A boost for tennis

It took Indian doubles specialist Mahesh Bhupathi nearly three years to get the ball rolling for the International Premier Tennis League (IPTL) and Manila made history as the inaugural host of the season debut last weekend.

Manila wasn’t in the original cast of IPTL franchises but was called in late to replace Bangkok which has been hit by political turmoil. Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur were also pegged for franchises at the conceptualization stage. In the end, Bhupathi firmed up four franchises for the first season – Manila Mavericks, Singapore Slammers, United Arab Emirates Royals and Indian Aces. The plan is to expand the league to eight franchises over time.

The entry fee for a franchise is $12 million with the option to pay up in installments of $1.2 million over 10 years. Bhupathi is obviously thinking long-term and from the looks of things, the IPTL is no fly-by-night operation. Setting the stage for the season debut was no easy task. Initially, the Araneta Coliseum was earmarked for the three-day hostilities but the Mall of Asia Arena eventually got the nod to host.

Locking in the franchises and securing commitments from players was tough. Bhupathi had to personally go through the rounds to do it. Money wasn’t a consideration. The winner of each season earns $1 million and that’s shared by a team of six to 10 players. It’s not much for players like Maria Sharapova who’s earned more than $32.5 million in her career and France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga who’s bankrolled over $13.3 million in his sport.  But what brought the stars together was the IPTL’s unique attraction.

First, the calendar is perfect for the globetrotting pros. It’s held during the break between the US Open and the Australian Open. There is no hard conflict in schedules. Another league called the World Team Tennis plays matches in the US summer and the formula has worked since its inception in 1973. Second, it’s an excuse for an Asian holiday. The matches aren’t meant to push players to the limit. Every match is a first-to-six set. The players also get to expand their fan base in Asia on a semi-vacation.

Third, it’s an opportunity to play in a unique team event. The IPTL recreates a Davis Cup-like atmosphere with revolutionary, out-of-the-box rules like the power double point, replacing an injured player during a match, no add scoring, determining the outcome of a tie with games not sets, a 20-second first serve limit, a five-minute shootout instead of a seven-point tiebreak in case of a 5-5 deadlock in a set and a seven-minute “super” shootout in case of a knotted count in points after five sets. Fourth, it’s a fun way to promote the sport. There are dancing girls in between matches, loud thumping music when the ball isn’t in play and a DJ to rock the beat. Creating more fans for tennis is a player’s dream and Bhupathi is making it happen. It’s a perfect model to display the world’s greatest players in a weekend of blitz matches without hauling the fans to the stadium for long, time-consuming best-of-three or best-of-five affairs. And finally, it’s a wonderful chance for players to show team spirit in a sport where singles play is the stellar attraction. There’s also the dimension of supporting the hometown team. For the Mavericks, for instance, Filipino Davis Cupper Treat Huey was designated the captain to galvanize the local support. And for the Aces, Indians Rohan Bopanna and Sania Mirza are key contributors in the push for the championship.

Last Saturday, the Aces yielded only one match – the men’s doubles – to trounce the Mavericks, 24 games to 15. Manila’s Andy Murray and Sharapova weren’t at their best form. They showed flashes of brilliance which drew wild applause from over 10,000 fans at the MOA Arena but were far from consistent in pouncing on their opponents. Murray and Sharapova, in fact, teamed up in mixed doubles to lose to Bopanna and Mirza, 6-1. In singles play, Murray bowed to fun-loving Gael Monfils, 6-4, while Sharapova was beaten by Ana Ivanovic, 6-3. Most fans, however, were quick to dismiss the setbacks. Just to witness two of the greatest tennis players ever in action was an unforgettable treat.

Murray, 27, is the world’s No. 6 player with Grand Slam victories at the US Open in 2012 and Wimbledon in 2013. He also won the Olympic gold medal in men’s singles in London two years ago. But the 6-3 star appeared to be hampered by a back injury and wasn’t as explosive in long rallies. Monfils, 28, is the world’s No. 18 player and entertained the fans with his court antics like lifting both his feet off the ground to deliver power forehands and once, firing a shot with a behind-the-back, between-the-legs reflex return.

The power double point was used strategically throughout the tie. Murray called it to save a game and Monfils to take the set. Ivanovic also employed the power double point to seal the set over Sharapova who was up, 40-30, in the ninth game. Ivanovic took the game and set with the power double point, 6-3.

Manila applied the replacement rule to substitute Spain’s Carlos Moya who limped off the court trailing 3-1 to Fabrice Santoro in the legends set. Serbian Daniel Nestor, 42, checked in but without warmup, was far from playing in synch. The gangling lefthander lost three straight games as the crowd wondered how he could’ve survived in the pro circuit for so long. Santoro, 41, made a name for himself by teaming with French countryman Michael Llodra to win a pair of Australian Open doubles titles in 2003 and 2004.

Huey, 29, gave the fans something to cheer for when he teamed with Tsonga to deliver Manila’s only set win, a 6-0 conquest of Monfils and Bopanna. At 5-10, he was taller only than 5-8 Mirza on the court. Everybody else towered over them. Sharapova is 6-2, Ivanovic 6-0, Murray 6-3, Bopanna 6-3, Tsonga 6-2, Santoro 6-1, Nestor 6-3, Monfils 6-4 and Moya 6-3.