‘No lack of intensity in top players’

Dubai: The first three legs of the International Premier Tennis League (IPTL) showed the top players certainly were not lacking in intensity and a will to win, according to owners of one of the franchises. After wowing the crowds in Manila, Singapore and New Delhi, the who’s who of world tennis will be jetting into Dubai on Wednesday for the final leg between December 11-13.

“Initially, a lot of doubt was expressed that the event was going to be merely a series of exhibition matches, but it’s far from reality. We have witnessed as to how keen Serena Williams, the world No.1 and our marquee player, was to win at the Singapore leg,” said Ajay Sethi, a co-owner of Singapore Slammers.

Speaking to Gulf News, the Dubai-based businessman, is buoyant that the final leg here at the Hamdan Bin Mohammad Sports Complex will also rope in the crowds over the weekend. “It may take some time for the fans to grasp the format fully, but it’s bound to happen with any new concept like this. The more you watch it, the points system will become clear to the fans,” said Sethi, whose is a stakeholder in the Singapore team alongwith the legendary Sunil Gavaskar. Kishan Gehlot, Avi Bhojani and Suresh Shetty.

Lavishing praise on Mahesh Bhupathi, the Indian doubles ace and the founder of IPTL, Sethi said: “The passion and hard work he [Bhupathi] has put in behind his dream project has been incredible. He has used his personal relationship with most of the top players to get them on board.”

A point of criticism on the way the first edition has panned out so far had been the unavailability of the top stars like Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Serena Williams or Maria Sharapova for all the legs. While Djokovic and Federer are participating only in the New Delhi and Dubai legs, the younger of the Williams sisters took to the courts in Singapore, while Sharapova played in the first one in Manila.

Asked about it, the Slammers co-owner said a solution to this in future may lie in hosting the entire league in one city. The Slammers will be missing out on Serena’s brand value in Dubai, but will have Thomas Berdych as their main player.

What about the business model for the league and the expected time frame for the teams to break even? “One must appreciate that this is more of a valuation business, where a lot of the revenue has to be invested back into the business in the initial years. It’s not realistic to start expecting a profit from so early on but I think the teams should break even by the third year,” he added.