Story highlights
- International Premier Tennis League (IPTL) holds first draft
- Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams to take part
- Four teams based in cities in Asia
- Roger Federer a notable absentee for Nov 27-Dec 14 event
The draft for the first edition of International Premier Tennis League (IPTL) Sunday has attracted the top ranked players in the men's and women's game, Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams.
Teams based in Mumbai, Bangkok, Singapore and Dubai will contest the event from November 27-December 14 later this year with 24 matches taking place across the four host cities.
Spain's Nadal was picked for Mumbai, who also include 14-time grand slam legend Pete Sampras, while his WTA Tour counterpart Williams is in the Singapore line-up.
Novak Djokovic will feature for Dubai, with Wimbledon champion Andy Murray representing Bangkok.
The event is the brainchild of Indian doubles star Mahesh Bhupathi and the concept is modeled on cricket's Indian Premier League.
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Who's in, who's out in IPTL – Rafael Nadal is the biggest men's player to be taking part in the new International Premier Tennis League (IPTL). It's an exhibition league that will take place from late November to the middle of December, during tennis' off-season. Nadal isn't the lone star who will be involved ...
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Who's in, who's out in IPTL – He's joined by his pal and fellow grand slam winner Novak Djokovic. Djokovic owns six grand slam titles and is a former world No. 1.
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Who's in, who's out in IPTL – Andy Murray is another on the IPTL list. Murray boasts two grand slam titles and ended a nearly 80-year wait for a British men's singles champion at Wimbledon in 2013.
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Who's in, who's out in IPTL – World No. 1 and 17-time grand slam singles winner Serena Williams, left, headlines the list of women participating. Two-time grand slam winner Victoria Azarenka joins Williams.
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Who's in, who's out in IPTL – Stanislas Wawrinka stunned the tennis world when he beat Nadal in the Australian Open final. Wawrinka will be Switzerland's top player in the IPTL because ...
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Who's in, who's out in IPTL – Roger Federer won't be there. Federer, the 17-time men's grand slam champion, is still the biggest name in tennis.
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Who's in, who's out in IPTL – Maria Sharapova won't be there, either. Sharapova might be the world's highest-profile female athlete.
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Who's in, who's out in IPTL – The bubbly Li Na is likely Asia's most popular tennis player. Like Sharapova and Federer, she's giving the IPTL a miss.
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Who's in, who's out in IPTL – Leander Paes, perhaps India's most accomplished player of all time, wasn't on Friday's official player list.
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Who's in, who's out in IPTL – Paes' former doubles partner, Mahesh Bhupathi, is the man behind the IPTL. He's seen here with his Bollywood star wife, Lara Dutta.
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Wawrinka's first grand slam victory 02:07
A total sum of $23,975,000 was spent across the four teams, with Bhupathi delighted to have attracted a clutch of current and former champions.
"We've got some unbelievably strong teams. I think out of the 28 players that got drafted we have about 21 Grand Slam champions. We have 14 present and past number ones. It's a pretty blockbuster field," Bhupathi said.
The dates are during the off-season for both the ATP and WTA Tour, but there are some notable absentees with both Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova sitting it out.
Australian Open champion Li Na is also missing despite her popularity in Asia and her male counterpart Stanislas Wawrinka has joined fellow Swiss star Federer on the sidelines.
The matches will be in best-of-five format with single set contests in men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, mixed doubles and past champions singles.
The schedule will see matches in Singapore, followed by Bangkok and Mumbai with the finale in Dubai.
