Watching Federer play will burn a hole in your pocket
NEW DELHI: With the likes of Roger Federer, Serena Williams, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray ready to grace India for the International Premier Tennis League (IPTL) in early December, be ready to shell out the moolah if you want to catch the action live.
According to IPTL CEO, Eric Gottschalk, only season passes will be sold for the Delhi leg, to be played at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium from December 6 to 8. “We will be selling a three-day pass,” he said at the recent announcement that Federer would play for Micromax Indian Aces. While it appears a smart business move, fans hoping to watch a single day’s action would be disappointed.
Now, these passes won’t come cheap. The lowestpriced pass will be around ₹12000. The most expensive is said to be about ₹29000 and the mid-level ticket is expected to be priced at around ₹16000.
A recent circular at Calcutta’s South Club states that ‘IPTL organisers have agreed to set aside a limited number of season tickets... for members of our club’. Its president Enrico Piperno, who is also a former coach of Mahesh Bhupathi, whose brainchild IPTL is, told HT from Kolkata: “I had asked Mahesh to reserve 50 tickets for the club members. There’s a lot of interest and close to 40 have already been booked,” he said. “My family and I are definitely buying tickets to come and see the matches.”
Of the four host cities, Delhi and Manila are offering only season tickets. If you want to watch Manila Mavericks live from November 28 to 30, the cheapest passes (early bird general admission) are 2500 pesos (₹3400 approx) and those for general admission are 2900 pesos (₹4000 approx).
OTHER CITIES
In Singapore, daily tickets are priced at S$41.65 (early bird promotion) and normal passes are available from S$49 (₹2400 approx). The cheapest daily ticket in
Dubai is 70 Arab Emirates Dirham (₹1200 approx). Singapore and Dubai are also offering a three-day pass.
With a galaxy of stars, present and past, to feature in the tennis bonanza, the organisers expect the tickets to fly off the internet.