INDIAN ACES WIN IPTL, BUT “EVERYONE IS HAPPY” WITH LEAGUE’S FIRST SEASON BY RICKY DIMON

Written by: Staff on 13th December 2014

International Tennis Premier League in Dubai

INDIAN ACES WIN IPTL, BUT "EVERYONE IS HAPPY" WITH LEAGUE'S FIRST SEASON BY RICKY DIMON

epa04528059 Team of Micromax Indian Aces celebrate after winning the International Premier Tennis League (IPTL) at Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Sports Complex in Dubai, United Arab Emirates on 13 December 2014. EPA/ALI HAIDER |

The Micromax Indian Aces, whose team included Roger Federer for a two-match stretch in New Delhi, clinched the first-ever IPTL title on Friday night. Combined with the UAE Royals’ 23-21 loss to the last-place Singapore Slammers, the Aces’ 28-23 win over the Manila Mavericks was enough to guarantee first place.

It was a good thing the Indian team went ahead and got the job done, too, because the league’s final match on Saturday in Dubai saw the Aces go down emphatically, 29-15, to the Royals.

Novak Djokovic dominated each of his two sets, pairing up with Nenad Zimonjic to prevail 6-2 in men’s doubles before blanking Gael Monfils 6-0 in men’s singles.

Serbian Novak Djokovic of Musafir.com UAE Royals in action against Micromax Indian Aces French Gael Monfils during their match of the International Premier Tennis League (IPTL) at Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Sports Complex in Dubai, United Arab Emirates on 13 December 2014. EPA/ALI HAIDER

Despite the loss, the Aces finished with an overall record of 8-4–good for 39 total points. Team UAE came in second with 37 points, two ahead of the Manila Mavericks’ 35 while Singapore was a distant fourth with 24 points.

Thus concluded a successful first season of the IPTL

“Everyone is happy,” managing director Mahesh Bhupathi assured. “The players have embraced it; a lot of them who have played the whole season have been able to bond with players with whom they normally wouldn’t because tennis is such an individual sport. All in all, everyone is happy with the first season, so we’re off to a good start.

Team of Micromax Indian Aces celebrate after winning the International Premier Tennis League (IPTL) at Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Sports Complex in Dubai, United Arab Emirates on 13 December 2014. EPA/ALI HAIDER

“The way the players have accepted and competed is probably one of the biggest highlights for me. The second is obviously Novak’s match with Roger in Delhi. The quality of tennis (in) that one set has never been seen in my country before. We had 16,000 people in there; the atmosphere was amazing and personally being an Indian, for me that was a very proud moment.”

“I definitely enjoyed the whole experience very much,” Djokovic added. “The league gave me this opportunity to be next to legends of this sport and next to my fellow colleagues, and [allowed] me to feel this team spirit that I usually don’t have on the tour.

“It’s definitely been a success.”

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand.

Topics: Dubai, Indian Aces, IPTL, Mahesh Bhupathi, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Tennis, UAE Royals

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10sBalls_com says:

December 13, 2014 at 4:55 pm

-@IndianAces WIN @iptl, BUT “EVERYONE IS HAPPY” WITH LEAGUE’S FIRST SEASON BY @RD_Tennistalk- http://t.co/h0UvKLegbM #tennis #iptl #Federer
RD_Tennistalk says:

December 13, 2014 at 9:30 pm

RT @10sBalls_com: -@IndianAces WIN @iptl, BUT “EVERYONE IS HAPPY” WITH LEAGUE’S FIRST SEASON BY @RD_Tennistalk- http://t.co/h0UvKLegbM #te…