|
 Singapore welcomed the International Premier Tennis League (IPTL)
for the first time on Tuesday and while the initial turnout at the
Indoor Stadium was low, players and organizers were doing their best
to create a party atmosphere.
The four-team tournament kicked off in Manila on Friday and will
proceed to Delhi next before concluding in Dubai on Dec. 13, the
event mirroring its India-based cricket counterpart by adding bright
lights, glitz, glamour and audience participation to a fast-paced
format.
Early signs coming out of the Philippines suggest the tournament got
off to a positive start and once the audience get to fully
understand the complex scoring and in-game nuances, the IPTL could
establish itself as an interesting addition to the regular tennis
calendar.
 The emphasis of the event is on speed, fun and noise with ties made
up of five one-set shootouts in men's and women's singles, men's and
mixed doubles and a legends singles match with the team that wins
the most games, not sets, declared the winner.
Additional touches include a 20-second serve clock, a 'Happiness
Power Point' joker that scores double and can be played once per
set, no advantages, no lets, coaching timeouts and a five-minute
shootout if a match is tied at 5-5.
The matches, played under bright lights, are punctuated by loud
music at key moments with the audience asked to participate by
tweeting 'selfies' that get flashed up on the scoreboard and
questions asked to winning players in post-match interviews.
The tournament has the fortunate to get big names like Roger
Federer, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Serena Williams and Ana
Ivanovic to take part, and while some struggled to adapt to the
mixed-team format most warmed to the event in Manila.
[to top of second column] |
The Delhi-based Indian Aces have dominated so far, winning all three
matches in Manila and opening with a resounding 30-11 win over the
UAE Royals in Singapore.
A bigger crowd is expected in Tuesday's late match between Williams'
Singapore Slammers and the Manila Mavericks in an event confident
that its modern approach will afford it a big future in tennis.
However, one player looking in the past was Serbia's Ivanovic, who
answered a tweeted question asking what decade she would have liked
to live in by saying "the 14th century, to develop the world".
Her first task would have been to invent the tennis racket as they
did not arrive until 200 years later.
(Editing by Sudipto Ganguly)
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
