The International Premier Tennis league(IPTL) started by Indian tennis star Mahesh Bhupathi is all set to treat fans for the third consecutive year. The Five-city format of the league has now been changed to a three-city format, with four teams participating. The much-awaited names were not mentioned in the squads announced, disappointing the fans.
“There is no particular reason. We did it there (Delhi) for two years, the fans enjoyed world class tennis. Last year we did it in Kobe, this year we are doing it in Tokyo. The owners wanted an opportunity to move to a different city to see if they got good buzz, ” said Bhupathi.
Philippines pulled out of the IPTL tournament due to the political instability in the country. UAE Royals will be the fourth team apart from the other hosts, Singapore.
As the first two seasons of IPTL saw the participation of ‘Big Four’ of men’s tennis, the 2016 season had many expectations. But none of the ‘Big Four’ features in the squads announced on Thursday. World number 5 Kei Nishikori is the highest ranked singles player across the four squads announced. Sarena Williams of Singapore Slammers and Sania Mirza of Indian aces are the other marquee names of this year’s edition of the women’s section.
There was still some hope for fans when Bhupathi said “One of the Big Four is definitely coming. We did not want to reveal all our cards today. We will announce the name in next 48 hours.”
The squads:
Japan Warriors: Kei Nishikori, Fernando Verdasco, Kurumi Nara, Jalena Jankovic, Fernando Gonzalez, Marat Safin and Jean-Julien Rojer.
UAE Royals: Tomas Berdych, Pablo Cuevas, Ana Ivanovic, Thomas Johansson and Daniel Nestor.
Singapore Slammers: Sarena Williams, Nick Kyrgios, Marcos Baghdatis, Kiki Bertens, Carlos Moya and Marcelo Melo.
Indian Aces: Feliciano Lopez, Ivan Dodig, Eugenie Bouchard, Thomas Enqvist, Sania Mirza, Rohan Bopanna.
