Nadal, Djokovic, Serena, Agassi, Sampras to play in Manila for tennis team event
Tennis' leading lights plus heroes from yesteryear are coming to Manila this November when the International Premier Tennis League kicks off its inaugural season.
The innovative new concept, the brainchild of Indian doubles tennis star Mahesh Bhupathi, will finally break ground after the tennis season with a star-studded lineup of top men and women players.
Just like the FIBA Asia tilt that was fortuitously plopped on our lap because of turmoil near the original host, Lebanon, the IPTL, originally slated to be in Bangkok, Thailand, has been moved to the Philippines because of political unrest in the Thai capital.
Manila will now be one of four cities alongside Singapore, Dubai, and Mumbai, who will have a franchise as well as host matches from November 28 to mid-December. And the Philippine team will be pretty loaded too.
The Manila team will feature Andy Murray of Scotland, a singles champ at Wimbledon and at the U.S. Open, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France, Spanish veteran Carlos Moya, Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, Canadian Doubles specialist Daniel Nestor, and Filipino-American Treat Huey. Each team will get anywhere from seven to ten players.
ALSO READ: Pacquiao wants to do a Jaworski in the PBA
Meanwhile the Mumbai side will enjoy the services of Spain's world number one Rafael Nadal alongside Serbian Ana Ivanovic, American legend Pete Sampras, and hometown hopes Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna.
Singapore will have Serena Williams as their banner star, and she will be backed up by Andre Agassi plus Aussies Lleyton Hewitt and Patrick Rafter. Also suiting up for the Lion City will be Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic and Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova.
Dubai trots out world number two Novak Djokovic of Serbia, comebacking Swiss Miss Martina Hingis and well as Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki. Goran Ivanisevic will also don Dubai's colors.
The players were chosen via a draft of the top 80 players in the world earlier in the year.
The IPTL's format will also be unique. The teams will play each other in a round-robin format in all of the four participating cities. There will be a total of 24 ties between the cities, with each city hosting three playdates with two ties each.
Each tie will consist of five sets; a mens singles, a ladies singles, a mens doubles, a mixed doubles, and a legends singles set where the likes of Sampras, Agassi, Rafter, and Ivanisevic will do battle.
There will be another twist: the winner of the tie is not the team that wins the most sets, but the most games.
“That means every game and every point will count” explains Bhupathi, who has four grand slam doubles to his name (mostly alongside countryman Leander Paes) and a career grand slam in mixed doubles.
ALSO READ: Adamson defeats UST to eliminate Lady Eagles and Lady Agilas from V-League
Another innovation in the format will be the tiebreak at five games all instead of 6-6. With these changes, organizers hope to finish a tie in three hours.
US$1 million will be at stake for the winning team over the two-week tournament.
Bhupathi and IPTL Media Liaison Eric Gottschalk were in town recently to finalize the venue and speak with prospective sponsors. Details should be announced soon.
“We hope to bring NBA-style entertainment to tennis” says Gottschalk, a veteran German sports marketer based in Dubai.
It has been learned that team owners have made a ten-year commitment to the event.
This could very well be the first time in over 25 years that a Filipino audience has witnessed big-name tennis stars play in Manila. On April 13, 1989, Sweden's Bjorn Borg and American ace John McEnroe squared off in an exhibition match in the Ninoy Aquino Stadium dubbed “Fire and Ice.”
Ticket sales will start by the middle of June.
Follow Bob on Twitter @PassionateFanPH.
