relatively weak fields. They are all on clay until he goes to Acapulco, Indian Wells, and Miami. He performs well on clay and even reached the second week of Roland Garros last year. You are getting him at a great price of just $711. Be sure to drop him before those Roland Garros points come off though. Otherwise you might get stuck overpaying for him.

@LangTennis: Should I go with my head or my heart?

I'm not sure this was a serious question, but I was honored to be tweeted at by one of American tennis' greatest fans. The answer to that is that it depends on if you are betting money on this game. If not, have fun. Otherwise, make sure you read each part of the series so you don't miss an opportunity to buy an under-priced player.

@megandmur: what about @geniebouchard @CoCoVandey

For Genie Bouchard, I would sell her right now if you have her. She didn't defend her quarterfinal appearance last year, meaning her value is about to drop. She might be someone you want to buy right back though for Indian Wells. She has a ton of points to defend this year though between Nurnberg and Wimbledon make sure you don't own her during those events. At the same time though, don't make the mistake of leaving her off your roster before the Roger's Cup. She will likely be No. 1 on my top prospects list that week.

As for Coco Vandeweghe, if you have the money, she might be a good player to buy right now. She performed well in Melbourne, meaning if you don't buy her now her price will go up. However, this is likely just a short-term buy, because you don't  want to see her value drop after Miami. If you get her now and she does do well at Indian Wells, then you have a keeper on your roster. It isn't a buy that is guaranteed to work out, but it is a buy that has the potential to yield some very good results. 

*All photos are from the racketrally.com site and are credited there.

Impact of Federer loss on GOAT debate

The 2015 season saw its first real shock yesterday afternoon in Melbourne, when world No. 46 Andreas Seppi ended a 10-match losing streak to Roger Federer, sending the No. 2 seed packing in just the third round. Prior to the match, Seppi had won just one set in 22 tries against the Swiss, who hadn't lost in the first week of the Australian Open since 2001.

I have Federer ranked No. 1 on my Open Era GOAT list (by a large margin), and the 17-time grand slam champion has earned it. One of the big reasons he is atop my list is that he has spent more time as the world No. 1 than any player in tennis history. However, there are two other active players in the top 10 of my list, and Federer's loss has left the door open for the other two to make up some ground.

The loss particularly benefits current world No. 1 Novak Djokovic, who not only saw his biggest threat for the Australian Open title bow out, but also his biggest threat for the top ranking.

With a mountain of points to defend between Indian Wells and Wimbledon, Djokovic's top ranking is vulnerable in the middle of the summer, and Federer was the prime candidate to take it from the Serb. Djokovic has currently spent 130 weeks as the world No. 1, which is far behind Federer's 302. However, because of Rafael Nadal's injury in 2014, he won't be back in contention for the No. 1 ranking again until after the US Open at the earliest, so the weeks could start piling up for Djokovic.

2015 is the third year in which Djokovic has started as the World No. 1 and each year, the Serb has lost that spot in the rankings at some point. Now, Djokovic has a golden opportunity to maintain the world No. 1 ranking all year, which only five players have ever done. However, Federer is one of those five and he did it three years in a row.

Simply with the lack of challengers for his ranking, Djokovic could easily add another 30 or 40 weeks, which could push him as high as No. 5 on the list, passing John McEnroe. Still, I think Djokovic lost his chance at ever being the GOAT when he lost to Nadal in the 2013 Roland Garros semifinals. That loss cost him likely the title, but also the No. 1 ranking, and forced him into a bit of a slump for the next four majors.

The opportunity is there now for both Nadal and Djokovic to make up some ground, but the loss hardly did anything to hurt Federer's GOAT credentials. Sure, his winning percentage will drop slightly, but that is the only statistical loss he really suffered. Everything else is simply a missed opportunity - missed opportunity to continue his streak of reaching the second week at the Australian Open, missed opportunity to return to No. 1 this summer, and a missed opportunity to end a five-year drought from finals at a hard court major or even his 18th major title.

Federer is already the GOAT though. Anything at this point is just gravy. A lot of his records are already out of reach. But it is still worth noting that whatever glimmer of hope there was for Djokovic or Nadal to ever truly enter the GOAT debate just grew a tiny bit.

Racket Rally Fantasy Insider: Australian Open

This is my first installment of a new series, which will feature fantasy tips and rankings for the new fantasy game Racket Rally created by Jeff Sackmann and Ben Rothenberg. You can find a complete article here explaining what this series will be about, and also includes five crucial tips to having a successful roster.

Tip of the Week: Diversify. The same principle for buying stocks works in buying shares for Racket Rally. There are up to 20 players that can be bought, so it is a good idea to have around 15. You don't want to have all 20, because then you can only add as many players as you drop, which is just one. Still, having a lot is always good. First, it reduces the damage done by one of your players getting upset. In other words, its safer to have many players on your roster, while it is much riskier to have just three players.

The second reason diversifying is a must do is that it dramatically increases your chances of owning an MVP. If you do own the MVP, you get 10 courtcoins, which is a huge advantage. Having more players requires buying cheaper players, which are the ones more likely of being named MVP. Predicting the MVP is nearly impossible, so it's better to cast a large net rather than trying to fish with a sniper.

2015 Australian Open: Top Prospects vs. Drop Prospects
Top Prospects
1. Viktor Troicki, 28, Serbia
Price per share: $564
Upcoming Tournaments: Australian Open

The Serb is taking all of the next month off unless he is looking for a wild card, so this is a buy for the long term. Troicki reached the final of Sydney as a qualifier, benefitting from a weak field. However, he has won 50 matches in the six months of his comeback, playing enough tournaments for him to avoid getting protected points. Because of that his price per share is much lower than his actual value. After this week though, his price per share will go up at least $162, so this is the time to buy shares on the Serb. He has nothing to defend for the next six months, so his price per share will only go up. It is now or never with Serbia's No. 3.

2. Jiri Vesely, 21, Czech Republic
Price per share: $743
Upcoming Tournaments: Australian Open, Zagreb, Sao Paulo, Rio de Janiero
Vesely is a good buy on many levels. He just won the Heineken Open in Auckland, so like Troicki, it is now or never with Vesely. His price per share is only $743, and he is just 21, meaning his value will likely go up as the year goes on. The most points he has to defend all year is just 125, so there won't be another chance to buy him at this price. Troicki and Vesely may be playing each other in the first round of the Australian Open, but buying both of these guys now before their value goes up from what they did this week is a good idea. You would be buying them each for the long term - not just what they do in Melbourne.

3. David Goffin, 24, Belgium
Price per share: $1,669
Upcoming Tournaments: Australian Open, Rotterdam, Marseille, Dubai

After the first two players, there are no obvious players that are "must-buy," but Goffin is a safe reliable buy. All his points are back-loaded for the season, so his value can only go up. Meanwhile, he is busy for the next few months, and could have a great spring on clay. He will be seeded higher than anyone else at his price per share in the following months, so he will get some relatively decent draws, which means consistent results. Money spent on Goffin won't go to waste. Just be sure to sell him immediately after Wimbledon, because his value will begin to drop after that.

4. Novak Djokovic, 27, Serbia
Price per share: $11,405
Upcoming Tournaments: Australian Open, Dubai

In general, I think it is a good rule to never spend much more than $2,000 on a single share, and Djokovic costs over $11k, but everything works out perfectly to buy Djokovic just this once. The world No. 1 is the clear favorite in Melbourne, and the draw only strengthened that. Although the Serb has a tough draw, Murray and Federer (the other two favorites) were drawn together, so Djokovic's chances of winning go up by virtue of theirs going down. On top of that, Djokovic is only defending 360 points in Melbourne, so his value is about to go up. Still, it is a huge risk and immediately after the tournament, Djokovic must be sold. He takes three weeks off after the first slam and also has a ton of points to defend for the next four and a half months. He won't be worth owning again at least until the week before Montreal.

5. Vasek Pospisil, 24, Canada
Price per share: $785
Upcoming Tournaments: Australian Open, Zagreb, Rotterdam, Marseille, Dubai
Buying a player, who is under 27-years old and not at their career-high ranking is always a good idea. In theory, players should reach a new career-high ranking every year until they are 27. Pospisil is healthy, so there is every reason to believe this will be a good year for him, and he comes at a steal of a price. On top of that, he is busy. The Australian Open will be the second of eight consecutive tournaments without a break for the young Canadian. That means non-stop points from his shares as long as he wins once per week. And if he goes on a run, which he is capable of doing, you score big time! He has 90 points to defend in Melbourne, so you might want to wait until after the tournament to buy Pospisil, and try to get him at a better price in a couple weeks.

Drop Prospects
1. Stan Wawrinka: He has 2000 points to defend in Melbourne. Wait a couple weeks and get him at a better price.
2. Rafael Nadal: The No. 3 player in the world will be able to be bought at a much better price following Roland Garros. Wait for that and he will be an absolute steal.
3. Roger Federer: He is only worth buying if he wins the title in Melbourne. That's simply too high of a risk. Federer may never be a good buy in 2015. If you want to win a league easily, join a Fedfan league. His fans are only hurting themselves by buying his shares.
4. Tomas Berdych: Noticing a theme? Another top player, who has a lot to defend at the Australian Open. He could be a good addition right before Monte Carlo, but any sooner than that would be a mistake.
5. Juan Martin del Potro: One of the genius parts of this fantasy game is the addition of protected points. It prevents a player who is very good, but has been injured or suspended from being too valuable. It applies to Del Potro because he hasn't played enough tournaments, but not to Troicki. Therefore, Troicki is a steal and Del Potro is slightly overpriced for someone who still isn't 100%. Wait until the protected points go away for Del Potro, and then he will be right at the top of my list for Top Prospects. It's just a waiting game here.

Racket Rally Fantasy Insider

When I first started following tennis, I thought it could never be a legitimate fantasy sport, because the most important part of fantasy sports can't be done in tennis: the draft. However, I have been proven wrong on that front yet again, as Ben Rothenberg and Jeff Sackmann combined efforts to create a tennis fantasy salary game called Racket Rally that is both beautifully constructed and a tennis fans' dream.

Like every good fantasy game, Racket Rally needs its own "Fantasy Insider," and if there are no objections, I'll appoint myself. What I want to do is create an incomplete fantasy ranking here. Unlike fantasy ranking in baseball or other sports, which essentially serve as a positional ranking, the emphasis on my rankings will be fantasy.

Tennis already has its own rankings, but what I will do with my rankings is look at who has the most value relative to their price. Basically, I will look at how can you maximize the value of those $100,000 that you get to start the game.

The other thing is to cover some basic strategies that will lead to winning your league. The idea is that my fantasy insider posts will be a tool for the games most serious players, particularly those who are betting money in their fantasy leagues (which I highly recommend if you are a serious player).

Later tonight, I will release my first set of rankings to get ready for the Australian Open. For this post, I want to just share five basic strategies that will make any Racket Rally competitor a winner.

1. Don't just choose your favorite players: I'm starting with an obvious one, but it is worth sharing. My first instinct when I saw the game was to buy all the Serbs, but that isn't a legitimate strategy to win a league. Many leagues are built from fans of a similar player, so actually not buying that player has clear advantages. Also, it is not a good idea to only buy players from the WTA or the ATP, but instead have a mix of both. My rankings (at least for now) will only include the ATP, because that is what I know best, but there is certainly a lot of value in players from the WTA.

2. Pay attention to ranking points rewarded for each round: The ATP and WTA do have slight differences in what percentage of the total points go to players in particular rounds. Be aware of those differences and try to exploit them. A third round loss in a grand slam for the WTA is worth 130 points, while it is worth just 90 on the ATP. If you can pay the same for a third round appearance on the WTA as on the ATP, go with the player from the WTA.

3. Don't buy players the week before they defend a lot of points: The goal of the game is to pay as little for a player as possible. If you buy a player right before they go to a tournament where they are the defending champion, you are wasting your money. Wait until the tournament is over and buy them at a potentially much lower price.

4. Pay attention in general to where players have to defend points: It is not a bad idea to sell a player right before they have to defend a title, because you can just buy them right back for a lower price and use the extra money elsewhere. Also, buy in on a player that has little to defend over a long stretch of time. The idea is to buy a player when they are at their cheapest value. If you wait for a player to reach a career-high ranking to buy them, you are spending money that isn't necessary.

5. Pay attention to entry lists: This is a useful practice for good tennis fans in general, but particularly for Racket Rally. One of the rules many will miss if they don't make sure to read them carefully is that you can only sell one players' shares per week. That means that you don't want to have 10 players on your roster that all are taking the next three weeks off from the tour. A lot of players decide to treat February as an offseason for example. Don't get more than a couple of those players right before the mini-offseason or you will get stuck with them.

There will be more tips to come with each of my rankings. I will post the rankings going into the Australian Open later tonight.

Australian Open Draw: Murray and Nadal land on Federer's side

The Australian Open men's singles draw has been released and Andy Murray, Rafael Nadal, and Roger Federer all got lined up on the same side of the draw. Meanwhile, Novak Djokovic and Stan Wawrinka are on the same half of the draw, setting up a potential rematch of last year's quarterfinal, which for many was the match of the year.

Before the draw, the most anticipated part was where Juan Martin del Potro would land and it didn't disappoint, playing another one of the dangerous unseeeded players in Jerzy Janowicz and has a potential second round match with Gael Monfils in the same part of the draw as Milos Raonic and Lleyton Hewitt, which is all in Djokovic's quarter of the draw.

Most exciting potential match ups per round
1st Round: Juan Martin del Potro vs. Jerzy Janowicz
2nd Round: Juan Martin del Potro vs. Gael Monfils
3rd Round: Rafael Nadal vs. Lukas Rosol
4th Round: Andy Murray vs. Grigor Dimitrov
Quarterfinals: Andy Murray vs. Roger Federer
Semifinals: Novak Djokovic vs. Stan Wawrinka
Final: Novak Djokovic vs. Roger Federer

Toughest Path: Andy Murray
The Scot is going to have to pay the price for dropping out of the top four, receiving a difficult draw, most notably facing Roger Federer in the quarterfinal round. Getting there won't be that easy though. He opens with a qualifier followed by Marinko Matosevic, which he shouldn't have any problems with. However, the third round match is against an in form Martin Klizan. The left-hander can be a tricky opponent and when he is in form is capable of pulling off this kind of an upset.

The first real test though is against Grigor Dimitrov, who beat Murray twice last year, including in the Wimbledon quarterfinals. This time though, it will be in the fourth round. Then in the quarterfinals Murray will likely face Roger Federer, who is the No. 2 overall seed and has never lost in the quarterfinals at the Australian Open, reaching at least the semifinals every year since 2004.

In the semifinal and final, he could face any number of players, so the big test is just getting there. Murray was also my pick for toughest draw at this past US Open.

Easiest Path: Stan Wawrinka
Could have gone with several people for this one. Both Nadal's quarter and Wawrinka's quarter of the draw are fairly weak. The defending champion opens with Marsel Ilhan followed by the winner of a qualifier and Pablo Andujar. It would be a bigger upset than his first round loss at Roland Garros if Wawrinka doesn't get through that.

In the third round he will face Pablo Cuevas, who is seeded because of what he did at two clay court 250 events last year. Just over a month ago Cuevas was playing a challenger on clay. The only times he has played in the Australian Open were 2010 and 2011 and he lost both times in the first round.

After winning his first nine sets easily, Wawrinka will play either Fabio Fognini or Alexandr Dolgopolov. Fognini would be an easy matchup for Wawrinka, while Dolgopolov could be tricky. However, Dolgopolov pulling off that upset would require him getting to that match and still being healthy enough to play in the form it would take to knock off last year's champion.

Then in the quarterfinals, he could face Kei Nishikori or David Ferrer. Nishikori has the ability to beat Wawrinka. However out of anyone seeded between five and eight, Nishikori was the best possible draw since he is susceptible to big upsets or injury. That is about as easy of a path to the semifinals as Wawrinka could ask for, but there is no such thing as an easy semifinal or final. He will have to play well at some point to defend his title.

Other impressions: 
-Djokovic reminded everyone that he does not like playing big servers following a three-set loss to Ivo Karlovic in Doha. He could have to face John Isner and Milos Raonic in consecutive rounds though at this year's Australian Open.

-Great chance for Tomas Berdych to make it to a semifinal. It is so hard to know how Nadal will do this fortnight, but he is the most vulnerable of the top four seeds. Before the potential match-up with Nadal, Berdych's biggest test is probably Viktor Troicki, who hasn't played a best-of-5 match since 2013.

-Qualifiers have little to work with. There are no matches between two qualifiers and almost every one of them is set to face a top 8 seed in either the first or second round. The coveted spot for a qualifier is the one right next to Pablo Cuevas. Potential easy third-rounder if it goes to the right player.

-This draw will solidify Djokovic as the favorite to win the tournament, since the other favorite, Federer, has it even worse than he does, but both guys have some tricky matches along the way.

-Adrian Mannarino has a great draw. Just two weeks ago he was in a challenger and he could soon be into the third round of a grand slam. He has two winnable matches to start, but Feliciano Lopez is always tough. He has played in over 50 slams in his career.

-

Melbourne's Most Dangerous

The draw comes out this afternoon and for every player on the draw there are a few people they definitely don't want to be drawn next to. For the seeded players, there isn't as much to worry about because they are guaranteed not to face another seeded player until the third round. However, there is a group of unseeded players that nobody wants to see in the first round. These are the ten most dangerous unseeded players in Melbourne.

1. Juan Martin del Potro (338) - This is the most obvious one. The 2009 US Open champion has been out with a wrist injury and certainly won't be at his best in Melbourne, but would still be a horrible draw for anyone. The Argentine is a two-time quarter finalist at the Australian Open and has a career record of 17-8 at the tournament. He is also undefeated in first round matches there winning 24-of-27 sets. Del Potro reached the quarterfinals of Sydney in his comeback to the ATP World Tour, which is the ideal result for getting enough match experience and having plenty of time to get settled in at Melbourne Park.

2. Nick Kyrgios (50) - The teenage Australian is already making his second main draw appearance at the Australian Open. Last year in the first round, he claimed a four-set victory over Benjamin Becker, who went on to have an incredible year. Kyrgios defeated Rafael Nadal in Wimbledon later on last year, showing how dangerous he can be against the top players, especially when playing in front of a big crowd. Kyrgios will definitely feed off the crowd at his home slam, and the schedulers will look for every opportunity to get him in front of a big crowd on a show court. He has the tools to hit anyone off the court. When he is playing his best, there are few players in tennis who can hang with him.

3. Viktor Troicki (92) - It has barely been half a season since Troicki began his return to tennis with nothing next to his name and he is already in the top 100 despite having to play in qualifying events just to get into challengers. He has compiled a record of 49-12 during his comeback and just reached the semifinals of Sydney as a qualifier. The Serb is playing with a chip on his shoulder and finding the best form of his career, which has already seen him to the No. 12 ranking in the world. He isn't the most capable player of pulling off big upsets, but he is certainly capable of making a run if he avoids the top 10 players early in the tournament.

4. Lleytong Hewitt (86) - The former world No. 1 isn't someone I mention a lot on my blog, because he already gets a lot of press for someone outside the top 50, but it would be a huge mistake to leave him off this list. Hewitt peaks in two places: in Australia and at grand slams. The Australian Open just happens to be both those things. In 2012, Hewitt defeated Andy Roddick and Milos Raonic to reach the second week in Melbourne, where he took a set off No. 1 seed Novak Djokovic. Then in 2013, he defeated No. 10 seed Stan Wawrinka in straight sets in the first round of Wimbledon. The following grand slam, he defeated No. 6 seed Juan Martin del Potro in Flushing Meadows to reach the second week. Then last year, he defeated Roger Federer in the Brisbane final, so there is no doubt that 33-year old Lleyton Hewitt is still dangerous. His results are less consistent than in his younger days, but nobody is safe from Rusty in the draw.

5. Bernard Tomic (71) - This is becoming just a list of Australians, but there is no denying that they play well in their own country. They are prepared to handle the heat, and the crowd support is never in question at their home tournaments. Tomic in particular peaks at this time of year. He has wins over Lopez, Chardy, Querrey, Dolgopolov, and Verdasco in the Australian Open and even took eventual semifinalist Marin Cilic to a fifth set when Tomic was just 17-years old. In his young career, he already has two titles and three wins over top 10 players as he continues to develop his game.

6. Sam Querrey (35) - Querrey is the highest ranked player that did not get a seed, so if someone withdraws, Querrey could move into that 32nd seed spot. Outdoor hard courts are where Querrey does best collecting four of his seven career titles in those conditions. He has already defeated 12 top 10 players in his career and even reached a career-high ranking of 17. He has since dropped in the rankings, but is only 27 with no current physical issues, meaning he is capable of producing that level of tennis again. Players with those clear identifiable weapons are always the most likely candidates to pull off an upset and Querrey certainly has those in his forehand and serve. If it weren't for poor results on clay, Querrey would be ranked much higher, but his ability to play on clay isn't a factor in Melbourne, so he will be tough for anyone to beat.

7. Gilles Muller (45) - The lefty has one of the most effective serves on tour and with that alone will get himself into a lot of tiebreakers, meaning every set will be determined by just a few points here and there. Those are the kind of matches where anything can happen, leaving the door wide open to some big upsets if he runs into the right opponent. Muller is into the semifinals in Sydney right now after defeated Tomic in two tiebreaks sets. When he is playing that way, he is tough to put away. He certainly has a lot to play for, trying to earn a seed at Indian Wells to help him defend all his points from the Challenger Tour last year. He could represent the perfect storm for someone in the draw just depending on where he lands.

8. Dominic Thiem (37) - At 21-years old, Thiem doesn't have the fire power to take the match out of his opponents hands, meaning he isn't typically someone who will pull off upsets. However, the Austrian has a very complete game and if his opponent is not at their best, he will be there ready to take the match. Among the young players, he has established himself as one of the most consistent and reliable players. That showed in Madrid, when he took out Stan Wawrinka, who wasn't at his best. He also had wins over Feliciano Lopez and Ernests Gulbis in the US Open last year, and even beat this year's No. 32 seed Martin Klizan in straight sets in the final round of qualifying last year.

9. Jerzy Janowicz (42) - Dangerous is just about the one word that everyone can agree upon to describe Janowicz. He has had very inconsistent results that have led to a lot of debate about what can be expected of him. But where he is good or not, there is no denying that he is at least dangerous. At 6-foot-8 with a huge serve, frequent on-court outbursts, and inexplicable drop shots, Janowicz represents an opposing coaches' worst nightmare, because there is no way to tell their player what to be ready for. When playing Janowicz, you have to go in with several game plans and be ready to change them. Murray was a master of that en route to his 2013 Wimbledon title, beating Janowicz in the semifinals after losing the first set. Yes, Janowicz who has never been in the top 10 and never won 30 matches in a season was two sets away from the Wimbledon final. He has five wins in his career against top 10 players and many more against players in the top 20. When he is on fire, he is unstoppable.

10. Jiri Vesely (63) - The 21-year old Czech is into the semifinals in Auckland, which isn't ideal the week before a slam to be in a different country, but there's nothing wrong with being in form going into the first big tournament of the year. Last year, he had a five-set epic with Kevin Anderson in the first round and just missed out on scoring a big upset. Being able to go five sets with the conditions the way they were in the first round last year shows he isn't afraid of a little heat. That could be a key advantage, especially if he is playing on the outer courts.

Other notable unseeded players: Steve Johnson, Nicolas Almagro, Benjamin Becker, Denis Istomin, Vasek Pospisil, Marcos Baghdatis, Sam Groth, Thanasi Kokkinakis, Borna Coric, Ricardas Berankis, Dustin Brown, Aljaz Bedene and Peter Gojowczyk

2015 YTD Rankings

We are just one week into the 2015 ATP World Tour season, but it is never to early to check who is winning the Race to London, is it?

These are the rankings for all players who earned points this week at any level.

*Those who are in bold are so because they have earned points in a tournament in which they are still participating. The + next to their ranking is how many points they would earn by winning their next match.

Rank	Name	Country	Points
1	David Ferrer	ESP	250
1	Roger Federer	SUI	250
1	Stan Wawrinka	SUI	250
4	Aljaz Bedene	SLO	162
5	Tomas Berdych	CZE	150
5	Milos Raonic	CAN	150
7	Steve Darcis	BEL	100
8	Ivo Karlovic	CRO	90
8	Andreas Seppi	ITA	90
8	Grigor Dimitrov	BUL	90
8	Kei Nishikori	JPN	90
8	David Goffin	BEL	90
8	Roberto Bautista Agut	ESP	90
14	Ryan Harrison	USA	80
15	Adrian Menendez-Maceiras	ESP	60
16	Marcos Baghdatis	CYP	48
17	Novak Djokovic	SRB	45
17	Dustin Brown	GER	45
17	Richard Gasquet	FRA	45
17	Ivan Dodig	CRO	45
17	James Duckworth	AUS	45
17	Martin Klizan	SVK	45
17	Sam Groth	AUS	45
17	Bernard Tomic	AUS	45
17	Gilles Muller	LUX	45
17	Andreas Haider-Maurer	AUT	45
17	Yen-Hsun Lu	TPE	45
17	Guillermo Garcia-Lopez	ESP	45
29	Adrian Mannarino	FRA	35
29	Jimmy Wang	TPE	35
31	Jiri Vesely	CZE	32	+20
31	Andrew Harris	AUS	32
31	Nikoloz Basilashvili	GEO	32
31	Blaz Kavcic	SLO	32
31	Michael Berrer	GER	32
31	Lukasz Kubot	POL	32
37	Alex Bolt	AUS	29
38	Joao Souza	BRA	26	+6
38	Jarkko Nieminen	FIN	26	+6
38	Mikhail Kukushkin	KAZ	26	+6
41	Geitherme Clezar	BRA	23
42	Sergiy Stakhovsky	UKR	20
42	Fernando Verdasco	ESP	20
42	Jan-Lennard Struff	GER	20
42	Simone Bolelli	ITA	20
42	John Millman	AUS	20
42	Jeremy Chardy	FRA	20
42	Alexandr Dolgopolov	UKR	20
42	Thanasi Kokkinakis	AUS	20
42	Steve Johnson	USA	20
42	Borna Coric	CRO	20
42	Elias Ymer	SWE	20
42	Ricardas Berankis	LTU	20
42	Pablo Carreno Busta	ESP	20
42	Peter Gojowczyk	GER	20
42	Tatsuma Ito	JPN	20
57	Maxime Authom	BEL	18
57	Bradley Klahn	USA	18
57	David Guez	FRA	18
57	Chase Buchanan	USA	18
57	Mick Lescure	FRA	18
57	Shuichi Sekiguchi	JPN	18
63	Mitchel Krueger	USA	15	+12
63	Paul-Henri Mathieu	FRA	15
63	Andrey Kuznetsov	RUS	15
63	Aleksandr Nedovyesov	KAZ	15
67	Stephane Robert	FRA	14	+6
68	Bjorn Fratangelo	USA	13
69	Rhyne Williams	USA	12
69	Denis Kudla	USA	12
69	Marius Copil	ROU	12
69	Luca Vanni	ITA	12
69	N Vijay Sundar Prashanth	IND	12
69	Viktor Troicki	SRB	12	+6
75	Ilya Ivashka	BLR	10
75	Hugo Nys	FRA	10
75	Christian Lindell	SWE	10	+8
75	Julian Lenz	GER	10	+8
75	Andrew Whittington	AUS	10
80	Taylor Fritz	USA	8	+7
80	Jason Jung	USA	8	+7
80	Dimitar Kutrovsky	BUL	8	+7
80	James McGee	IRL	8
80	Horacio Zeballos	ARG	8
80	Vincent Millot	FRA	8
80	Ti Chen	TPE	8
80	Johan Sebastien Tatlot	FRA	8
80	Jarmere Jenkins	USA	8
89	Blaz Rola	SLO	7
89	Liam Broady	GBR	7
89	Matteo Viola	ITA	7
89	Marton Fucsovics	HUN	7
89	Jurgen Zopp	EST	7
89	Wayne Odesnik	USA	7
89	Tim Puetz	GBR	7
96	Uladzimir Ignatik	BLR	6
96	Tom Jomby	FRA	6
96	Alexey Vatutin	RUS	6
96	Riccardo Bellotti	ITA	6
96	Deiton Baughman	USA	6
96	Gonzalo Escobar	ECU	6
96	Filip Krajinovic	SRB	6
96	Rajeev Ram	USA	6
96	Farrukh Dustov	UZB	6
96	Mathias Bachinger	GER	6
96	Frank Dancevic	CAN	6
96	Marsel Ilhan	TUR	6
96	Matt Reid	AUS	6
96	Damir Dzumhur	BIH	6
96	Vinayak Sharma Kaza	IND	6
96	Sasi Kumar Mukund	IND	6
96	Illya Marchenko	UKR	6
96	Lucas Pouille	FRA	6	+6
96	Alejandro Falla	COL	6	+6
96	Kenny De Schepper	FRA	6	+6
96	Jules Marie	FRA	6	+6
96	Go Soeda	JPN	6	+6
96	Alejandro Gonzalez	COL	6	+6
96	Igor Sijsling	NED	6	+6
96	Teymuraz Gabashvili	RUS	6	+6
96	John-Patrick Smith	AUS	6	+6
96	Stefano Travaglia	ITA	6	+6
123	Jared Donaldson	USA	5
123	Marco Trungelliti	ARG	5
125	Stefan Kozlov	USA	3
125	Frederik Nielson	DEN	3
125	Nathan Ponwith	USA	3
125	Jacob Grills	AUS	3
129	Johannes Haerteis	GER	2
129	Peter Kobelt	USA	2
129	Yannick Maden	GER	2
129	Lukas Ruepke	GER	2
129	Cem Ilkel	TUR	2
129	Jose Pereira	BRA	2
129	Timur Kiuamov	RUS	2
129	Dennis Novak	AUT	2
129	Markus Eriksson	SWE	2
129	Jeff Dadamo	USA	2
129	Chuhan Wang	CHN	2
129	Nicolas Barrientos	COL	2
129	Alexander Ward	GBR	2
142	Jan Choinski	GER	1
142	Tom Schonenberg	GER	1
142	Vadym Ursu	UKR	1
142	Pirmin Haenle	GER	1
142	Hannes Wagner	GER	1
142	Piotr Lomacki	POL	1
142	Daniel Baumann	GER	1
142	Marvin Netuschil	GER	1
142	Thomas Brechemier	FRA	1
142	Sami Cagatay Soke	TUR	1
142	Vadim Alekseenko	UKR	1
142	Vladimir Uzhylovsky	UKR	1
142	Arata Onozawa	JPN	1
142	Christian Florentin Voinea	ROU	1
142	Miki Jankovic	SRB	1
142	Leny Mitjana	FRA	1
142	Aleksandar Vukic	AUS	1
142	Herkko Pollanen	FIN	1
142	Florent Diep	FRA	1
142	Patrik Rosenholm	SWE	1
142	Thai-Son Kwiatkowski	USA	1
142	Jaume Play Malfeito	ESP	1
142	Aron Hiltzik	USA	1
142	Mischa Zverev	GER	1
142	Mackenzie McDonald	USA	1
142	Clay Thompson	USA	1
142	Adrien Puget	FRA	1
142	Ernesto Escobedo	USA	1
142	Sung Ji Nam	KOR	1
142	Eric Quigley	USA	1
142	Kyle McMorrow	USA	1
142	Eric James Johnson	USA	1

This is the breakdown by country:

Rank	Country	Points
1	Switzerland	500
2	Spain	485
3	Australia	261
4	United States	239
5	France	215
6	Belgium	208
7	Slovenia	201
8	Czech Republic	176
9	Canada	158
10	Croatia	155
11	Italy	141
12	Germany	139
13	Japan	134
14	Bulgaria	98
15	Chinese Taipei	88
16	Serbia	63
17	Brazil	51
18	Cyprus	48
19	Austria	47
20	Ukraine	46
21	Slovakia	45
22	Kazakhstan	41
23	Georgia	32
23	Poland	32
23	Sweden	32
26	Russia	29
27	Finland	26
28	India	24
29	Lithuania	20
29	Luxumbourg	20
31	Belruse	16
31	Great Britain	16
33	Colombia	14
34	Argentina	13
35	Romania	12
36	Israel	8
36	Turkey	8
38	Estonia	7
38	Hungary	7
40	Boznia & Herzegovina	6
40	Ecuador	6
40	Netherlands	6
40	Uzbekistan	6
44	Denmark	3
45	China	2