Boban

What is a Tennis League? If an average tennis lover is a gourmand and the white sport is a cake, a Tennis League would be a cherry on a top of it. That is the value of this special tournament. According to some opinions, the Tennis League is a try to make this sport more attractive, glamorous and sensational. So, we are talking about an exclusive kind of tournament and real specialty for all people that are passionate about tennis. Today, there are two main tennis leagues in the world – International Premier Tennis League (IPTL) and Championship Tennis League (CTL). Let’s find out more about them. FOUNDERS: In both cases, founders are famous tennis players from India. Mahesh Bhupathi (known as a first Indian who won Grand Slam tournament) created IPTL in 2013. One year later, Vijay Amritraj did the same with CTL. Interesting fact about Amritraj - he was also sport commentator and actor. PLAYERS: CTL brings together ATP and WTA players, veterans/legends and famous male Indian players. It also includes young girls and boys at the beginnings of their careers in order to promote them and help them to learn from successful players. It is almost the same with IPTL – tennis stars and rising talents are together, but it looks like CTL is more oriented on promoting upcoming Indian talents. RULES: In both leagues there are five categories – women single, man single, men double, mixed double and past champion/legends single. IPTL At the beginning, there were four teams, but later this number increased to five (India, Singapore, UAE, Philippines and Japan as the last added). Because this is an exhibition tournament and it should be fun and dynamic, rules are not the same as usual. Teams are competing against each other. Match is divided into five parts (categories) and the team who first wins in three games is the winner. Instead of two or more, just one set is played. Every set is being played to six points, like in regular tennis tournament. But, there is a small difference. Here, ordinary gem is played on four points, which means that for an example in situation 40-40 there is no advantage – the next point wins the gem. If it comes to a tie score (5:5, for example), tie-break is played. It is called “five-minute shoot-out”. At the end of those five minutes, the one who leads is the winner of the set. So, at the end of the competition, the team with the best score points becomes the champion. CTL Six teams are divided into two Zones – South and North. Each Zone has three teams. They are playing at home and away. The winners from both groups reach into the final. The way of choosing the players is interesting. Twenty four of them are on the draft and each team choose one player from each category (ATP, WTA, legends and famous male Indian player). Every game has five sets. Each set actually counts as a match. In 2014 the player had to win six games in order to be the winner of a match. That changed next year, when, instead of six, five games were enough. Just as in IPTL, gem is played on four points, with no advantage. If it comes to tie-break, the teams are playing “9 point tie-breaker”. You may wonder “What’s this?” Well, first one who wins 9 points in this gem is the winner of the whole match. Also, there is no advantage in tie-break. Maybe this sounds a little strange, but one of the main ideas, fun for everybody (players, audience, even judges), is guaranteed. Of course, don’t forget the money. AWARDS: IPTL winner gets the IPTL Challenge Trophy together with one million dollars and 500 000 dollars are provided for the second place. Of course, there are MPV awards for both genders. Also, every participant in this tournament gets a fee, even if they are not getting points for ATP or WTA list. The main award for the best in CTL is 10 million rupees, which is equivalent to about 150 000 dollars. Runners-up get 100 000 rupees (about 75 000 dollars). Except the Champions Tennis League Cup, there are two more special awards – Robert Armitraj and Margaret Armitraj (named after the founder’s parents). Robert Armitraj is given to the MVP of the tournament and Margaret Armitraj is intended for best Indian player during this competition. TIME AND PLACE: The audience in New Delhi, Kobe, Dubai, Manila and Singapore had the privilege to watch IPTL tennis stars last year. When we are talking about CTL, in past years matches were held across the whole India (Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Raipur, Nagpur, Chandigarh, Pune, Bandalore, Delhi). Both tournaments are held once a year, in November, after the end of the tennis season. FUN FACTS: A lot of fun goes along with IPTL. Last year, all of it could be watched in 125 countries, with the help of TV coverage. Two TV channels, Sony SIX HD and Sony KIX, broadcasted CTL matches in India. The Tennis Channel did the same for USA. The biggest sponsors for IPTL in 2015 were Coca-Cola and Qatar Airways. The names of teams were also remarkable (according to the spirit of tournament, of course) - Indian Aces, Japan Warriors, Singapore Slammers, Philippine Mavericks and UAE Royals. Sounds powerful, doesn’t it? Let’s go further. Did you hear about “power point”? Each IPTL team can call for it once in the set. So, if the team wins the next point, it would be counted double. Pretty awesome! Since this is an exhibition tournament, don`t be surprised when you see a referee that is entertaining audience or players dancing to DJ tunes. At the end, after all the unusual rules, significant awards and spectacular atmosphere, we could say the Tennis League is kind of competition completely devoted to increasing the popularity of tennis. And we expect even more in upcoming years. Maybe in future exhibition tournaments like this could become traditional on every continent. Who knows?