IPTL International Premier tennis League

[Hoergren]

Well time for a tournament of upperclass tennis pros:

Here is a video explaining the - a little complex - rules:

SORRY it's been withdrawn from YOU TUBE ??

Well and what on earth is this - a joke?, you ask. It is in someways something new and a wonderful mix of old and new. A tournament which runs from 28 November to 13 December. You could call it a city tournament, since it is 4 cities in the East fighting for honor, money and prestige. The 4 teams with a total of 28 tennis players of which 21 slam winners is:

UAE Royals in Dubai - is:
Novak Djokovic, Marin Čilić, Richard Gasquet, Nenad Zimonjić, Janko Tipsarević, Goran Ivanišević, Malek Jaziri, Caroline Wozniacki, Christina Mladenovic

Manila Mavericks in Manila - is:
Andy Murray, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Carlos Moyá, Daniel Nestor, Treat Huey, Maria Sharapova, Kirsten Flipkens

Mikromax Indian Aces in Delhi - is:
Roger Federer, Gaël Monfils, Pete Sampras, Rohan Bopanna, Fabrice Santoro, Sania Mirza, Ana Ivanovic

Singapore Slammers in Singapore - is:
Andre Agassi, Lleyton Hewitt, Nick Kyrgios, Patrick Rafter, Tomáš Berdych, Bruno Soares, Serena Williams, Daniela Hantuchová

As you can see there are both current and former players and both men and women. How the tournament takes place I will explain in details later in the week - but until then watch the video.

 

[Hoergren]

INTERNATIONAL PREMIER TENNIS LEAGUE (IPTL) 1st leg in Manilla

28 – 30 November 2014
4:00 pm & 7:30 pm
Mall of Asia Arena

MATCH SCHEDULE
28 November 2014
4:00 pm India vs Singapore
7:30 pm Manila vs UAE

29 November 2014
4:00 pm UAE vs Singapore
7:30 pm Manila vs India

30 November 2014
4:00 pm UAE vs India
7:30 pm Manila vs Singapore

3 Match Days with 2 matches each day - general rules (more in next post)
Each match features 5 sets played in a no-ad scoring format (you only need to win with 1 point - e.g. 40-40 and next player who wins a point wins the whole game) in the following categories:
• Men’s Singles
• Women’s Singles
• Men’s Doubles
• Mix Doubles
• Past Champions Singles

The team that wins the most games from all 5 sets wins the match!

Scoring
Each game won by a player adds 1 point to their total game points. The team which wins the most games at the end of the five single-set matches wins the match tie.

Each single-set match is won when a team is the first to reach 6. If the score is 5-games-all, a 7-point Tiebreaker will be played.

Shot Clock
During the course of the IPTL, a shot clock keeps track of the countdown between points and change over.

There will be a maximum of 20 seconds between each game point, and a maximum of 3 minutes between each single-set match.

Timeout
Each team can call for a Coaches Time Out once in each single-set match. Each Coaches Time Out is limited to a maximum duration of 60 seconds only.

Substitution/Injury
A player who gets injured during a single-set match cannot be replaced. The team secures the current game total, but loses the set with the maximum games played. In the next set, the injured player can be replaced by a substitute for another set.

Next post - additional rules

 

[Hoergren]

Special Competition Features

Tiebreaker
When the score reaches 5-games-all in any single-set match, a 7-point Tiebreaker decides the winner of said match.

Match Tie Winner
The team that wins the most games across the 5 single-set matches played wins the match tie, with 4 points added to the tally in the team standing.
If the losing team accumulates more than 20 game points, they win 2 points in the team standing.
More than 10 but less than 20 game points wins them 1 point in the team standing.
But if they win less than 10 game points, they do not receive any points in the team standing.

Power Point
Each team can call a Power Point once in each single-set match when on the receiver's side, and the next point played will count double. Effectively, a player trailing 15:0 can directly get to 15:30 by winning the Power Point.

Shoot-out
In case the score is tied at the end of five single-set matches, a 7 point men's singles Shoot-out is played. The result counts as a game point won.
Final Match Importance

The final single-set match of each match tie will be played until either of the following occurs:

-The leading team in the match tie wins the fifth and final single-set match, or
-The trailing team wins the fifth match, and is still behind in overall games points won.
In such a case, the match continues until either the trailing team has won enough games to equal the overall score, in which case the Shoot-out rule applies.
Or
the leading team wins one game, and so wins the match tie.

League Winner
In the event of a tie in team standings, the team with the most match wins is declared winner with the following criteria, in this order:

Head to head standing
Number of games won
Number of games lost
Biggest games margin in any single match win
Coin toss

I told you it was a bit complex - but interesting

 

[Hoergren]

The IPTL is starting on Friday November 28, but Caroline's been asked to meet up with the team when they play in Singapore (2-4 December). That means that it is Genie who is playing in Manilla for the team from Dubai. Suits me fine that she's off for two more weeks preparing for 2015 - first in Miami and then Monaco and Dubai according to Piotr.

And this is the trophy they are fighting about:

 

[Hoergren]

Following news about television - the legal part

Middle East and North Africa television broadcasting rights with Abu Dhabi Media.

STAR Sports India will broadcast the league's matches live

Integrated Sports Media to televise every league match of the 2014 season on a pay-per-view basis in the United States.

ABS-CBN in the Philippines and SingTel in Singapore will show matches.

Unknown stations in United Kingdom, France, the Czech Republic, Serbia, Southeast Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa and Brazil also said to broadcast the matches - no details yet.

We'll see where we can see a stream later

 

[tented]

Thanks for keeping our community informed, Hoergren.

And best of luck to Caroline! :clap

 

[GameSetAndMath]

A video of Veus dancing in Bollywood style is available on this page.

Venus is not playing in the main circus organized by Bhupathi across 4 countries. She is playing in the mini-circus a poor man's version, organized by Vijay Amritraj across 6 cities in India.

 

[Hoergren]

#EugenieBouchard has been forced to withdraw from the League due to an injury she sustained in training on Monday

Kristina Mladenovic will take her place in the tournament.:nono

 

[Hoergren]

Schedule of play for first leg of the IPTL tournament - which starts tomorrow:

It's to be seen on different PAY-PER-VIEW channels but you can also find a stream ond good old dracula:

http://www.drakulastream.eu/tennis-live-streaming-video.html

 

[sk310]

Smart of Genie to withdrawal. Better safe than sorry when the off season is so short.

 

[Hoergren]

Smart of Genie to withdrawal. Better safe than sorry when the off season is so short.

Well if you're injured then it's absolutely not advisable to take part, but if you look at the concept it's only two sets in each match they have to play and one of them is a mix double. We'll see how it works in 40 minutes when the tournament starts.

If you live in England SKY SPORT 3, UNIBET and BET365 are sending from Manilla. If you have any information about channels elsewere PLEASE put in the information here - thanks.

People crowding outside:

 

[Hoergren]

First match is over and ready for #2 - here the results:

Here the happy bunch:

My thoughts about the inaugural event.
I think it's an interesting concept and the players seem to enjoy what's going on. Cheering each other and the timeouts are great where we really see the teamspirit blow.
The match began with the hometeam deciding what should be first match - new to me (well everything is new but this was not mentioned). After a woblly start the players found a rythm and noone were nerveous after the first 15 minutes. Power points were fun to watch too and the reciever who can claim such points won in more occasions. There are NO LETS and that's a thing which should be a rule in normal tennis too - me thinks. The legends is a gift too they were fun to see and especially Santoro presented us with a brilliant gameplay and they both served tweeners. Another thing which was good and fun to follow was the total point score which was present all the time. 5 minutes shoot out was fun to watch Santoro really used as much time as he could. In the shoot out the winner is that who has most points after 5 minutes - also a nice way to have a tiebreak. The no-ad score is a good thing too. The best is that the players are relaxed and enjoy the play and it's not too much in a period where they actually should relax and be at the beach recovering for the new season. I think it's an event which will grow in season two.

 

[Hoergren]

Sharapova playing doubles - never heard of that - she is - with Andy Murray- They are struggeling and they are behind 1-5. UAE Royals has got a head start and won the first two set and now on the brink to win the third- Oh it's fun to watch It ended 64 to UAE Royals and Maria got better and better so maybe they get back stronger when they play mix tomorrow. She really seemed to enjoy the play - great to see. Fun to see how the cheerleaders are flirting with the boys

Maria playing singles against Mladenovic and for the first time there was a "bit" of confusion about the rules so umpire had to be replaced - LOL. Maria caught by the clock and point went to Mladenovic - wonder if that's the last time Andy aand Maria won in the end - here a nice picture

Last set underway. Interesting when you have started toss the ball you have to finish - you won't have a second chance - also a good idea. So ended the second match.

A teamfie of Sharpovas team:

And here the winners from UAE Royals:

 

[sk310]

I never quite understand exhibitions like this. They don't really interest me. Are the matches decided on before hand or are players just told to kind of make it competitive?

 

[Hoergren]

I never quite understand exhibitions like this. They don't really interest me. Are the matches decided on before hand or are players just told to kind of make it competitive?

Givee it a try - it's NOT like an exhibition, and it's fun to watch. It's a tournament which will return again next year, and the players like it. Here you can see Maria Sharapovas set against Kristina Mladenovic:

 

[Hoergren]

Some player comments after the matches:

Maria Sharapova @MariaSharapova
Well that was better than pecan pie. I got to hit some volleys and dance during the match. It must be Manila!

 

[Hoergren]

IPTL - day 2 - another display of joyful and good tennis. First match is over and that brought the finest play up in people like Mladenovic an Kyrgios. Mladenovic practically erased Hantuchova in their singles match and she's been a real good substitute for Genie. Hantuchova made a real good comeback and gained her confidence back with help from a magnificent playing Bruno Soares so the Slammers won the mix double. In the mens double the magician was Nick Kyrgios who found shots not mentioned in any instruction book. In the set of legends Ivanisevic again proved that he's not forgotten to play tennis - bravo.

Here is a message from The Slammers: "We're done being nice! Tomorrow we win"

Here Maria is talking to her fans:
[video=youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUMRPbRwGAA[/video]

Hadn't the oportunity to watch all the matches but saw Ana beat Maria - who is still struggling with the ball toss. Ana was playing brilliantly though so no doubt about the winner here.

Here is the standings after day 2:

Don't be confused by the points the winners get bonus points after the rules mentioned in previous post, The Slammers has a job to do. Caroline's Royals and Ana's Aces are leading the tournament. A lot can happen tomorrow.

Highlights from Ana vs Maria:

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

It is a pity Sharapova didnt play more doubles in her career,I did laugh out loud when she tried to volley,while playing doubles with Murray.Sharapova looked soo awkard at the net.Playing doubles does enhance your singles game.

 

[sk310]

This is all too bizarre and the rules way too complicated. K.I.S.S. Keep it simple stupid.

 

[Hoergren]

Well Sk it's your choice to have doubts. I'll bring the results from today followed by the reactions to this first leg of the tournament and please let me be fascinated by the way the gameplay has been. Really a concept which will grow and have influence on how standard tennis will be played in the future. I didn't have the chance to see the matches today because of family but as promised the results from day 3 in Manilla:

Indian aces has taken the lead in the tournament - let's see how it develops when UAE Roylas get Djokovic and Wozniacki in their team next week-end.

Manilla Mavericks got their first victory over Serenas team Singapore Slammers.

Here arse some thoughts from the first leg:

LA Campeña @lorenalyssa
@iptl Thank you for giving us 3 incredible days of watching our favorite players live and for giving us a taste of world class tennis!!

judy murray @judmoo
Well done @iptl. Tennis bosses take note. Innovative format. Gr8 atmosphere. Team competition works for fans. That's entertainment.

Kristina Mladenovic @KikiMladenovic
Thank you Manila for an amazing atmosphere!Enjoyed every moment of it.

Carlos Moya @Charlymoya
Amazing 3 days in Manila for the @iptl ,what a start,amazing crowd,tomorrow off to singapore

Next stop Singapore