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Philippines, 20 Apr 2024 |
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SHARAPOVA, MURRAY LEAD STELLAR CAST IN MANILA LEG OF IPTL TOURNAMENT By Ronnie Nathanielsz PhilBoxing.com Fri, 25 Jul 2014  Wimbledon women's singles champion Maria Sharapova and former men's champion Andy Murray will lead a stellar cast of players in the inaugural leg of the International Premier Tennis League tournament to be held at the Smart Araneta Coliseum from November 28-30. The IPTL is a brainchild of Indian tennis star Mahesh Bhupathi its founder who told the Manila Standard/Viva Sports that the tennis stars had signed contracts after money was laid on the table so there is a guarantee the players will show up and play. Bhupathi said what he is treying to do is "to bring some of the biggest stars in the sport to Manila because Filipinos love watching 'live' entertainment and with Sharapova and Serena Williams, the two top players in the world and a chance for fans to see 20 players a day its a good mix and should be great for the fans." He said Philippine Davis Cup star and world ranked doubles player Treat Huey is "pretty excited about being playing-coach of the Manila Mavericks team." Bhupathi said he expects the matches "to be very competitive because they will be playing for money, playing for points, every game counts and it will be strategic." He said they had approached Sharapova directly during the Wimbledon championships whether she would like to play in Manila and Bhupathi said "luckily for us she said yes within 48 hours" ensuring that Filipino fans will come out to watch the talented and extremely popular and attractive Russian. The IPTL founder said Murray "was aware of the concept the whole time and agreeable to playing anywhere in Asia." Bhupathi said the tennis players "love to play in this part of the world because they are treated really well and they are looked upon as superstars even more so than Europe. I think that helps." The Standard learned that the tickets would be priced reasonably with the most expensive at around P15,000 and the cheapest about P750 pointing out that "from the league's perspective the idea is to sellout the stadium on day one. Eric Gottschalk (IPTL COO) noted the world will be watching since some people in the tennis world have been skeptical about whether this will work so if we can sell-out the Araneta on the opening day it we'll make a very strong statement." Bhupathi conceded that personally he chose the Araneta because of its storied history centering around the famed "Thrilla in Manila" which is regarded as the greatest heavyweight title fight of all-time between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier and added "I've been joking that we're bringing the 'Thrilla in Manila' Part II to the Philippines. 
IPTL organizers pose for a photo during Thursday's press conference at the Shangri-la Hotel in Metro Manila. Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.  |
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