The second International Premier Tennis League gets underway tomorrow as five different franchises will lock horns throughout the month of December in five venues sprinkled around the Asian continent.
The likes of Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova will join old legends such as Goran Ivanisevic and Marat Safin in the exciting project. The competition will bring tennis closer to regions that are not too accustomed to seeing the sport’s biggest superstars.
The format of the competition also attempts to make tennis more exciting. Every match will be made up of six sets: men’s singles, women’s singles, mixed doubles, men’s doubles and men’s legend singles (in that order). Each set will be played to six games with a shoot-out at 5-5 and games will not include advantages, with the winner of the point at deuce taking the game.
Other interesting features in the format include substitutions mid-set, a time limit between service games and changeovers, and the Coca-Cola Power Point which indicates that the next point counts as double.
The first event will take place in Kobe, Japan from the 2nd to the 4th of December. The other dates on the calendar are: Manila, Philippines 6th-8 December), New Delhi, India (10-12 December), Dubai, UAE (14-16 December) and Singapore (18-20 December).
The teams participating in this second edition of the IPTL are:
OUE Singapore Slammers (Novak Djokovic, Nick Kyrgios, Carlos Moya, Marcelo Melo, Dustin Brown, Belinda Bencic and Karolina Pliskova).
OBI UAE Royals (Roger Federer, Tomas Berdych, Marin Cilic, Goran Ivanisevic, Daniel Nestor, Ana Ivanovic and Kristina Mladenovic).
Indian Aces (Rafael Nadal, Gael Monfils, Ivan Dodig, Fabrice Santoro, Rohan Bopanna, Agnieszka Radwanska and Sania Mirza.
Japan Warriors (Kei Nishikori, Vasek Pospisil, Marat Safin, Leander Paes, Lucas Pouille, Maria Sharapova, Daniela Hantuchova and Kurumi Nara).
Philippine Mavericks (Milos Raonic, Richard Gasquet, Borna Coric, Mark Philippoussis, Treat Huey, Serena Williams, Sabine Lisicki and Jamila Gajdosova).
The event will be broadcast in over 150 territories around the world and will once ignite the question as to whether players should take part in these off-season exhibitions when they then complain about the duration of the season.
Indian tennis legend and spokesperson for the event, Mahesh Bhupathi, said about the event: “It’s an evolving structure. Last year we didn’t have a final. Broadcasters gave us feedback that it’s good to have a final so we added a final this year. For us to be successful, the owners need to be successful, the players need to be happy, broadcasters need to be happy, sponsors need to be happy. We always do what’s right to grow the property in the right direction”.
Additional contributor – Bruno Bergareche Sans
