Inaugural IPTL Has Been a Breath of Fresh Air

Spread across venues in four of Asia’s largest and most iconic cities, and with a whole variety of players of different ages and styles making up the four teams, the first-ever International Premier Tennis League has been truly refreshing to witness.

Founder Mahesh Bhupathi’s concept, based on Twenty20 cricket’s Indian Premier League, has created moments that tennis fans never thought they would see. It has defied generation differences, with immense fun and energy.

The event, featuring the Singapore Slammers, Indian Aces, UAE Royals and Manila Mavericks, has gathered together on court past legends such as Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi with current greats Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer. Youth and experience have been combined, such as the explosiveness of rising star Nick Kyrgios merged with the competitive instincts of veteran Lleyton Hewitt. Singles and doubles players have been at one; male and female players too. Players have genuinely bonded with each other and formed close-knit teams that have oozed competitive and familial spirit.

Proceedings began in the Philippines, home of the Manila Mavericks. The home side were joined for the only time there by their superstar players Andy Murray and Maria Sharapova. It was an edgy opening couple of days with players getting used to the format and its rule changes. They were entertainingly yet detrimentally forgetting that the ball toss and any lets on serve had to be played.

The no-let rule added even more frustration to players when the ball died just inside the service box on a particularly big point in the match. It could be easily transitioned into matches on the main ATP and WTA tours though.

Integrating only being allowed one ball toss may be slightly more problematic though, considering the range of weather conditions that the players have to encounter. However, as Rob Koenig, who was one of the TV voices of the IPTL, argued on Twitter: “I think having a good, controlled ball toss is as much a skill as any shot. If yours is poor, why should you get 2 or 3 goes?”

The ball toss is just as important to get right as any forehand or backhand that a player may hit. One player whose ball tosses were even more suspect than usual over the IPTL were those of Ana Ivanovic.

Of course, another reason for the freshness of the event is its clear desire to entertain the crowd with the playing format. Play is quick and varied with the five sets of different disciplines—men’s and women’s singles, men’s and mixed doubles, and then legends’ singles.

We’ve seen an array of player combinations in those different matchups, with each team’s coach tinkering with their singles and doubles options. Also, like with Murray and Sharapova in Manila, other superstars flew into their “home” venues to compete, which is an extremely clever way of drawing the big-name players in, as part of their hectic schedule.

There have been various other rules which differ from what we see each week out on the respective tours and have been exciting for the crowds. The IPTL’s official Twitter hashtag has been #breakthecode: To experiment with novel ideas in a sport loved across the globe by so many. The 20-second shot clock was absolutely fine for those players like Federer who play very briskly on their service games; yet for those with a more lengthy routine on serve, such as Maria Sharapova, it wasn’t a welcome feature of the tournament.

The Russian described it as an alarm clock to Channel News Asia, saying that she wanted to just press “snooze.” Meanwhile UAE Royal Marin Cilic believes that players should be given a bit more time too so that they would have “more opportunity to entertain the crowd.”

Even the “Fed Express” wasn’t particularly keen, commenting that it was “stressful” for the players and that, unsurprisingly, he takes a traditional stance to the format of tennis.

Inevitably, the standard of the serve and the resulting groundstrokes take a hit when the competitors are rushing to play. It’d be even worse during a five-set epic at a Grand Slam. Imagine Djokovic and Nadal playing out a 50-shot rally and then having to get back up to the service line before the clock beeped.

The power points (no, not that Microsoft Office program) were intriguing and whenever those words flashed around the arena, the intensity arose. The teams quickly learned that the best time to play them was returning at 30-40. It’s unlikely that one is going to be added to the rulebook soon though.

Undoubtedly the highlight of the 2014 IPTL though was the celebrated arrival of a certain 17-time Grand Slam champion to New Delhi. Roger Federer was greeted like a rock star on his first visit to India. He was joined there by world No. 1 Novak Djokovic and the two played out a compelling set of tennis, amongst a cauldron of noise, to conclude the IPTL’s schedule in the Indian capital.

The Swiss legend is used to being adored in stadiums around the world but the fans in Delhi must have taken it to the next level. In front of a packed house, he was roared on every second he was on court. It was no wonder playing shots like this one:

The two best in the world went toe-to-toe at full pelt, with winners flying everywhere, slightly making up for that anticlimactic end to the ATP World Tour Finals in London. Just that set, which Federer won 6-5 in a five-minute shootout (before Novak won the next game, winning the match for the UAE Royals), makes a potential meeting in the upcoming Australian Open an extremely exciting prospect.

For its opening night on the big tennis stage, the IPTL has run like clockwork. As well as the tense matches, with timed shootouts and power points, surely the greatest triumph of the event has been uniting players together as a team, who normally just compete for themselves. There’s a group of people sat on the bench court-side who are feeling every point with you. You can high-five them if you win a big point or game and can lean on them if you’re struggling.

The IPTL has created happiness and lasting friendships. As UAE Royals coach John-Laffnie de Jager stated on Twitter: “It has been an incredible 16 days. What a great tennis experience for everyone. The @iptl has put back smiles on tennis players’ faces.”

This is an event that is around to stay on the tennis calendar.