World No. 2 Federer to play for UAE Royals in IPTL

IT IS OFFICIAL. World Number Two Roger Federer of Switzerland will play for the United Arab Emirates Royals in the second season of the International Premier Tennis League this December.

In ceremonies held in Dubai on Friday, attended by IPTL and UAE Royals officials, Mr. Federer, who as of this writing is preparing for his United States Open final match against World Number One Novak Djokovic, it was announced he would join Goran Ivanisevic, Ana Ivanovic, Daniel Nestor, Kristina Mladenovic and Tomas Berdych in the Royals lineup.

In the inaugural IPTL season last year, Mr. Federer played for the eventual champions Indian Aces.

Also during the announcement ceremonies, India Test Cricket captain Virat Kohli was introduced as co-owner of the UAE Royals.

“I have always followed tennis with great interest and today I am glad to be part of a professional tennis league team,” Mr. Kohli said in a statement sent via e-mail to members of the sports media.

He added: “I am a huge fan of Roger Federer and with him joining the UAE Royals, my decision to be on board with the team was firm. The UAE Royals feature some of tennis’ greatest players and I am confident about the prospects of the team in the IPTL. I am also excited about the format of the IPTL, which I am sure will drive further interest in the game of tennis.”

A brainchild of Indian doubles legend Mahesh Bhupati, the IPTL is a league designed to “break the code of tennis.”

It introduced tweaks in scoring and tiebreaks, among others, to make the game more fast-paced and attractive to tennis aficionados and even to those who are not.

In the first season of the four-leg tournament, the Indian Aces emerged as champions after piling up a record of eight wins and four losses with 39 total points, ahead of the UAE Royals, 7-5 (37 points), Manila Mavericks, 6-6, (35 points) and Singapore Slammers, 3-7 (24 points).

For this year’s IPTL, the Philippine Mavericks are led by women’s world number one Serena Williams and joined by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Richard Gasquet of France, Mark Philippoussis and Jarmila Gajdosova of Australia, Borna Coric of Croatia, Sabine Lisicki of Germany and Fil-Am player Treat Huey.

Last year, the Philippines was headed by Maria Sharapova of Russia and Andy Murray of Great Britain.

The second edition of the IPTL will run from Dec. 2 to 20 — Japan (Dec. 2 to 4), Philippines (Dec. 6 to 8), India (Dec. 10-12), Dubai (Dec. 14 to 16) and Singapore (Dec. 18 to 20).

Tickets to the Manila leg are priced at P58,500 ( VIP), P46,000 (Patron), P26,000 (Lower Box), P13,600 (Upper Box) and P3,000 (General Admission) for the three-day tennis event. An early-bird promo is currently in effect where fans can avail of discounted tickets for P49,000 ( VIP), P40,000 (Patron), P23,000 (Lower Box), P11,600 (Upper Box) and P2,600 (Gen Admission). —