Tennis fever is about to hit Asia. Yes, the second season of the IPTL will begin soon. The tournament will be held in New Delhi, Kobe, Manila, Singapore and Dubai. A galaxy of tennis stars will be participating this year too, but a major reshuffling has happened. Swiss tennis Ace, Roger Federer will now play for the UAE Royals instead of the Indian Aces. The legend played an instrumental role in helping the Indian franchise to win the tournament last year. His old foe, Rafael Nadal will take his place in the Indian franchise and will lead the team’s campaign.This will be the Spaniard's first IPTL as he did not take part in last year’s edition. Rafael has had a terrible season and has promised his fans for a better show in 2016. The IPTL may just be a warm-up for that.
The most important change in the 2015 International Premier Tennis League is Novak Djokovic moving to the Singapore team. He played for the UAE Royals in the 2014 season and the team finished second. The Serb had to pull out of the tournament due to fatigue and the owners managed to bring in Andy Murray. Andy’s teammates include Stanislas Wawrinka, Nick Kyrgios, Carlos Moya amongst others.
The Brit has been in fine form. He recently helped the Great Britain team to win the Davis Cup. After that, he has been given the status of a legend in the country. He also had a decent season this year. With regards to the Grand Slams, Murray entered the Australian Open as the sixth seed and made it to the finals. Sadly he lost out to Novak Djokovic in four sets.
He was once again defeated by the Serb in the semi-finals of the French Open. Andy had a brilliant run on Clay but couldn't get past the World Number One. Novak eventually lost to Stanislas Wawrinka in the final match.
In 2013, Andy may have ended Britain’s 77-year wait for a Wimbledon title but he couldn't defeat Roger Federer in the semi-finals of this year’s Wimbledon. Fedex comfortably won the match in three sets.
The US Open was his worst performance of the year as he lost to Kevin Anderson and crashed out in the fourth round.
For the uninitiated, the league was the brainchild of Mahesh Bhupathi and the inaugural tournament met with a great response. With regards to the matches in the Indian leg, fans can use BookMyShow for their passes. The most interesting match in New Delhi is between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.
Summary:
With the addition of Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal, the 2015 IPTL has just got more exciting. The matches will be intense and fans couldn't ask for more. For the players, they will treat it like any other tournament and give it their best.
