APP Tour Dallas Open – Fantasy Draft Preview
With only a handful of tournaments left on the year, we have another dueling PPA and APP weekend. It’s no longer a fair fight as the PPA has surpassed the APP significantly in terms of viewership and interest this year. Hard to believe we have already made it to October. Again, Slim is 2 up on the year and he won the toss in this draft, choosing to select first.
(1) Andrei Daescu / Rob Nunnery (Slim)
(2) Parris Todd / Simone Jardim (Gritty)
(3) Hunter Johnson (Gritty)
(4) Susannah Barr / Andrei Daescu (Slim)
(5) Megan Fudge (Slim)
Slim – Andrei remains the most consistent player on the APP tour, so I take he and Rob first. Susannah and Andrei lost last week, but they are still the most consistent mixed team on the APP Tour. Megan Fudge is coming off of a gold medal last week and you can always count on her competing.
Gritty – We have heard rumblings Simone could be dealing with an injury but haven’t been able to confirm that. I bet on Parris/Simone to bounce back this weekend and a fresh Hunter Johnson is as good a bet as any to get gold.
(6) Parris Todd / Hunter Johnson (Gritty)
(7) Susannah Barr / Megan Fudge (Gritty)
(8) Alix Truong / Vivian Glozman (Slim)
(9) Jhonnatan Medina Alvarez (Slim)
(10) Judit Castillo (Gritty)
(11) Salome Devidze (Gritty)
Slim – Alix and Vivian are one of three women’s teams that could take gold, so I took them at 8. Jhonnatan is coming off of his first gold medal, can he carry that momentum into this week?
Gritty – Parris/Hunter are coming off a gold last weekend and I’m worried about a let down. These two should be wanting to dominate APPs if they want to prove their worth. Barr/Fudge came back after a tough loss to Truong/Glozman to take gold. It won’t be easy to get to Sunday again. I had to go back-to-back with Castillo and Devidze as there is a clear top 3 in women’s singles for this event.
(12) Simone Jardim / Rob Nunnery (Slim)
(13) Stefan Auvergne / Daniel De La Rosa (Slim)
(14) Hunter Johnson / Yates Johnson (Gritty)
(15) Yates Johnson (Gritty)
(16) John Cincola / Martin Emmrich (Slim)
(17) Bobbi Oshiro / Andre Mick (Slim)
Slim – Simone and Rob if both are healthy and playing well could win gold. We never get to see Daniel De La Rosa in the APP events, so I will be very interested to see how he does this week. Bobbi Oshiro and Andre Mick are a team that I literally would not be surprised with any result from a gold medal to an 0-2 day.
Gritty – Hunter/Yates are a scary pick. They have upside to make Sunday but a floor of a 2-2 day. I could have easily chosen Cincola/Emmrich or Mick/McNulty over the twins. Yates Johnson’s consistency continues to be a concern as he didn’t medal at all last weekend.
(18) Christopher Haworth (Gritty)
(19) Allison Harris / Kelsey Grambeau (Gritty)
(20) Emily Ackerman (Slim)
(21) Amanda Hendry (Slim)
(22) Andre Mick / Jason McNulty (Gritty)
(23) Shelby Bates / Daniel De La Rosa (Gritty)
Slim – I was hoping Gritty would let Chris Haworth slip to me. Emily Ackerman has some good singles wins, but doesn’t really have any podiums, can she get a medal this weekend?
Gritty – Christopher Haworth has shown out at recent tournaments and I really like him to find a podium this weekend. Harris/Grambeau have the most upside of any team that isn’t one of those top 3 women’s teams. I’ll take the chance of boom or bust considering the most likely scenario is some version of the top 3 teams picked women’s on the podium. Mick/McNulty have played really well together in 2023 but this field will be a test for them. I had no idea what to do in mixed but I really liked how well De La Rosa played at MLP.
(24) Eduardo Irizarry (Slim)
(25) Bobbi Oshiro / Milan Rane (Slim)
(26) CJ Klinger / Ross Whittaker (Gritty)
(27) Vivian Glozman / Yates Johnson (Gritty)
(28) Genie Erokhina / Christa Gecheva (Slim)
(29) Jack Foster (Slim)
(30) Christa Gecheva (Gritty)
Slim – Eduardo Irizarry has some high upside in this singles fields. Milan and Bobbi’s results together this year have not been great, but they are still the most proven women’s doubles team left at this point.
Gritty – CJ Klinger is the best guy left in the field so I take him even if he is with an unproven doubles player in Ross Whittaker – this is not their first partnership together. Vivian Glozman and Yates Johnson is just asking for trouble. Glozman doesn’t get results in mixed relative to her talent level and Yates Johnson just doesn’t ever get results in mixed. Why will this be any different? I don’t know. Christa Gecheva has an APP singles podium so why not take her here.
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