Singapore: Multiple Grand Slam champions Serena Williams and Andre Agassi will turn up for their IPTL franchise Singapore 'Slammers' during their home leg matches against UAE Royals, Team Manila and Indian Aces at the Singapore Indoor Stadium (SIS) between December 2-4.
"After the WTA Tour finals, this will be the second major professional tennis event to grace the city in 2014 and we are proud to become a part of the word tennis calendar," said Greg Tan, Vice President of the Singapore Tennis Association at the official launch press conference of the Singapore Slammers.
"The Singapore Indoor Stadium with its over 12,000 spectator seating capacity has a tradition of hosting major sports and entertainment events and will be the ideal venue for the IPTL," added Tan.
IPTL is a new team tennis competition featuring the best current and former ATP and WTA players across 4 selected cities in Asia (Manila, Singapore, Delhi, Dubai) from 28 November until December 13.
"It is time for innovation in tennis. We hope the fanfare IPL has brought to cricket, the IPTL will bring for tennis," states Mahesh Bhupathi, founder of the IPTL.
Mahesh, himself a winner of 53 ATP Tour titles including of 12 Doubles and Mixed Doubles Grand Slams continues that "IPTL format will be very attractive to broadcasters and fans alike. We have changed the traditional scoring format to single-set no-add scoring which will speed up the games and allow us to expose the fans to up to 24 different players in one evening while the broadcasters for the first time, will be able to schedule predictable start and finish times of each match."
Former India cricket captian and Singapore Slammers co-owner Sunil Gavaskar said,"The IPTL is a great idea and with the best tennis players in the world taking part, it should be a wonderfully entertaining experience for tennis lovers.
"Singapore has always been a sports loving nation and it is therefore an honour and pleasure to be a co-owner of the Singapore franchise 'the Singapore Slammers'. I am sure tennis lovers will be in for a feast of top class tennis and the Singapore tennis fans."
