Can IPTL replace traditional tennis?

By Saurabh Somani


What is IPTL? Is it a league of exhibition matches? Is it serious tennis? Is it the sport's answer to IPL? Perhaps it's hanging somewhere in between all of that.

The IPTL format, with the advantage done away with, the 'power point', time limits et al – cannot replace traditional tennis. Rafael Nadal put it best, saying, "The rules are perfect for IPTL. It makes for a very dynamic game. It's much better to play like this than in the normal format. But at the same time, in the world tour, this format will not fit." Nadal also took vehement exception to the label of 'exhibition matches'. When asked if players were giving 100 per cent, he came back with an emphatic and firm "Yes" even before the question was complete. "These are not exhibition matches. This is a competition. There is team spirit and everyone tries their best. You see their faces and the intensity, you will see it is not a friendly match."

He had a point. You only had to watch Goran Ivanisevic take on Fabrice Santoro in a Legends' match-up to understand that. Ivanisevic had confessed to 'losing 12 kilos' to be in shape for IPTL. Santoro, aged 43, was chasing down balls that had Nadal standing up to applaud. The Saturday crowd at the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex in New Delhi rose with him, though when the Ivanisevic-Santoro match began, there was a definite air of impatience and 'Let's get this over with'. Because all those who came had done so with one, and only one, purpose – watching Roger Federer take on Nadal one more time. But more on that later. The stage was set for Roger v Rafa, but a couple of guys whose combined age is 87 provided the best match of the night.

When Federer was asked about the exhibition or serious tennis question, he had a considered answer. "The question is what is an exhibition? To me this is serious tennis with the fun aspect of playing for a team and having your guys right there to hi-five. It's played with great spirits and fair play. And personally, I love it. Call it exhibition or not – I don't know what it is, but it's a fun concept and that's why I'm back here again this year."

Serious tennis with a fun concept might actually be the best description. It's serious because players aren't having a hit and a giggle in the act of trying to win a point. It's fun because, clearly, losses here hurt way less than they would on tour. Right after he had lost to Nadal in a tie-breaker, Federer had the media corps in splits with witty one-liners. When a journalist began by addressing him as Rafa, Federer came back with, "There's Rafa! He says Rafa and looks at me! He clearly didn't see the match."

Later, as one journalist took the mic, a group of fans somehow found their way outside the room, and whooped with glee on spotting the two champions through the glass doors. "They hear you speak and they're going crazy," quipped Federer, leaving the room in splits. Imagine him regaling the audience like that after a Grand Slam loss? Not just unlikely, but impossible.

The parallel with IPL holds only insofar as getting to see some of the greats of the game take on each other in a time-friendly, dynamic package is the same. You won't have another chance to see AB de Villiers move across his stumps and deposit Dale Steyn into the fine-leg stands. And if you're in India, the majority will not get to see Federer v Nadal or Federer v Djokovic, albeit for one set only. For IPTL to achieve the same success, relatively speaking, as IPL though, the ticket prices cannot remain in the ridiculous ranges they are now, where paying the minimum of Rs 4,000 gets you a seat where you can't tell Mark Phillipoussis from Ana Ivanovic without binoculars, and the maximum ticket costs Rs 48,000, a sum the majority of Indians won't earn in a month, forget splurge on a ticket.

But even on television, the spectacle of the Fedal match was captivating. It began with the music of Pulp Fiction setting the scene, and the two actors played their parts. Like Vincent Vega, Federer had the coolest air and the best lines, but was unexpectedly terminated (metaphorically) by Nadal's Butch Coolidge, the boxer who could throw a punch to rival the best of them, and who ended up riding away into the sunset victorious.

And perhaps, that's what IPTL is, pulp fiction. The traditional definition is for lurid matter on rough, unfinished paper. Given an expert director, it can be a pastiche of unforgettable collages. Now, if only they do something about the ticket prices.