The first season of the International Premier Tennis League (IPTL) has been deemed a success by players and organisers but the poor attendances in the fourth and final stop in Dubai has raised questions over whether it will return to the UAE again next year.
Almost 30 players took part in the inaugural season, split across four teams representing Manila, Singapore, New Delhi and Dubai, and it was the Indian Aces who took home the league’s first trophy.
The IPTL kicked off in Manila on November 28 and according to the league organisers, 28,000 spectators showed up at the Mall of Asia arena over three days.
The league then moved to Singapore before moving to India. Roger Federer and Pete Sampras teamed up for the Indian Aces and the crowd in Delhi got to see a magical set between Federer and Novak Djokovic on the final day of action. So, like it or not, IPTL looks to have made an impression.
Dubai
When the league came to Dubai last weekend, the emirate had a lot to live up to and the sparse crowds on day one (Thursday) were a definite disappointment.
World No1, Djokovic, was leading the home team, the UAE Royals, alongside ex-No1 Caroline Wozniacki but very few showed up for the occasion. Have we grown so accustomed to watching stars in Dubai that the world No1 is no longer worth a 30km trip to the Bypass Road?
Sampras was on the Indian Aces bench, but he wasn’t picked to play and appeared disinterested in the whole affair. The American legend’s first-time appearance in Dubai was both underwhelming and forgettable for his fans.
Friday saw a significant bump in attendance but it was still nowhere near the sellouts we saw on TV for the other three cities, although those who were at the Hamdan Sports Complex (HSC) got more and more into it.
When it came to advertising this event here in Dubai, organisers and the team owners – Musafir.com – fell short. Even the avid tennis fans were unaware the event was taking place, and the remote location of the host venue didn’t help.
“Obviously each city is different. You look at Manila, a market that’s been deprived of tennis for a long long time. The fans were terrific. In comparison to Dubai, where people have been spoiled by all the great sporting events,” IPTL CEO Morgan Menahem told Sport360°.
“The problem is that people have seen the Djokovics, the Wozniackis and such stars. Even though this is a new product, we need to be able to raise more awareness for this and bring more people here.
“So one of the challenges for next year is to find out what we’ve done wrong here in Dubai in terms of trying to bring the fans.”
The press room was shockingly empty, with less than a handful of journalists in attendance – none of which were from Arabic publications. Were the local organisers not too keen on having them over? There were barely any Arabs in the stands either.
But despite Dubai having the lowest attendance figures of all four cities – 14,000 according to organisers – Menahem says there is no risk of the UAE losing its franchise next season also adding that the current four team owners have made “multi-year commitments”.
Teams
The players have been raving throughout the two weeks of how much they’ve enjoyed being part of a team. They’ve dined together, practiced together and partied together. So what happens when these teams are reshuffled next year?
According to Mahesh Bhupathi, the founder of the IPTL, the teams were never meant to stay the same each season but that everyone has been calling for the squads to remain intact for year two.
“The players have requested for it, the owners have requested for it. We have more teams coming in, so we have to be fair to them, because if all of the players are taken then what are the new owners going to get?” said Bhupathi, who added that no big revelations will take place next year except for adding one or, at most, two teams to the league.
Menahem agrees that a main challenge is to make sure each city gets its own set of stars.
“Roger in India was like the Rolling Stones in concert. Of course if tomorrow I can get Roger here in Dubai, it would be great, but the people in Dubai, again, they’ve seen Roger before, winning the Dubai Duty Free, playing there every year for maybe the past 10 years,” said Menahem. “Our thing is not one player or two players. Our thing is multiple teams, multiple players, new players.”
Exhaustion
Of the 29 players who have participated, 21 travelled to all four cities, covering no less than 8,730km of air travel – albeit in a private jet.
For players who have long complained about the length of the regular tennis season, the choice to take part in this 16-day league that is staged during the calendar’s offseason has raised many eyebrows.
A few players have picked up a cold here and there over the past two weeks while Gael Monfils, suffered a hamstring injury on the very last day of the IPTL, which will disrupt his training schedule. So how do the players justify taking part? People like Djokovic, Federer, Sharapova and Murray only committed to a couple of nights or a couple of cities. But what about the rest of the field? Did they feel the wear and tear of the travel and competition?
Nick Kyrgios says he’s “fine” and that if anything “I’ve gained a bit of conditioning here” while retired player, Fabrice Santoro, says that most of the players have been going on with their pre-season training in parallel with the IPTL.
US Open champion Marin Cilic says the best formula is having two solid singles players per team, to split the competition duties.
“I feel that in the last six days it was much easier for me with Djokovic playing singles and me in doubles. So that was easier on the body,” said the Croat. “For next year, I believe I’m going to be playing again because this kind of format is pushing you to be alert and makes you get much more match practice.
“If you have another singles player in the team throughout the league, it’s the perfect combination so you can have some days off to do some extra work for preparation.”
Competition v Exhibition
Many have judged this league as a glorified exhibition but it’s quite clear the players are taking it seriously. They’re competitive by nature and the team format forces them to step up so they don’t let their team-mates down.
Of all the new rules, the Happiness Power Point is the most gimmicky but the teams also used it seriously and it paid dividends for the champions, the Indian Aces.
Players like Sharapova and Djokovic are not fans of the shot clock that gives them just 20 seconds to serve but it’s one of the features that make the matches go fast. And who knows? Maybe it will force Djokovic to bounce the ball a few less times before serving on tour.
Bhupathi says the Shootout (five minutes of play when the set reaches 5-5) might be changed into a tiebreak, first to five.
