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.
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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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.
He did have the benefit of being on the home team….
don’t think that’s an advantage when it comes to fedal…haha… thanks for sharing this Sanju
Sanju (AT 5:53 AM),
—The surprise element of the evening was that Nadal outscored Federer when it comes to getting loudest of cheers…—
===
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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.
🙂
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOP85vgWgMc
Good highlights of Rafa-Fed
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.
The FULL match posted on DECEMBER 12, 2015 AT 6:16 PM is still available.
Thanks for this reminder. I didn’t think it was up. I have saved it to my favorites so that I can watch it whenever I want. That’s the one I really wanted to see!
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.
agreed. Dodig-Nadal bromance.
Rafa-Bopanna bromance too:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CWFiW4MUkAEnlp6.png
“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
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.
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
Video by NadalPower. The 20 best points of Rafa in the 2015 IPTL (singles & doubles):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOA_Id22Apc
http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/academic-interest/five-life-lessons-from-nadal/
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…..
Fed hasn’t won any matches at the IPTL yet. I think this is his 6th match.
^^^the singles against Murray is his 6th match.