MAHESH BHUPATHI’S TENNIS “LEAGUE / EXO” (IPTL) WAS A HUGE SUCCESS, BUT DUBAI TENNIS WAS NOT WELL ATTENDED, IT NEEDED MORE BIG STARS, IT’S LIKE VEGAS IT WANTS HEADLINERS ONLY

Written by: Staff on 16th December 2014

International Tennis Premier League in Dubai

MAHESH BHUPATHI'S TENNIS "LEAGUE / EXO" (IPTL) WAS A HUGE SUCCESS, BUT DUBAI TENNIS WAS NOT WELL ATTENDED, IT NEEDED MORE BIG STARS, IT'S LIKE VEGAS IT WANTS HEADLINERS ONLY

epa04526623 Novak Djokovic of DBS Singapore Slammers in action against Musafir.com UAE Royals player Tomas Berdych during their match of the International Premier Tennis League (IPTL) at Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Sports Complex in Dubai, United Arab Emirates on 12 December 2014. EPA/ALI HAIDER |

Dubai Had Lowest IPTL Attendance

Prosperous Dubai came up last in the crowd stakes at the IPTL, with fans few and far between for the final ties of the four-city series last week. Local media in the emirate lamented that lack of enthusiasm in a city where expats flock their numbers each February to back-to-back WTA and ATP events at the centrally-located Aviation Club.

But the IPTL did not have that advantage, with its venue, the Hamdan sports club, located 30 kilometers out in the desert. Even ATP No. 1 Novak Djokovic’s presence could not rev up the few fans for very long. The final tie of the off-season exhibition series was a damp squid in Dubai, with local media reporting that the 43-year-old Sampras merely going through the motions as he slow-walked through his mega-million appearance-fee payday.

“Obviously each city is different. You look at Manila, a market that’s been deprived of tennis for a long time. The fans were terrific. In comparison to Dubai, where people have been spoiled by all the great sporting events,” the head corporate organizers of the Dubai team told the Sport360 website.

Caroline Wozniacki (C) of Musafir.com UAE Royals with team-mate Novak Djokovic (R) during her match againt Manila Mavericks player Kirsten Flipkens for the International Premier Tennis League (IPTL) at Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Sports Complex in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 11 December 2014. EPA/ALI HAIDER

“The problem is that people have seen the Djokovics, the Wozniackis and such stars. Even though this is a new product, we need to be able to raise more awareness for this and bring more people here. So one of the challenges for next year is to find out what we’ve done wrong here in Dubai in terms of trying to bring the fans.”

It also seems that publicity for the event was scarce, with many tennis fans – almost all expats – caught unaware of the series and few journalists managing to cover the event.

Dubai also missed out on the star power that is Roger Federer, with the unchallenged best in the game playing only one weekend in India for the IPTL for an estimated $4 million fee. “Roger in India was like the Rolling Stones in concert,”” added the Dubai official.

Roger Federer and Rohan Bopanna of Indian aces in action against Singapore Slammers players Lleyton Hewitt and Nick Kygrious (unseen) during their mixed doubles match of the International Premier Tennis League (IPTL) in New Delhi, India on 07 December 2014. The league features four teams made out of a hybrid mix of current and former men’s and women’s players. EPA/MONEY SHARMA

“Of course if tomorrow I can get Roger here in Dubai, it would be great, but the people in Dubai, again, they’ve seen Roger before, winning the Dubai Duty Free, playing there every year for maybe the past 10 years. Our thing is not one player or two players. Our thing is multiple teams, multiple players, new players.”

The two-week IPTL featured 29 players, with the major stars like Federer and Djokovic making appearances limited to a few days in one with or the other. Of the IPTL player population, 21 competed in all four IPTL cities – Manila, Singapore, Delhi and Dubai – traveling by private jet around Asia.

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

10sBalls Editors Note : we are so proud of Mahesh. His efforts were brilliant and monumental. Okay they misjudged DUBAI. But by next year Mahesh will have “wild cards” he can throw in as well as ROGER FEDERER. It’s funny Federer is the only player we’ve ever followed that basically has his own “FEDERER FOLLOWING”. What we are saying is that people that don’t follow, play, or watch tennis. Follow Federer. They buy tickets to tennis to just watch Federer. Federer really is Betterer.

Content via Bob Larson news

Topics: Atp, Dubai, IPTL, Mahesh Bhupathi, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Tennis

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December 16, 2014 at 9:06 am

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