IPTL update: Djokovic out, Federer and Nadal coming soon

December 4, 2015 Ricky News 278

Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal were not a part of the Japan stop on the International Premier Tennis League circuit, but they will be making their presences felt soon enough.

Federer will play for the UAE Royals in New Delhi, Dubai, and Singapore. New Delhi, the third leg of the tour, is hosting the action from December 10 through 12. Dubai takes center stage December 14-16 and Singapore wraps up the proceedings from December 18 through 20.
Federer_2
Nadal will preceded Federer on the schedule as the fifth-ranked Spaniard is suiting up for duty with the Indian Aces this weekend in Manila.

Novak Djokovic, who had been scheduled to make a second straight IPTL appearance, ended up pulling out due to fatigue. The recent World Tour Finals champion–and winner of just about everything else dating back to the start of the U.S. Open–was penciled in as the marquee name on the Singapore Slammers.

“I had a great experience in the inaugural edition of the IPTL and was eagerly looking forward to playing in the second season, especially in front of the home crowd in Singapore,” Djokovic explained. “It’s been a long year for me and my body needs some extra time to recover. I wish the team the very best and will join them next year.”

The Slammers wasted no time in finding suitable replacements for the world No. 1 in the form of Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka.

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278 Comments on IPTL update: Djokovic out, Federer and Nadal coming soon

  6. This site isn’t Rafa centric. It is Djoker centric. hawkeye and amy try to drive Rafa out from Rafa threads by posting pictures of Djoker. And the objectives try to drive Rafa fans out from all threads by hounding them with “opinion” and hurling “blind and unreasonable” and similar insults at them.

    Reply

    • Ricky,

      Oh now I see it! But I can’t get on there to post anything. I see where you posted a “test” comment. I must be doing something wrong.

      Reply

  10. Ricky!

    It’s quite difficult to understand which ones are “parent comments” and which ones are “child comments” (= Replies). Could you make it more visible. 🙂

    Reply

  11. I am not sure exactly where to post this comment, but I did want to say that last night I happened to check out the tennis channel and saw Safin playing Philippousis! I don’t know if I got the spelling right on that one. But it was great to see these guys playing again. Then earlier today I saw Nishi and Raonic. I didn’t think the tennis channel was going to show this IPTL tournament.

    Reply

  12. Hi Guys! have been very busy as I have exams coming up in 2 weeks. Just visited the site and thought of making a comment on this new version.

    Ricky, this is really well done. The site looks pretty cool now. This was needed! I like this.

    #VamosTenngrand

    Reply

  17. Rafa’s team won all the sets! Rafa defeated Berdy 6-5(3).
    Rafa played with his new racket he started to use this month. He practiced with it in Mallorca and it seems he can continue to use it. 🙂

    Reply

    • he started off slowly and went down 0-3. Then played some good tennis to level at 3-3. Rafa served for the set at 5-4 after breaking Tomas at 4-4 thanks to a sizzling forehand winner DTL. Tomas broke back courtesy of huge hitting . It was all rafa in the tie break 🙂

      Reply

    • Ricky,

      It was okay, because I set it to record at 8:00 pm. I kept checking back as I watched other things on TV to see if Rafa was on yet. I saw him playing doubles and then he was on last with Berdy.

      So I did get to see him finally. I thought he looked sharp. Berdy also played well. I don’t analyze matches like this, but what I did see from Rafa was very good. He looked relaxed and happy and the crowd was going wild for him. Every time he won a point they were screaming and cheering. When they first announced him, they didn’t even get halfway through the introduction before the crowd went crazy. Nice to see the love for Rafa.

      Reply

  20. Rafa would be working hard to be in top form for next year. I am sure Team Nadal knows what they need to work on especially the serve. The problem is of course execution. Though some here believe there are easy solutions like getting him a new coach, getting his head examined etc

    Reply

  22. Originally, Rafa and Fed were planned to play one another in New Delhi but I haven’t heard much about it recently so it mustn’t be happening.

    I think Fed will still be there but perhaps Rafa won’t.

    Their two teams are scheduled to play on Dec. 12.

    Too bad we won’t be getting a good match up like Fedole last year which was the match of the tournament.

    Really a missed opportunity.

    Reply

  23. Working on service isn’t easy. Djoker was working for years on his serve. Even in 2011, he had shoulder pain before USO. Now he seems to have found a great serve without getting shoulder or back pain. Hope Rafa finds one too. Also Rafa isn’t at the same level of fitness as Djoker who was easily the most fit this year. Rafa was really bad at the beginning of the year but he has improved but is still not super fit.

    Reply

    • Taking so long to serve and then producing a pusillanimous serve is like a mountain going into labor to produce a mouse. Might not be a bad idea to introduce shot clock in the ATP/ITF matches. I am sure sooner or later it is going to happen.

      Reply

      • Even Nishikori commented how much he had to rush to serve within 20 seconds, ie., the formal rule in ITF.

        The shot clock would level the playing field and the ATP could no longer single out Rafa so I doubt we will see it for at least two years.

        Reply

  28. Rafa suffers from the “centipede effect” when it comes to his serve.
    A centipede was happy – quite!
    Until a toad in fun
    Said, “Pray, which leg comes after which?”
    Which threw her mind in such a pitch,
    She laid bewildered in the ditch
    Considering how to run.

    Reply

  29. Rafa is bringing some of the Anantapur (India) Educational & Sports School kids to New Delhi to watch the IPTL. This school was inaugurated by Rafa in 2010 and it’s funded by the Rafa Nadal Foundation.
    .
    The Times of India, Dec 7, 2015: ¤¤ India Aces thump UAE Royals in Nadal’s IPTL debut.
    (Excerpts)
    The second day of IPTL’s Manila leg was all about Nadal, who battled past Tomas Berdych 6-5 via tie-break in the fifth and final set.
    It took the audiences many minutes to settle down after Nadal made his appearance on court. The Spaniard was a supportive team-mate on the bench, cheering and applauding every point won. There was a deafening uproar when he took the court for the men’s doubles with Ivan Dodig, before taking on Berdych….
    On his [Rafa] visit to INDIA next week, he said: “I am looking forward to playing in Delhi, my first time there. I’ve played a few times in Chennai. I also have a centre of my foundation in Anantapur, and I’m happy that some children from that centre will be able to come to the games in Delhi. I’m happy to support the children there, they get to learn English, Mathematics, Informatics; we’ve also built some tennis courts there, and it feels good to support the children.”¤¤

    http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/tennis/international-premier-tennis-league/India-Aces-thump-UAE-Royals-in-Nadals-IPTL-debut/articleshow/50079734.cms

    Reply

  31. Rafa is doing well in the doubles vs Gasquet/R-Vaseline. He seems to have settled in now after the first few games against Berdy.

    Reply

  32. Who said Rafa wont come to Delhi? Logic guys please. Rafa is representing Indian Aces and he wont visit the home country of his franchise? Is that even likely to happen? Rafa is coming to Delhi and there will be a Rafa-Fed match in Delhi.

    Mahesh Bhupati has specially even invited Sachin Tendulkar to come and see the match and ofcourse expect Bollywood in full attendance to make it a spectacle 🙂

    Reply

      • And reliable too!
        Rafa says:
        “Well, i’m coming very soon to India – and this time to play. I’m very excited to play in New Delhi at the International Premier Tennis League.”
        Vamos!

        Reply

    • Sanju if you are in Delhi, why don’t you post a first hand account of Fed-Rafa match? I think Fed is more popular than Rafa in India probably because of better marketing of his brand there.

      Reply

    • Sanju DECEMBER 8, 2015 AT 2:02 PM
      Who said Rafa wont come to Delhi?
      ===
      .
      I have no idea why these doubts have been raised.
      I posted this in the “IPTL begins second season on Wednesday” thread almost a week ago:
      ¤¤ augusta08 says:
      December 2, 2015 at 8:09 am
      Rafa will play 2 matches in Manila and 2 in Delhi. He confirmed it in his interview in Madrid on Tuesday (in Spanish). ¤¤
      [The video in Spanish is available on demand.]

      Reply

  33. Federer is very popular in India as is Rafa. Eager to see how the crowd (especially Fed fans) will applaud given that Rafa is representing Indian Aces 🙂

    Can a Federer fan support Rafa even though he is representing the country franchise.

    Last year it was Fed Djoko but Djoko anyway does not enjoy popularity and fan love the same level as Rafa and Fed do.

    Reply

  34. I like the way Rafa played the doubles but not the singles. He was too tentative when playing the singles, half the time guessing which way his opponent (Berdych and then Raonic) was hitting and was going the wrong way quite often. Its like he’s at the mercy of his big hitting opponents.

    I hope he only does that in exho like matches, not in his atp tour matches. He’s really good at the net, hope he brings that to his singles matches in the atp tour.

    Reply

  35. No am not going. Its sold out and I am sure half the seats were not even available to the public with it being taken up by corporate boxes . I live in Mumbai, not Delhi.

    Will be in Melbourne during Australian Open time and definitely will take ground pass middle weekend and see all of them practice and will try to catch a Rod laver night match. The finals are sold out though already.

    Reply

  36. I have not been able to see Rafa play Raonic today. I am assuming that it will be on the tennis channel later, since they did that yesterday. But I thought Rafa played pretty well against Berdy, who was playing extremely well. So I can only speak to that one. I said previously after I saw the set, that I don’t invest a lot of analysis in these kinds of exho matches. Rafa is not going to be in competition mode at this event. So for me, I am not going to draw any conclusions here. We know that Rafa will be working hard with his team to be ready for 2016. When actual tournaments and competition starts at that time, then I will pay more attention to how Rafa looks.

    Reply

    • yup… these are exhos and the pressure and the intensity are not the same. When you make mistakes, you can simply laugh them off. Rafa played a good match against Berdych. He had his ups and downs but solid set overall.

      I only saw highlights of his match against Raonic. Raonic was hitting pretty big off both wings! Rafa recovered from a 4-2 deficit and SHOULD have won the shootout as he was up 5-3 and had a forehand lined up which he missed.

      Like luckystar, I really liked rafa’s performance in the doubles! You can watch it on youtube! the whole of it is there. He is SO GOOD at the net. He should realize this and try to approach the net more often against Djokovic.

      Reply

          • I do not agree with you that his matches in London were for that.
            From luckystar’s remarks I gather he was impressive in doubles. I plan to watch it later.

          • Rafa talked about the points, each match is almost equal to a 250 tournament. But I do not think he expected to build momentum for the new year by beating tired players. Even his win against Muzz, I feel Muzz really did not want to be in the semis. After watching Rafa’s match with Djoko which showed the huge gap between them (and Djoko had gone deep in practically every tournament and must have been weary), I realized I had to pin my hopes on Rafa improving in the off season. As IPTL is part of the off season I was looking for some signs of areas of improvement but nothing significant except the new racket. At least in the singles.

          • the IPTL is a fun exhibition. Rafa’s first practice session with Sousa in Mallorca after the IPTL ends will be more significant than the entire IPTL combined.

          • that’s the point. He would try out a new racket at an event that doesn’t matter. He’s not going to try a new racket for the first time at the Australian Freaking Open!

      • vamosrafa,

        I have been checking in frequently on the tennis channel because I really just want to see Rafa. I did see some of Goran and Carlos Moya. It was nice to see those guys on the court again. They replay it at 8:00 pm here, but you don’t know exactly when Rafa is going to play. I still hope to get a look at him against Raonic. From what you said, it sounds like he should have won it.

        From what people are saying, maybe I will check out Rafa in doubles on youtube. Rafa really does excel at net and I hope that he will try to incorporate that into his prep for 2016. Of course, I don’t expect him to be rushing the net all the time a la Fed, but maybe he could try to change it up a bit more.

        Reply

        • I agree with Ricky. It makes perfect sense for Rafa to try out the new racket when nothing is on the line. That’s exactly the time to try it out. Should he wait until he’s in actual competition and then use it for the first time? That’s not a smart move. Let him get the feel for it now and see if it’s going to work for him.

          No way Rafa is going to come out with his new racket at the AO! I am glad that he did this now. I also am not looking at his play at the ITPL to give me hope for 2016. Rafa’s got work to do with his team. They will have to decide if they want to go with the new racket for 2016. There are things he has to work on with his game. When I see him in his first actual tournament in 2016, perhaps one of the warmups for the AO, then I can assess if there is hope.

          Reply

          • native is agreeing with Ricky. But Ricky is contradicting himself. On the one hand he says Rafa is trying out the new racket because the event doesn’t matter. On the other hand he doesn’t think Rafa should try or show any potential improvements as this is a fun event.

          • Actually I don’t think Ricky and I are talking of the same thing. My point is this: I did not see anything significantly different in the singles except for the racket,nothing to give me hope that Rafa is back. So I am not impressed. I have not seen the doubles as the video that augusta posted is blocked in my country.

          • we are talking about the same thing

            my point is that you shouldnt be looking for anything different or encouraging from Nadal (or anyone else) in the IPTL because the whole competition means nothing aside from having fun and entertaining fans

          • Mary (AT 6:23 AM),
            —I did not see anything significantly different in the singles except for the racket—
            ===
            .
            Rafa has practiced only a couple of days after the WTF. He tested his new racket during those days. I think, it takes more than a few days to make and to get used to significant changes.

  37. haha… rafa should have won that one. he was up 5-3 in the shootout and had an easy inside out forehand which he missed !

    before the final set his team members must have been like ‘it’s rafa now, we will win the contest’ . lol

    Raonic’s ground game has become massive now! So much firepower off both wings! He can become a real force very soon.

    Reply

  38. Sanju, thanks for confirming! I had always knew we would have a Rafa-Roger match in India but then we thought here that is not going to be the case.

    VERY VERY Excited for that! I can imagine all the bollywood celebrities and Tendulkar (my all time favourite batsman) will be there .

    Reply

  39. Rafa’s post-match press conference on December 8, 2015:
    (Rafa is going to play tennis until he is enjoying this sport and he is happy playing.
    Maybe he’ll play doubles with Dodig in Delhi because the IPTL matches are very short. He wants to spend as much time as possible on the court because every match is also good practice.)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjvusU4dblY

    Reply

  42. Sanju, thanks for letting us know that Rafa will be playing in New Delhi because one of the commies categorically said, yesterday, that Rafa was only playing in Manila. I thought it was a bit strange that as part of Indian Aces Rafa wasn’t going to grace New Delhi with his presence.

    I am in Dubai until mid January but won’t be going to IPTL here for three good reasons: the tickets are sold out, they are too expensive and Rafa is not coming. I shall see Rafa in Abu Dhabi anyway and I’m really looking forward to it.

    Reply

  43. IPTL, Dec. 09, 2015: ¤¤ Galaxy of tennis stars to light up Delhi during Coca-Cola IPTL 2015
    (Excerpts)
    The Coca-Cola International Premier Tennis League 2015 (IPTL) now moves to its third destination, Delhi, starting 10th December 2015. With 3 days of sizzling tennis that saw packed houses in Manila, the action is now set for Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in Delhi, with the home team, Micromax Indian Aces, the defending champions and table-toppers ready to showcase their power brand of tennis on home turf.
    Leading the charge for the home team will be IPTL-debutant Rafael Nadal…
    A super scintillating face-off between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal promises tennis action like never before right here in Delhi! ¤¤

    Read more in:
    http://www.iptlworld.com/news/1027-roger-federer-rafael-nadal-marin-cilic-agnieszka-radwanksa-ana-ivanovic-milos-raonic-tomas-berdych-nick-kyrgios-amid-galaxy-of-tennis-stars-to-light-up-delhi-during-coca-cola-iptl-2015

    Reply

  45. I personally hate this cinema infusion with sports. I know Bollywood is huge in India but I frankly detest the Bollywoodisation of everything. It was ridiculous to say the least last year when the Bollywood stars could not even make their serves cross the net 🙂

    Reply

  48. Rafa is having problem with his serves and returns, looks like its an ongoing problem. Given his problem, I really don’t think his encounter with Fed would be as competitive as Fed vs Novak last year. Rafa is playing one level below those two at the moment, I feel.

    Reply

  51. Fed V rafa will be a very competitive match. But yeah, rafa not playing too well at at all. He was quite relaxed against ERV but the serve is a major concern. It is going to improve all of a sudden under the same guidance and tutelage.

    Should be very entertaining though.

    Reply

  55. I had a minor surgical procedure this morning and just now am trying to catch up on the matches. The schedule on the tennis channel is pretty confusing. They are listing the matches with the team names. I will just have to look for Rafa’s team and hope that I can see it on a replay later.

    Reply

  56. This is hilarious! Now the tennis channel is showing Rafa’s match with Raonic! I never got to see it, so better late than never.

    Reply

  58. did not know they were showing it here so started watching only yesterday…it’s nice to see Rafa smiling and making jokes…

    however, in his single match he yet again showed some mental lapses even though it was only an exhibition match with little meaning since the Indians were so much in advance with the number of games won…
    I know it proves nothing and should not be any indication of Rafa’s form in early 2016 but I am worried…he had some beautiful shots but in the same time some inexplicable errors where he was supposed to be stress free…we could speculate that he is not taking this seriously (but I doubt it as Rafa always takes things seriously) or that he needs time to get accustomed to his new racquet…
    I hope I am just overstating current situation but I see a lot of room for improvements…it will come I am sure…

    Reply

  64. Bopanna-Nadal vs Federer-Cilic ! oooo tough one for Rafa and Bopanna!

    Koenig and Godall wondering whether nadal federer have ever squared off in a doubles match. Of course they have, twice! it is 1-1. Once rafa-Moya beat Fed-Stan them on clay in MC , and once Fed-Stan beat Rafa-Marc in IW

    Reply

  74. lol…smart serve from Federer! HOW did rafa miss that forehand DTL in response to a short backhand slice from Fed …haha…

    4-3 Rafa…clearly the better player so far

    Reply

  86. Except 2 games where he surrendered serve..Rafa played really neat and played most big points well except the one 15 40 where he could beat Roger 5 3

    Reply

  88. The turnout was rather disappointing but it’s understandable… It is not cricket and tickets are expensive.

    ANYWAY, rafa played really well! I was hoping the match could be of higher quality but I blame Roger. He was erratic. Rafa was steady produced some great shots.

    Indian Aces are UNSTOPPABLE!

    Reply

  90. Yeah, only an exhibition but I so much wanted Rafa to win…and he did…giving back those breaks still is something to worry about but in the same time both Rafa and Fed hit some beautiful shots…Rafa was better in the end…so much fun for the fans…they really enjoyed it…

    much better showing by Rafa today…great to end this magnificent run of Indian Aces with Rafa’s win over Fed…I enjoyed every bit of it…

    VAMOS!

    Reply

  91. If they price tickets minimum 4000 Rs and highest at 48000..they cannot expect stands to be full. Not sure what organisers are doing by pricing it so steep..Finally they lose when stands are 70% full.

    Reply

  92. It wasnt anywhere close to Fed Djoko last year but frankly Fed is to blame there..he was wildly up and down.

    Rafa hit 70% of times deep and his BH was really good

    Reply

  93. In fact, Nadal went on to say that the IPTL is turning out to be perfect preparation for him ahead of the next season. The ‘King of Clay’ has struggled with his form this season, failing to win a single Major for the first time in 10 years.

    “It is an unbelievable event. I have had a very good time so far and it’s a preparation for the next season. The format is quick and anything can happen. The matches can also become very close quickly,” he said.

    Reply

  94. Rafa looked sharp and Fed rusty. Rafa seemed like taking this quite seriously, fortunately he didnt let this set slipped away.

    I really like this IPTL, the way they introduce the players with the music on, it looks so fun. The format is good too, short and sweet and I like the power point system where the teams could use to take advantage of tight situations faced by their opponents. The 20 sec time limit with warning siren 5 sec before time is up I think it works fine. Players really serve within the time limit.

    Rafa also serves quickly and it looks like that doesnt affect his game. Its good training for Rafa to speed up his time between points.

    Reply

  100. It’s been really frustrating to try and see any of the matches. The tennis channel is showing them on such a long delay that it’s absurd. I am going to watch the youtube video above before it’s not available.

    Reply

  101. The surprise element of the evening was that Nadal outscored Federer when it comes to getting loudest of cheers from the astounding crowd consisting of every age group ranging from toddlers to oldies, who were screaming their heart out to make their presence felt across the stadia.

    Not my statement..it was from a report 🙂
    We all know though that Fed is more popular in the 30 plus age bracket and Rafa wildly more popular in the younger generation.

    Reply

    • Sanju (AT 5:53 AM),
      —The surprise element of the evening was that Nadal outscored Federer when it comes to getting loudest of cheers…—
      ===
      .
      I’m glad that Rafa once againg proved (certain) people wrong – the people who are trying to convince others that Rafa isn’t popular in the world.
      🙂

      Reply

    • Sanju,

      Thanks so much for posting those highlights of Rafa and Fed! At least I got to see that much!

      The crowd looked like they were enjoying it quite a bit.

      Reply

  103. I love that the teams spread across nations unlike DC; it enables the players to interact with players they may never have know on a personal level. It’s great to see.

    Reply

  104. “I’m just glad it wasn’t a blowout. I was worried about losing 6-1. Me too! I’m happy it went the distance,” grinned Federer in the post match press conference. Next to him Nadal laughed. “I was going to say the same thing,” he said. –
    See more at:
    http://indianexpress.com/article/sports/tennis/a-rivalry-turns-into-revelry/#sthash.V99QKi6g.dpuf

    http://www.ibnlive.com/news/sports/roger-federer-happy-despite-losing-to-rafael-nadal-in-iptl-1176605.html

    Reply

  105. 13200 people were in the stadium yesterday. It is actually very good as its a very big stadium accomodating 18000 ppl.

    Tennis is not followed like cricket in India.

    Reply

    • good numbers Sanju! I hope it is 15000 plus next year 🙂 I also totally understand how expensive the tickets are…they are in rupees so I know… 13,200 attendance is pretty good for a price range of 4000-48000 rupees

      Reply

  108. Both players generally prefer to receive serve on the deuce side of the court . They also prefer to do the same when playing against each other. Both chose to receive from the deuce side when given the option to choose on deciding 40-40 points! ….not surprising…. rafa struggles to take second serve returns early with his forehand on the ad court and fed’s best serve against rafa is the slider outwide to rafa’s backhand…. we also know how much fed hates rafa’s nasty left slider on the ad court! haha…..

    Reply

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