Sania hails perfect year
Women's doubles No. 1 Sania Mirza has had a splendid year after partnering with Swiss woman Martina Hingis. The duo have won 10 titles since coming together in the middle of the year with the first one being Indian Wells. "Yes it has been a great season and it is understood by ten titles won. Moreover, there are two Grand Slam titles too (Wimbledon and US Open) so really good year for us. Then we won the year ending championship too which was great," she said at the player's lunch organised by an IPTl sponsor.
Rafa to visit Delhi next year
Indian Aces team member Rafael Nadal in his inaugural trip to the city couldn't squeeze in the time to go sight seeing but he plans to change that the next year. Nadal has been here for the Chennai Open but he hasn't been to Delhi before and this is his first visit.
Shastri, Riteshwitness IPTl action
After Test captain Virat Kohli's visit on Thursday, it was the turn of team director Ravi Shastri to witness the IPTl action in the capital. Also in attendance were Bollywood celebrities Ritesh Deshmukh, his wife and actress Genelia D'Souza and lara Dutta who is Bhupathi's wife.
Safin feels old
Two-time Grand Slam champion Marat Safin is just 35-years-old but he was made to feel old while commenting on the Roger Federer versus Rafael Nadal match on Saturday night. Asked to comment on his once contemporaries, he said: "You guys are making me feel old! Roger is only a year younger than me and I feel like 80 years old! They're both great champions and it would be really fun to see them play tonight." In another question, he quipped, "Well the players from today have it different but for us players from the 1800's it was different," he said jokingly.
CHAIR UMPIRE FORGET RUlES
The IPTl rules are complicated for some and that applied to the chair umpire too during the Federer-Nadal clash. At 2-2 and the game score reading 30-30, Federer served and the ball landed in after hitting the net. In regular ATP rules, this would be a let and there would be a re-serve but in IPTl rules, the point continues. And the chair umpire forgot the rule to quickly call a let much to the amusement of both teams with members throwing in the towel at him jokingly.