Dubai: Mahesh Bhupathi, the Indian doubles ace, has been a familiar face at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship for years. As he returns to the Aviation Club this time is his new avatar as the Managing Director of the Coca-Cola International Premier Tennis League (IPTL), he is excited about the crowd participation when the action gets underway here for the fourth leg from Monday (December 14-16).
“The Aviation Club has catered to a niche audience of Dubai’s tennis lovers for many years by playing host to one of the region’s largest tennis tournaments. So when the opportunity arose, we were quite keen to host the Dubai leg at this venue. The stadium allows players to be closer to the fans and provides for great ambience for such a fast-paced format,” Bhupathi remarked.
The new league had been a very much a brainchild of Bhupathi, whose announcement of a IPL-style tennis league in early 2013 had met with it’s quota of sceptics though. Now midway in it’s second season, the IPTL shows a more settled look about it — though the former Grand Slam champion admits it’s still a work in progress. The addition of a fifth franchise in Japan, which staged the first leg in Kobe had been a “great success,” according to Bhupathi.
Speaking to Gulf News on the eve of fourth leg of IPTL II, the winner of 15 Grand Slam titles said: “The opening leg this season in Japan has been a great success, with fans turning up in huge numbers on all three days. Kei [Nishikori] himself admitted that whilst he has played in Tokyo before, this is the first time that he was playing live in Kobe, which was great for his fans, and we all know what a huge star he is in Japan.
“Added to that was another local player, Kurumi Nara, playing for the Legendari Japan Warriors team — both of them brought alive the packed stadium. We saw some closely-contested matches with a high level of competitive tennis, which was well appreciated and on the closing day, Kurumi beating Serena Williams got an unbelievable response from the crowds!”
Sub-plot
If the addition of Japan this season had been a plus for the IPTL management, they had also staged a casting coup by getting Rafael Nadal on board — apart from roping in Leander Paes. The news of Paes coming on board — after being a critic of the league last season — offers a stirring subplot for the second edition and Bhupathi cannot stop gushing about his friend and erstwhile partner, with whom his tempestuous relationship has provided fodder in Indian tennis media for more than a decade now.
“We really tried hard to get Leander to play in the inaugural edition last year. However, he had already signed up for playing another tournament and was not available. Leander is one of the best doubles players in the world. Moreover, we feel the format suits Leander very well. We, therefore, signed him early this year as we did not want to lose out on him for the 2015 edition,” Bhupathi said.
Coming at the back of a long and tiring Tour every year, the IPTL however has to get going within a week of the ATP Finals finishing at the O2 in London. Asked if such a tight schedule leaves virtually no room for any kind of brand-building, Bhupathi said efforts are being made to improve on this area.
“The way men and women’s tennis is structured, it leaves only a small window for the players to participate in the IPTL. We have, therefore, managed brand-building for the league and its franchises through multiple initiatives which do not always require the physical presence of the players.
Grass roots initiatives
Franchises are looking at this being a year-long business, there are plans for local grass roots initiatives too e.g. the Philippine Mavericks are looking to do a local IPTL-style league for junior talent there, which is great. These kind of innovative initiatives will grow the brand equity of both the league and all its stakeholders,” he said.
What’s been the feedback from the franchise owners and how long, according to his estimation, should it take for them to break even?
“We have a very good and committed set of stakeholders in terms of the players, the fans and the owners themselves. Recently the Singapore Slammers announced that India movie icon, Amitabh Bachchan has come on board as a co-owner of the franchise, and would be present for the matches during the Singapore leg of the event — which is a positive news for the team and the league.
“The owners of each of the team franchises see this as a viable business option. Each team is different because of the market its in — countries like India and Philippines will break even in third year, if not earlier.
“Dubai and Singapore are mature markets for sports and entertainment, so they could take a year longer. Japan is a very big market, and are expecting to break even next year.”
Good start
Asked where Bhupathi sees the league going in five year’s time, he said: “From a league perspective, I’d like to think we’re off to a good start and we can only hope to grow each year. There’s already keen interest from other cities to host teams and the goal is to reach eight teams by 2020.”
“However, we would like the growth to be sustained over a long time, hence will take things one step at a time. At the end of last year, we were looking at adding one more city, and with the addition of Kobe [Japan], we have achieved our target. We will ensure that we systematically grow the league in an organic and sustained manner so we can continue to enthral fans and engage legends, growing the reach of tennis for many years to come,” he added.
