Lleyton Hewitt Likes Mahesh Bhupathi’s (ITPL) Tennis League “Draft” On March 2

Written by: Bob Larson Tennis on 21st January 2014

Lleyton Hewitt Likes Mahesh Bhupathi's (ITPL) Tennis League "Draft" On March 2

epa04016160 Lleyton Hewitt of Australia attends a press conference ahead of the Australian Open Grand Slam tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia, 12 January 2014. The tournament will take place in Melbourne from 13 to 26 January 2014. EPA/JOE CASTRO AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND OUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY |

First news of the International Premier Tennis League appeared in Bob Larson’s Daily Tennis News last March but official confirmation came at the Australian Open today with co-founder Mahesh Bhupathi revealing the competition will start November 28 and run to December 20 later this year.

Bhupathi outlined the concept in Paris at the beginning of the French Open last March and now he is officially in a position to announce teams from Bangkok, Singapore, Mumbai, Kuala Lumpur and one more city from the Middle East will initially contest the International Premier Tennis League (ITPL).

Expansion is hoped to take place on an annual basis and Bhuphati anticipated ten teams will be contesting the ITPL by 2020 with at least one from China involved.

Both male and female players, current day performers and legends from the senior tours, as well as so‑called stars of the future, will play and each team will have a $10 million salary pool and a draft for players will take place in Dubai on March 2. There will be a minimum of six players and a maximum of 10 per team.

International television rights agency MP and Silva, who hold the rights for part of soccer’s 2014 FIFA World Cup to be played later this year, the English Premier League and the French Open at Roland Garros, have acquired the rights and will distribute the images of the ITPL on a global basis.

Bhupathi and the ITPL’s chief executive Morgan Menahem, best known as Jo-Wilfried Tsonga’s agent, are unable to currently release a definitive list of players. However Lleyton Hewitt was at the press conference at Melbourne Park and confirmed he will be a contestant.

“There’s a lot of player interest, absolutely,” said Hewitt. “I think there’s going to be a very high‑quality player field involved. I’m sure there will be big signings, which is great. “Obviously I’m excited to be a part of it. For me when I first heard about it the start of the year, I thought it was a fantastic concept. I’ve obviously witnessed the Twenty20 Cricket really explode as well.

“We get to the opportunity to play in a close‑knit team, which is close to my heart, growing up with Australian football and team sports. That’s one thing lacking in tennis. We don’t get the opportunity to participate in a team.”

The format of the tennis will be geared to television with five sets per match; one men’s singles, one men’s doubles, one women’s singles, one mixed doubles, and one legends singles. Each will be one set, with no‑ad scoring and a tiebreaker at 5‑All. The winning team is the one to wins the most number of games at the end of the day, not the number of sets.

“It’s made for TV, three to three and a half hours, so you know when it ends,” said Menahem. “Each team plays against each other home‑and‑away. It’s the number of games that you win that makes the winner. You could actually lose sets and still win depending on the score. After that there will be a Grand Final to decide the champions.”

Topics: 10sballs, Australian Open, Lleyton Hewitt, Mahesh Bhupathi, Sports, Tennis, Tennis News