Rafael Nadal has pulled out of the International Premier tennis League in November this year in order to give his full focus to preparing for the 2015 season. The new champions league style tennis tournament is not on the ATP Tour and entirely optional for players. It involves four teams from different countries, who have selected a group of pro players past and present to compete against eachother.
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The Spaniard, who has missed a significant chunk of the 2014 season due to a wrist injury, is replaced by Swiss legend Roger Federer. Supporters of the Indian Aces team will have been sad to lose Nadal, but bringing in Federer as a replacement is likely to be a popular decision. He joins Gaël Monfils in a mouth watering doubles pairing of elegance mixed with unpredictability.
The four teams will compete in best-of-five round robin matches which will take place across the four cities between November 28 and December 13. Each match will consist of a set each for men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles and mixed doubles. If the teams are tied at the end, a legends singles tiebreak will decide the match, which could throw up some tasty head to heads (Agassi v Sampras anyone?)
Here are the current rosters that look set to compete:
Philippines – Manila Mavericks
Andy Murray, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Carlos Moyá, Daniel Nestor, Treat Huey, Maria Sharapova, Kirsten Flipkens
United Arab Emirates – U.A.E. Falcons
Novak Djokovic, Richard Gasquet, Nenad Zimonjić, Janko Tipsarević, Goran Ivanišević, Malek Jaziri, Caroline Wozniacki, Eugenie Bouchard
India – Indian Aces
Roger Federer, Gaël Monfils, Pete Sampras, Rohan Bopanna, Fabrice Santoro, Sania Mirza, Ana Ivanovic
Singapore – Singapore Lions
Andre Agassi, Lleyton Hewitt, Nick Kyrgios, Patrick Rafter, Tomáš Berdych, Bruno Soares, Serena Williams, Daniela Hantuchová
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