Circus - 3rd Edition

[GameSetAndMath]

It appears that circus is in some kind of trouble this year. Part of the trouble is caused by demonetization Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 bills in India to curb black money. Also, it appears that not many players have shown interest this year.

Anyway, they have cut down the circus from 5 venues to just 3 this year. It will be held in India, Singapore and Japan. Circus will not go to UAE or Philippines this year.

They are still hoping to have a fourth team (UAE) to be in place, even though it will be held only in three countries.

Federer, Serena, Genie, Aga, Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna are considered likely to participate. No word on others yet.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

OK. There will be four teams, but just three venues.

Here is the schedule.

Saitama, Japan -- Dec 2 to 4

Singapore, Singapore -- Dec 6 to 8

Hyderabad, India -- Dec 9 to 11



Further info at official circus website

 

[GameSetAndMath]

I looked at the team rosters of all four teams. None of the Big Four are there in any teams. :clap

Here are the teams:

Japan Warriors: Kei Nishikori, Fernando Verdasco, Kurumi Nara, Jelena Jankovic, Fernando Gonzalez, Marat Safin and Jean-Julien Rojer.
UAE Royals: Tomas Berdych, Pablo Cuevas, Ana Ivanovic, Martina Hingis, Goran Ivanisevic, Thomas Johansson and Daniel Nestor.
OUE Singapore Slammers: Serena Williams, Nick Kyrgios, Marcos Baghdatis, Kiki Bertens, Carlos Moya, Rainer Schuettler and Marcelo Melo.
Indian Aces: Feliciano Lopez, Ivan Dodig, Eugenie Bouchard, Thomas Enqvist, Mark Philippoussis , Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

I think this is the beginning of the end of Circus.

 

[Kieran]

It was highly ambitious of them to nab the top players plus legends anyway, and foolish of the top players to participate. It's still a good event for fans who rarely see these players but yeah, it's either the beginning of the end, or else this circus is now finding its level...

 

[GameSetAndMath]

It was highly ambitious of them to nab the top players plus legends anyway, and foolish of the top players to participate. It's still a good event for fans who rarely see these players but yeah, it's either the beginning of the end, or else this circus is now finding its level...

Ya, it is a big blow to IPTL. Forget, Big Four. They could attract just two of the top 10 players from ATP; Samurai and Bird. From WTA, they got one big scalp in Serena, but other than her not a single top 10 player from WTA either.

Last year they had the circus in five venues and had five teams. This either just three venues and four teams. India has money problems and there is political unrest in Philippines. Roger and Rafa are suffering from old age and injuries. Novak suffering from injury and women problems. All in all, it was a perfect storm for IPTL's downfall.

There used to be a minicircus in India (called Champions Tennis League) run by Vijay Amritraj. It was similar to IPTL, but venues and teams were confined to India even though the team roster would include several ATP and WTA players. That appears to have died completely.

 

[Front242]

Federer fans will get to see him in action before January now as he's signed up for this lolfest next month. Guess they offered him so much cash he couldn't turn it down.

http://www.sportinglife.com/tennis/news/article/553/10673139/iptl-2016-roger-federer-to-make-injury-return-for-indian-aces

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Federer fans will get to see him in action before January now as he's signed up for this lolfest next month. Guess they offered him so much cash he couldn't turn it down.

http://www.sportinglife.com/tennis/news/article/553/10673139/iptl-2016-roger-federer-to-make-injury-return-for-indian-aces

This is doubly funny as Fed is supposed to be with UAE Royals this year. Last year the contracts were signed for two years when Fed switched from Indian Aces to UAE Royals. Hence, I would have thought that even if Fed is playing, he has to play for UAE Royals only.

Initially, there were rumors that Fed will play the UAE leg only. That made sense as any way Fed is in Dubai around that time practicing. However, the entire UAE leg was abandoned and so I thought Fed is not playing at all. Further, his name was not on the team roster announced few days ago as well. Hope, they don't pay him in Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 bills which was demonetized in India recently.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Federer and the Bollywood actress responsible for two GS losses of Novak from previous editions of circus.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

There are lots of rumors going on that IPTL has payment issues. They are promising some amount of money to players (of course different amount for different players), but then have trouble delivering it and essentially reneging on their promises. Apparently, that is one of the reasons many players are not coming back. But, Mahesh Bhupathi vehemently denies these rumors and claims everything is fine with IPTL.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

A PSA for fans before they spend one year of their savings buying a ticket for the circus to see the Lion King. Federer has not announced (not in his home page, not in facebook, not in twitter) that he is actually playing in IPTL. This may be a scam to relieve some bills of people's wallet.

 

[Fiero425]

A PSA for fans before they spend one year of their savings buying a ticket for the circus to the Lion King. Federer has not announced (not in his home page, not in facebook, not in twitter) that he is actually playing in IPTL. This may be a scam to relieve some bills of people's wallet.

I don't watch that crap on The Tennis Channel; much less would I actually pay to see it! Suckers! :nono :cover

 

[Front242]

Federer and the Bollywood actress responsible for two GS losses of Novak from previous editions of circus.

Roger don't want no sloppy seconds, yo! :snicker

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Oh. No. This is an old photo.

 

[the AntiPusher]

Federer and the Bollywood actress responsible for two GS losses of Novak from previous editions of circus.

Two things..she isn't any harm from Roger trying to tap it and Novak isn't gonna be allowed to show up although he has enough $ he could have a secret Rona venture with her anywhere on this Earth he desires however it couldn't be that good to forgo 2 additional GS titles :nono

 

[Shivashish Sarkar]

Guys, any live streaming links to watch IPTL?

 

[the AntiPusher]

It's amazing just how Good Hingis around the net and court..the tennis was decent yesterday but will be better when the Swiss King arrives next week in India

 

[Shivashish Sarkar]

I like IPTL quite a bit. The format is interesting and new. The idea of teams and the structure of the matches are interesting. I like the idea of mixing up the two genders and different types of players in a team. Plus, we get to watch old legends. After all this is not official tennis, so it's good if it feels good. [WHITE SMILING FACE]

Sent from my Titanium Octane using Tapatalk

 

[Shivashish Sarkar]

I doubt if indian aces will still have any chances of qualifying for the finals when Roger joins.

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[GameSetAndMath]

The Japan leg of circus is over.

Results so far:

Indian Aces won 2 matches and lost one.
UAE Royal won 2 matches and lost one.
Singapore Slammers and Japan Warriors both won one match and lost two.

In the next leg, they need to rig this so that Indian Aces and Singapore Slammers reach the finals as that would mean Fed and Serena will play in the finals and they can scalp the tickets.