Swiss icon Roger Federer and American legend Serena Williams will not be part of the International Premier Tennis League (IPTL) this season due to the prevailing “economic climate” in India, said founder Mahesh Bhupathi.
While Federer was not named in any side, he was expected to be part of the Indian Aces while Serena was named in the Singapore Slammers squad.
We have had challenges this year and we are hoping to get past them. With the current economic climate in India and uncertainty of spending money, I reached out to both Roger (Federer) and Serena (Williams) to explain the situation. They have been very supportive of the IPTL in the first two seasons and we look forward to bringing them in the future.Mahesh Bhupathi, Founder, IPTL
Asked specifically how demonetisation has affected the league and if the players needed to be paid in cash, Somdev Devvarman, who is now associated with IPTL, said:
Paying the players is not the issue. But if revenues do not support most of the payments, both the team owners and league get into a large hole which we want to avoid.
He said the reduction of teams was bound to affect the number of players featuring in the league. The Philippines Mavericks have sat out for one season due to the prevailing political situation in that country.
Meanwhile, a source close to the owners explained that they had difficulty in promoting the league due to demonetisation.
Roger, Serena Missing But IPTL Still Has 26 World Class Players
Organisers conceded that not having stars such as Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic is a blow to the IPTL, which is being held in Hyderabad this year, but promised to bring back the big names in the future editions.
Somdev Devvarman, the Indian tennis player who has been missing from action due to injury for a long time now, said uncontrollable circumstances have resulted in the absence of stars.
Yes, the top names may be missing but the IPTL has 26 other world class players coming to Hyderabad. We have a long term plan and we still have world class players out there. Tomas Berdych, Feliciano Lopez, Nick Kyrgios, Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic, Sania Mirza are all quality players.Somdev Devvarman
In the absence of star players, world number 28 Feliciano Lopez from Spain is the highest-ranked singles male player in the Indian team.
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