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IPTL 2015 - DUBAI, 15 December 2015 IP: 2.50.36.238 Posted on December 16, 2015 at 01:22:21 AM by David Barnes
INTERNATIONAL PREMIER TENNIS LEAGUE (IPTL)
2015 EDITION
DUBAI, 15 December 2015 (DAY 2)
Despite looking leaner and in better shape physically, at the age of 34, than he has for some years, Roger Federer was unable, yet again yesterday, to fashion a singles win in this year’s IPTL event, losing 4-6 to Ivo Karlovic in the closing evening match. This meant that the home team also lost overall, 24-26 to the Philippine Mavericks, the latter coached by the injured Mark Philippousis, but lacking a really big name player (what the organisers call ‘icons’) in the current line-up. Both teams are some way behind the current event leaders, the Micromax Indian Aces, and those in second place, the OUE Singapore Slammers (don’t both those names just trip off the tongue . . . ?). The latest team to join the franchise, the Legendari Japanese Warriors (another name of tortuous and unnecessary complexity) brings up the rear in fifth place.
Talk in and around the courts and in the Press Room, apart from Andy Murray’s appearance this evening, has been of when the Swiss superstar will choose to retire, and his post-match comments last night indicate that the decision will not be as quick or easy as many wish it would be; “I’ve played four games so far, lost all four. It’s a quick format, anything can happen. The pressure in the IPTL is different. You are playing with less pressure, you are not playing for ranking points, but there is pressure still. You see it with the legends, and you see how much they are going after it, and they retired a long time ago. And they’re still getting nervous when it gets important. That’s the beauty of playing tennis. That’s why it’s tough to hang up the racquet. Those are the moments you play for, even though you may not enjoy them the most, but those are the memories you enjoy the most!”
You can imagine the scene when Roger invites Andy Murray back to drinks at his place here in Dubai during these festivities, and casually shows him the trophy cabinet. “Here are my seven Wimbledon trophies, and my five US Open ones, and those along that wall are the four Australians with the French one”. “Aye”, replies Andy, “I think I’ve got maybe, like, according to my mum, one of each of the first two somewhere – still waiting for some of the others”. The Scot has another seven years to go before he reaches Federer’s age, so time is, sort of, on his side, and hope springs eternal.
Rain, to a tennis tournament played in an outdoor stadium such as this one in Dubai, is rather like flatulence among guests at a crowded cocktail party – unwelcome, inconvenient, and the excuse for a major exodus of all concerned. So it proved tonight, when a heavy shower fell just as Ivan Dodig and Sania Mirza (the Croatian having been substituted for Rohan Bopanna at 3-2) wrapped up an impressive 6-4 victory in their match against Edouard Roger-Vasselin and Jarmila Gajdosova, to leave the Indian Aces leading 2-1 overall today (well, they are not really supposed to be called matches, in that the five encounters of each session – Men’s Legends singles, Women’s singles Mixed doubles, Men’s doubles, and finally Men’s singles – are each spoken of as a set, in an overall ‘match’ of five sets). Yet another example of ‘breaking the code’ in action . . .
When play resumed an hour or so later, with the men’s doubles encounter featuring the Frenchman Vasselin and his partner Treat Huey against Rohan Bopanna and Ivan Dodig, it was the Mavericks who edged ahead but the Indian Aces who won, as they did in the last singles match, where Bernard Tomic beat Ivo Karlovic 6-4. 24-23 to the Aces on the day, then, and good news for Fabrice Santoro, who was watching it all from his hotel room, having come down with some kind of viral lurgy overnight and finding himself too ill to compete, or even coach, in the stadium itself.
The rain delay afforded us the opportunity to meet the current Indian cricket captain, Virat Kohli, who has the dashing good looks of a Bollywood film star (and is indeed dating one, in Anushka Sharma), and is co-owner of the UAE Royals IPTL franchise. He won over the assembled hacks, coming across, if you’ll pardon the phrase, as something of an Asian Roger Federer – he gives straight answers to tricky questions, looks you in the eye when he does so, and has a way of communicating an enthusiasm for sport in general, and an admiration for the great Swiss legend in particular, which is instantly beguiling. Like Federer, he has set up a foundation (in his case with the aim of assisting underprivileged children), and appears to be an all-round jolly good egg. When talk here is – inevitably, given Dubai’s importance in the worldwide match-fixing industry – often about the less savoury aspects of this and other sports, it was a pleasant interlude.
The evening matches were a feast of entertaining tennis, and the crowds, who might have been deterred by the earlier rain, came in their droves, so that the stadium took on a completely different – and altogether healthier – appearance from that of yesterday. Carlos Moya for the Slammers beat Goran Ivanisevic for the Royals 6-4, in a rollicking first match-up, and they were followed by Karolina Pliskova edging Krristina Mladenovic 6-5 in the shoot-out of the second, the French girl (of Serbian and Bosnian descent) being the author of her own misfortune, with an unforced error on ‘set point’.
Andy Murray was on court next, partnering Belinda Bencic against Daniel Nestor and Kristina Mladenovic, but was substituted at 5-3 down by Nick Kyrgios, who failed to stop the rot, and the Royals won 6-3. So after three sets the score stood at 15-all in games, with Federer next on court, partnering Marin Cilic in the men’s doubles . . . they were 5-4, 30-0 up, but then Murray replaced Kyrgios as Marcelo Melo’s partner for the Slammers, they won the next four points to draw level at 5-5, led 7-2 at the end of the time-limited shoot-out period, and thus won the set 6-5. The key difference had been the first serve, with Kyrgios, Murray and Melo notching up an impressive 88% compared to their opponents’ 65%.
Having thus been on the losing side yet again, Federer desperately needed a win against Andy Murray, in the final – and much-heralded – set, but he quickly found himself 3-1 down after an early service break, then 4-1, the Scot’s serve being in devastating shape. The stats showed that Federer had made 10 unforced errors to Murray’s one at this stage of the set. The Swiss legend rallied to break back with a series of scintillating forehand shots, to the deafening sound of vociferous local support, but the Scot held his nerve to triumph 6-4. Something of a let-down from Federer; something of a class act from Murray, as usual never more dogged and dangerous than when under extreme pressure from his opponent, as opposed to from himself.
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David Barnes/Topspin, 2015
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