When is the Team Tennis Season anyway? Do other single pros play also?

World Team Tennis plays after Wimbledon through the rest of July. Most of the players are obscure, but as Chungwit noted, a few big names participate, some active, some retired. The season is crammed, like about 14-16 matches for each team in less than a month. The franchise's are scattered all over the USA, so the travel is beyond ridiculous……of course, that's nothing new for Daniela. While there are standings and a championship awarded, it's quite a loosey-goosey thing. Fans are encouraged to be loud, music blares, the players have fun. Daniela would love it, and I would like to see her try it. But in light of the severity of the knee injury, Dani should go nowhere near it this year, even if she has come back before that.

Esoterica: World Team Tennis has been around over 40 years. In the early years, Billie Jean King, the main mover behind this concept, played for the Philadelphia team, nicknamed the Freedoms. Sir Elton John was fascinated by the name, and that's where his big hit Philadelphia Freedom stems from!

Daniela's recent US Open Series results have been fairly average so I can understand why she'd want to try something different to prepare for the hardcourt season. Daniela wouldn't miss any tournaments as it's between Wimbledon & Stanford and she'd have fun doing something new. So much will depend on her knee and how healthy she is. She could test herself in a reasonably competitive environment without the pressure of the Tour. Daniela's health and fitness is the most important thing.

World Team Tennis was a much bigger deal in the 70s. Borg and Evert skipped Roland Garros to play in it.

Was Dani going to Dubai or Rio this week without the injury? No word yet on if she will need surgery, at least that I can find. It's always hard when she's not out there. I just hope Daniela will soon once again be the Fox On The Run. (Won't that be Sweet!?)

No Aculpulco for Daniela Just praying she can recover in time for Indian Wells but is looking very unlikely...

2 tidbits of info from Google. 1st, just something neat to see, from a story about Canada vs. Slovakia in Fed Cup which refers to "respected veteran Daniela Hantuchova." More pertinent, in an article relating to Dani's withdrawal from Acapulco: "The world #31 is recovering from a knee injury and now hopes to be back in time for the Indian Wells event in March."

So are we!

The good news is that Daniela will definitely be seeded for Indian Wells due to the Williams sisters and Kirilenko not playing, which would mean that she wouldn't play her first match until Friday earliest as top 32 get first round byes....but I guess if there's no change from last week where she can't move without being in pain then she simply should rest and hopefully be back in time for Miami...wish she'd give us an update soon...it's quite stressful looking up on tennisforum to see if she's withdrawn or still on entry list...

IPTL TENNIS STARS ARE THERE
28/02/2014 2:43:00 p.m. at the | Updated 28/02/2014 4:12:59 p.m.
Organizers IPTL finally unveiled the cast of this competition announced in Asia (28 November-20 December). The best are at the rendezvous.

The International Tennis Premier League (IPTL) reported Friday the list of players who will participate in the auction on March 2 . Among the confirmations awaited the presence of Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Serena Willians and Pete Sampras. He had wanted to be discreet but Andre Agassi is also part of the stars involved in the Asian closed league of five teams owned by five cities (Mumbai, Singapore, Bangkok, Dubai and which is still unknown). Format recalled: meeting in five sets (set male, female set, men's doubles, mixed doubles, simple captions), the winner is the team that wins the most games. The draft will be subject to a salary cap, not less than $ 4 million invested and not more than 8 million. 8-10 players are allowed per team.

In the group of "Icon Players" (idols), we find Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Serena Williams, Stanislas Wawrinka, Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Victoria Azarenka and Caroline Wozniacki. In the category "past champions" (champions of the past), there is Patrick Rafter, Mark Philipoussis, Michael Chang, Goran Ivanisevic, Fabrice Santoro, Rainer Schuettler, Carlos Moya and Juan Carlos Ferrero. On the sidelines of the Dubai tournament, Federer repeated that he found interesting initiative, admitted that he hoped it would work but found he preferred to wait to see what it was going to possibly be tried before . All the Top 10 ATP responded to this so except Federer and Juan Martin Del Potro.
El Tri also present

In category A, are present David Ferrer, Tomas Berdych, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Agnieszka Radwanska.

In category B are aligned Richard Gasquet, Milos Raonic, Tommy Haas, John Isner, Gael Monfils, Lleyton Hewitt, Ana Ivanovic, Samantha Stosur and Sloane Stephens.

In category C, Jerzy Janowicz participate, Philipp Kohlschreiber, Alexandr Dolgopolov, Marcos Baghdatis, Fabio Fognini, Feliciano Lopez, Fernando Verdasco, Sara Errani, Jelena Jankovic, Angelique Kerber, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Martina Hingis, Daniela Hantuchova.

In category D are: Kevin Anderson, Marinko Matosevic, Sam Querrey, Marcel Granollers, Dmitry Tursunov, Somdev Devvarman, Janko Tipsarevic, Rendy Ly, Sabine Lisicki, Kirsten Flipkens, Alizé Cornet Kristina Mladenovic, Su-Wei Hsieh, Francesca Schiavone, Flavia Pennetta, Sania Mirza, Dona Vekic

Finally we doubles players who will be available to the draft: Bruno Soares, Alexander Peya Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi, Marcin Matkowski, Marcelo Melo, Marc Lopez, Rohan Bopanna, Nenad Zimonjic, Marius Fyrstenberg, Daniel Nestor and Robert Lindstedt.
CB

@ google translate



Hantuchova winter in the International Tennis Premier League
02/28/2014 16:51:00

Bratislava (SITA) - Slovak tennis player Daniela Hantuchova were among the players who have pledged their start in the new competition International Tennis Premier League outside the official structures ITF, ATP and WTA. List instance brought portal Tennis Live or site L'Equipe.

Thirty Poprad native Hantuchova after being drafted in the 'Category C' together with Jerzy Janowicz Poles, Germans Philipp Kohlschreiber, Ukrainians Alexander Dolgopolova, Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis, Fabio Fognini Italians, Spaniards Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco, an Italian Sara Errani, Serb Jelena Jankovic, Nemko Angelique Kerber, Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova, and the Swiss Martina Hingis.

IPTL covers Indian Mahesh Bhupathi and mixed teams competition will be held on 20 November - 18 December 2014 in Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Mumbai, Singapore and Hong Kong. Between '. Icons are Spaniard Rafael Nadal, Serbian Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray British, American Serena Williams, Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka, Americans Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi, Victoria Azarenka of Belarus and Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki.

The section of former champions are eligible Australians Patrick Rafter and Mark Philippoussis, Spaniards Juan Carlos Ferrero and Carlos Moya, American Michael Chang, Croat Goran Ivanisevic, Frenchman Fabrice Santoro and German Rainer Schuettler. The A-category are Spaniard David Ferrer, Czech Tomas Berdych, Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Polk Agnieszka Radwanska.

Co-founder Bhupathi helps with promoting Australian former leader of the world rankings Lleyton Hewitt. Indian heralded salary cap $ 10,000,000 per team and the lower limit of $ 4 million. Each team will consist of six to ten members. Bhupathi explained that one set running 'no ad' and a possible tie-break state for 5:5 it will take men singles, women's singles, men's doubles, mixed doubles and singles legends. The winner yet decide the number of games, not points. Similarly counts in American professional summer league teams of the World (WTT).

@ google translate


Top stars in IPTL line-up; draft on Sunday
Prajwal Hegde,TNN | Mar 1, 2014, 01.30 AM IST

DUBAI: Some of the biggest names in tennis -- world No.1 Rafael Nadal, No.2 Novak Djokovic and Wimbledon champion Andy Murray -- have signed-up for Mahesh Bhupathi's International Premier Tennis League (IPTL) which will have its player draft in this dazzling desert city on Sunday.

The top guns Nadal, Djokovic and Murray along with the newest entrant into the Grand Slam club, Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka and former champions Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi make up the icon group among the men for the December tournament to be played on a home-and-away basis.

American powerhouse and world No. 1 Serena Williams, Belarusian Victoria Azarenka and Caroline Wozniacki are the icon players among the women.

The player field that also includes -- the in-form Tomas Berdych, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and David Ferrer -- has been broken down into six sections in order of merit -- Icon, categories A, B, C and D and doubles players.

The Indians whose names will figure in the player drafts are world No.78 Somdev Devvarman and top-draw doubles players Rohan Bopanna and Sania Mirza.

Mumbai, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore - along with a likely fifth side from the Middle East (which is expected to be named on Sunday) - are the teams that will go into the player auction in the weekend. Teams are expected to draft between six to ten players. The salaries each team will pay its players is estimated to be between $4 and 10 million.

Every tie will consist of five matches - men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, mixed doubles and legends singles. The matches will be one-set affairs, played with the no-ad rule with the entire tie to be completed in three hours.

Teams are expected to draft between six to ten players. The salaries each team will pay its players is estimated to be between $4 and 10 million.

PLAYER LIST

Men:

Icon Players: Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Stanislas Wawrinka, Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras.

Past champions: Patrick Rafter, Mark Phillipoussis, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Michael Chang, Goran Ivanisevic, Fabrice Santoro, Rainer Schuettler, Carlos Moya.

Category A: David Ferrer, Tomas Berdych, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

Category B: Richard Gasquet, Milos Raonic, Tommy Haas, John Isner, Gael Monfils, Lleyton Hewitt.

Category C: Jerzy Janowicz, Philipp Kohlschreiber, Aleksandr Dolgopolav, Marcos Baghdatis, Fablo Fognini, Feliciano Lopez, Fernando Verdasco.

Category D: Kevin Anderson, Marinko Matosevic, Sam Querrey, Dmitry Tursunov, Somdev Devvarman, Janko Tipsarevic, Rendy Lu.

Doubles players: Bruno Soares, Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi, Alexander Peya, Marcin Matkowski, Marcelo Melo, Mariusz Fyrstenberg, Marc Lopez, Daniel Nestor, Rohan Bopanna, Robert Lindstedt, Nenad Zimonjic.

Women:

Icon Players: Serena Williams, Victoria Azarenka, Caroline Wozniacki.

Category A: Agnieszka Radwanska.

Category B: Ana Ivanovic, Samantha Stosur, Sloane Stephens.

Category C: Sara Errani, Jelena Jankovic, Angelique Kerber, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Martina Hingis, Daniela Hantuchova.

Category D: Sabine Lisicki, Kirsten Flipkens, Alize Cornet, Kristina Mladenovic, Su-Wei Hsieh, Francesca Schiavone, Flavia Pennetta, Sania Mirza, Donna Vekic.

Wait and watch for Roger Federer

Roger Federer, the biggest name in tennis, said he wasn't sure how the IPTL would pan, but wished the tournament would succeed. The Swiss superstar said, "I don't know much about it to be honest. I just didn't sign up because I didn't want to. I first wanted to see it get off the ground. I wanted them to put in the work. They've already signed up a lot of other guys. I hope it's going to be successful, because there is definitely potential in the Asian market, so many people live here, a lot of tennis enthusiasts come from this part of the world."

Federer said: "I hope it's going to be very successful. Who knows what's possible?"

Sharapova, Li Na pull out?

According to agency reports, Maria Sharapova and Li Na pulled out of the league expressing uncertainty about the tournament's workability.

It seems all a bit random...