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Washington Kastles

Team Tennis Growing Globally as Top Players Compete in Asian Leagues

December 5, 2014 - World TeamTennis (WTT)
Washington Kastles News Release


If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Mylan World TeamTennis co-founder Billie Jean King is feeling pretty good about herself these days.

Her baby, Mylan WTT, will turn 40 in 2015 after spawning two spinoff leagues that have attracted tennis superstars to the team game.

Ten of the Top 20 men's singles players and nine of the Top 20 women are playing team tennis this fall in either the Champions Tennis League or International Premier Tennis League.

The CTL, which fielded six teams in India, wrapped up on Nov. 26 with World No. 6 Agnieszka Radwanska leading the Rendezvous Pune Marathas to a 27-23 championship win over World No. 15 Jelena Jankovic and the Delhi Dreams.

Two days later, 2013 Wimbledon champion Andy Murray and reigning US Open champion Marin Cilic helped kick the IPTL off to a crowd of more than 12,000 fans in the Philippines.

"It's definitely exciting for the fans to interact with the players and see different things than they are use to," said Cilic. "For players it's different, you have to be into the matches more than usual, emotionally and as a team."

2012 Kastles substitute Treat Huey produced the shot of the season so far in the IPTL. Take a look.

With four franchises spread across Asia, the IPTL is bringing the biggest names in tennis to the sport's fastest-growing market through Dec. 13.

World No. 1s Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams play for the Musafir.com UAE Royals and DBS Singapore Slammers respectively. World No. 2s Roger Federer (Micromax Indian Aces) and Maria Sharapova (Manila Mavericks) are also participating.

Over in the CTL, Kastles players Leander Paes, Martina Hingis, Venus Williams and Kevin Anderson competed in front of rabid supporters who waved giant flags bearing team logos. Hingis defeated Venus twice in singles sets, while Paes prevailed over Anderson four times in doubles.

Each member of the six CTL rosters played for the duration of the league's 10-day season.

The IPTL, on the other hand, follows a WTT trend that allows marquee players to play a limited schedule. Federer and Djokovic have yet to debut, while Serena, Sharapova and Murray played 2-4 matches.

Serena, who last played team tennis for the Kastles in 2011, went 4-0 in singles sets. She defeated 2013 Wimbledon semifinalist Kirsten Flipkens twice before beating 5th-ranked Ana Ivanovic and 8th-ranked Caroline Wozniacki, boosting her confidence ahead of next month's Australian Open.

"I came into this thinking it was going to be fun... I didn't think it was going to be good preparation," said Serena. "But it turns out to be amazing preparation, it's really perfect... I think it's going to grow naturally because a lot of players are supporting it."

In an IPTL thriller between Singapore and UAE, Serena Williams beat Caroline Wozniacki in a shootout, Goran Ivanisevic defeated Patrick Rafter in a rematch of the 2001 Wimbledon final, and Lleyton Hewitt clinched victory for the Slammers by hitting a net-cord ace. Click above for highlights.

Big-money backing from FedEx, Yahoo and Aircel has the first-year leagues off to a fast start. Indian company Rendezvous serves as the title sponsor of the CTL champion Marathas, while businesses begin the names of three teams in the IPTL.

Or should we say the Coca-Cola IPTL presented by Qatar Airways? Coke recently added the IPTL title sponsorship to a sports portfolio that includes the Olympics, World Cup and NBA.

The man behind the IPTL is actually a former WTT Male MVP. After partnering Paes to three major titles, Mahesh Bhupathi led the New York Buzz to the 2002 WTT Finals.

More than a decade later, Bhupathi is back on the team tennis scene as an executive, bringing lessons learned from the Buzz to the IPTL. Like WTT, IPTL matches feature five no-ad sets, cumulative scoring, overtime, timeouts, let serves and substitutions.

"Some of the things we are using here, we can say that we are trying and testing out," said former doubles World No. 1 Nenad Zimonjic of the Royals. "If the TV loves it and the players love it, maybe that's the way to go."

The IPTL has added its own innovations, such as shot clocks, power points and timed shootouts that replace tiebreakers. The league will crown its inaugural champion based on regular season standings and not playoffs. Also missing are close matches.

Only two of 12 IPTL matches so far have ended with a margin of victory that was less than five games. On the other hand, 21 of 49 matches during the 2014 WTT regular season were decided by four games or fewer, including 10 by a single game.

All differences aside, Bhupathi hopes his league will take after Billie Jean King's in at least one other way.

"We'll make sure to plan well so that we can sustain this for 25 or 30 years, and become something both the fans and the players enjoy," said Bhupathi.

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