Andy Murray Expects To Play IPTL

Written by: Staff on 16th July 2013

Andy Murray Expects To Play IPTL

epa03773279 Andy Murray of Britain returns to Fernando Verdasco of Spain during their quarter-final match for the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, in London, Britain, 03 July 2013. EPA/KERIM OKTEN |

Wimbledon champion Andy Murray is set to be one of the prized assets of the International Premier Tennis League, set to be staged in Asia and the Middle East beginning December 2014, the Scot has laid down the proviso that if playing the competition compromises his close season training then he will not play.

The driving force behind the IPTL is Mahesh Bhupathi, the soon to retire 38 year-old Indian doubles player who in March became part of Murray’s management team and prompted the formation of XIX Globalsport in collaboration with Simon Fuller. The new partnership was created to explore money-making opportunities in developing markets such as India and the Middle East.

However Murray is wary of the demands of the ITPL, which seems to demand a lot of time and travel, with cities currently vying to host franchise teams including Singapore, Tokyo, Mumbai, Delhi, Hong Kong, Manila, Seoul, Dubai, Jakarta and Doha, Qatar.

Marquee players such as Murray and Novak Djokovic could have an equity stake in the league and would have the option to play only home matches for their designated team and get paid per night. Yet anything staged in December would compromise Murray’s Miami off-season training camp which has become sacrosanct in his preparation for a new year of tennis.

“If I go to play in the league, what I agreed to is play is three nights in one place, so I’m not traveling around across the whole of Asia in the space of a week,” said Murray. “If I can go somewhere for one week and set up a camp where it’s warm and there are good training conditions, then it could work well.

“Playing against the best players in the world, which is the only thing missing from Miami, would be good. Right now a lot of the others play loads of exhibitions in December and I’ve never really done that. But if I could be in one place for a week and take my guys there and train properly, it could be fine.”

“But my sole commitment would be one week, and if I tried it and didn’t think it was working I wouldn’t go back. That’s the reality.”

©Daily Tennis News Wire

Topics: Andy Murray, International Premier Tennis League, Mahesh Bhupathi, Novak Djokovic, Sports, Tennis News