Do you like Tennis? Check our website for details on how to bet on Tennis and read the following article by our Tennis expert who previews the new International Premier Tennis League International Premier Tennis League The eagerly anticipated IPTL commences this Friday, and while it has drawn controversy in relation to its position in the Tennis Calendar, it has gradually built momentum and the proof will be in the money generated which will determine whether or not it becomes a permanent fixture. However, the attraction of the game’s elite from past and present, the interesting changes and shorter format suggests it could take-off and be a real success with fans and TV audiences alike. From a betting perspective the majority of bookmakers are offering odds on the IPTL Team winner and most should also offer odds for Team and player matches, once the match schedules are known. Obviously it’s not an event that will initially attract serious betting given its infancy and known motivation of the elite players, but it will be interesting to see how this develops during the event and how the exchanges react in terms of liquidity. IPTL Information Date: 28th November 2104 – 13th December 2014-11-26 Background The International Premier Tennis League brings together the best of today’s ATP & WTA Champions, upcoming talent and in a new spin; legends from the past will take part, in a format similar to Cricket’s IPL. It was developed to serve the high demand from Asia for elite level tennis, where at present there are a limited number of tournaments on both tours. It’s the first city-based professional league in the world and will be played across four countries. The official player draft was held on 2nd March 2014 in Dubai and a total of 28 players were added to the 4 franchise teams – The Philippines, Singapore, India and the UAE. The teams feature a host of star studded names from the ATP like 17 time Grand Slam Champion Roger Federer, current world number one Novak Djokovic, two-time Grand Slam winner Andy Murray and from the WTA world number one Serena Williams and multiple Slam winner Maria Sharapova. The Legends feature great champions from the past like Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras. In a nutshell the tournament will feature a total of 21 Grand Slam Champions and 14 current and former World Number Ones. The aim is to make the event unique and exciting, and entertainment will be the main theme for fans and TV audienceds. As a result there will be entertainment before, during and after matches in the shape of DJ’s and the organisers have introduced a number of interesting and exciting rule changes, in essence to speed and spice things up for the fans. Schedule Philippines 28th – 30th November Singapore 2nd – 4th December India 6th – 8th December UAE 11th – 13th December Teams Manila Mavericks Coach: Treat Huey Players: Andy Murray, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Daniel Nestor, Carlos Moya, Maria Sharapova & Kirsten Flipkens Singapore Slammers Coach: Joshua Eagle Players: Tomas Berdych, Nick Kyrgios, Leyton Hewitt, Bruno Soares, Patrick Rafter, Serena Williams, Daniela Hantuchova Micromax Indian Aces Coach: Fabrice Santoro Players: Roger Federer, Gael Monfils, Rohan Bopanna, Pete Sampras, Ana Ivanovic & Sania Mirza UAE Royals Coach: John-Laffnie de Jager Players: Novak Djokovic, Marin Cilic, Malek Jaziri, Nenad Zimonjic, Goran Ivanisevic, Caroline Wozniaki & Eugenie Bouchard Format Scoring All matches consist of 5 sets and each set is to 6 games with a 4 minute shout at 5-all. There is no Advantage played in each game and each game won counts as 1 point for the team’s total. Set Format Men’s singles, Ladies singles, Men’s doubles, Ladies doubles and Legends singles. The order of play will be decided by the home team and the team line up is given to the umpire 45 minutes before the match starts. Match Winner The team that wins the most games from all 5 sets wins the match; if a match is tied after five sets the Super Shoot Out determines the match winner. A team that wins a match receives 4 points and losing teams win 2 points for more than 20 game points, 1 point for more than 10 games and 0 points if they win less than 10 games. League Winner The Team with the most points won, wins the league. In the event of a tie, the team with the most match wins is declared winner based on six different criteria. At the start of each match a coin toss decides which team serves first and the team that served last in the last game/Shoot Out of the previous set will automatically be the receiver in the next set. Shoot Out & Super Shoot Out A 5 minutes “Shoot Out” is played at 5 games all to replace the traditional 7 point tie breaker. The Shoot Out follows the current tiebreak rules, meaning the player to start the “Shoot Out” will serve for 1 point, but from then onwards every player serves for 2 points. There will be no change over’s and the player that wins the most points within the 4 minutes wins the set. Players have a 20 seconds shot clock between points and lose a point in case the shot clock runs out. If the score is tied at the end of the 5 minutes, the next point wins the Shoot Out and the set. Each player receives one additional player challenge during the “Shoot Out” and any un-used player challenges will be carried over from the set. The Super Shoot Out is played the same way as the Shoot Out but it lasts for seven 7 minutes and is played to settle the score in case the points total between the teams is tied after 5 sets. Each player receives two player challenges during the Super Shoot Out”. Unless otherwise agreed, the “Super Shoot Out” is played between the leading men’s players of both teams. In case the leading player is injured, the team can decide to substitute with the other male singles player, or with a doubles, legends player. Final Set Importance The final set of each match will be played until either the leading team in overall game scores wins the final set. If the trailing team in overall games wins the fifth set and the trailing team is still behind in overall games won, then the match continues until either the trailing team has won enough games to equal the overall score and forces the play of the Super Shoot Out or the leading team wins one more game to win the match. In case the player of the team which is leading in overall games won gets injured, then the trailing team automatically wins the set with the total number of games needed to equal the score and to force a Super Shoot Out. Extras The IPTL has introduced a brand new idea for tennis the “Shot Clock” that will be managed by the umpire. The idea is to speed up the time taken between points, change over’s, timeouts, end of sets and any time violation will result in the loss of one point by the violating team. Time-Out Each Team Coach can call for a Time-Out at any time once during each set and each time-out lasts for 60 seconds. Power Point The receiving player can call a Power Point once every set indicating that the next point counts double.
Posted on: Thu, 27 Nov 2014 14:18:55 +0000
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