looking forward to his stint in the upcoming International Premier Tennis league, British number one Andy Murray says the event will take the sport to new regions.
Murray will lead Manila Mavericks in Mahesh Bhupathi's league, starting November 28 in Philippines."Attracting new fans to the sport is important and I'm looking forward to helping take tennis somewhere new. The IPTl format is something that has never been done before and there are many different aspects that make it interesting," Murray said in an IPTl release.
Murray, who won back-to-back titles in Vienna and Valencia, gave thumbs up to the format of the league. "The shot clock is a great idea and will speed play up and make tennis even more exciting for the fans with the shorter breaks between points."The fact that every game counts toward the team score is also a great idea, you're not just playing for yourself, you have to think about your team mates as well and put them in as strong a position as possible at the end of your own set in the match," he said.
Murray's teammates would be Russian heartthrob Maria Sharapova, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Kirsten Flipkens, Daniel Nestor, Carlos Moya and top Philippines player Treat Huey."Playing in Manila will be fun. The fans there don't get to see a lot of live tennis, so that will be good. With the season being so busy, it can be difficult to take a holiday so you don't often get to travel anywhere different to the countries on the tour," the 27-year-old Scot said.
"It was great to win Shenzhen Open in its first ever year and I hope the Mavericks can do the same with the IPTl," he said.
Sania excited for IPTl
On a high after winning the WTA Finals doubles crown and a clutch of prestigious titles this year, Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza says she is now bracing up for the International Premier Tennis league where she is in the same team as Swiss veteran Roger Federer.
"I think it is going to be great for this region to have such great tennis players come out and play. I think I am personally excited to be in the same team as Roger Federer. I am looking forward to that. I think it is a great format and hopefully it is going to click," she told PTI here in an interview.
The IPTl features four franchise teams, including India, and is scheduled to start towards the end of next month. The IPTl matches would be played between star-studded teams comprising the likes of Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Pete Sampras among others.
Murray aims at 2015
A resurgent Andy Murray is playing for a sixth straight week at the Paris Masters in a bid to finish the season in the top four and gain a better draw at the 2015 majors.
The two-time Grand Slam champion, who beat Julien Benneteau of France 6-3, 6-4 in the second round of the Paris event on Wednesday, is also seeking to qualify for next month's ATP World Tour Finals at london's O2 Arena. "I always wanted to qualify for it, but I also was really wanting to get back into the top eight players in the world, and it makes a huge difference for seedings in the major events," Murray said.
"I still have a chance of getting maybe to No. 4 between now and the end of the year, which would be very important for the beginning of next year, as well. Really, the only way to do that is also to get to the O2, as well." Since 2008, Murray has qualified every year for the ATP Finals, which gather the top eight players. last year, he withdrew from the event to recover from back surgery.
Murray, Kei Nishikori, Tomas Berdych, David Ferrer, Milos Raonic and Grigor Dimitrov are in contention for the four remaining places after Rafael Nadal pulled out because of appendix surgery. Federer, Novak Djokovic, Marin Cilic and Stan Wawrinka have qualified.
Murray has played 20 matches in the past five weeks, winning three titles and climbing to fifth in the ATP Race. The last time Murray played that much was in the summer of 2005, when he was 18.
"It's been a long few weeks, but it's been very beneficial for me," Murray said. "We gained a lot of confidence in my body again from playing these many matches, and then also from winning a lot of tough, long, close matches, especially in the finals, match points down."
Murray saved five match points against Tommy Robredo in a grueling three-setter last weekend in the Valencia Open final.
"I have always felt when physically I feel strong, that it improves how I feel mentally," Murray said. "I think the two are quite closely linked, for me, anyway. And that's been a big help the last few months."
Following his back surgery, Murray slipped from fourth in January to 12th last month. Although Murray started to feel good about his back by the Italian Open in May, he had to wait until September to win his first title of the season at the Shenzhen Open in China.