MANILA, Nov 27 — Five points about the International Premier Tennis League (IPTL), whose debut season starts in Manila tomorrow:
The players. The Manila Mavericks, Singapore Slammers, Micromax Indian Aces and UAE Royals feature top names including Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova. Federer and Pete Sampras lead the Aces, Andy Murray and Sharapova headline the Mavericks, Williams and Andre Agassi highlight the Slammers and Djokovic is the big name for the Royals. All the teams of seven to eight players include leading men's and women's singles players, doubles specialists and men's veterans.
The format. Every team plays the three others once at each of the tournament's four stops. Match ties consist of five one-set matches: men's singles, women's singles, mixed doubles, men's doubles and men's legends singles. No advantages are scored and the winner is the first to six games, with a timed shoot-out at 5-5. Players are on a shot-clock with only 20 seconds to hit their serve or risk losing a point. Each player has one "power point", meaning the next point will count double. The team which accumulates the most games over the five sets wins the tie.
The destinations. The IPTL starts on Friday in Manila, which replaced Bangkok following political unrest in the Thai capital. The second stop is Singapore, followed by New Delhi and finally Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. IPTL founder Mahesh Bhupathi hopes to expand to eight Asian destinations by 2020.
The entertainment. DJ Irie, official DJ of the Miami Heat basketball team, will play during changeovers and entertainment will be provided by Freelusion, an innovative dance troupe which performs using projections and 3D images.
The competition. The Women's Tennis Association is studying a World Cup-style team event and according to Bhupathi, the men's Association of Tennis Professionals is also looking into something similar. The Champions Tennis League, travelling between six Indian cities and dreamed up by Vijay Amritraj, started last week. In January, Federer will play Lleyton Hewitt in another fast format of tennis in Sydney, ahead of the Australian Open. — AFP
