The tennis league cheerleader

It’s strange to meet Mahesh Bhupathi in a corporate set up. Especially when you know that the tennis pro may be playing just one last Davis Cup for India. But he puts that rumour to rest.
“I haven’t played for two months. So even if someone were to make a request, I cannot play,” he says. Instead, he is focused on the inaugural season of the International Premier Tennis League (IPTL). He has been working on it for the past three years.

Inspired by the IPL, Bhupathi wanted the IPTL to be “time- sensitive”. He points out that the only thing no one could control in tennis was the scheduling. No one can forecast how long a match will last. “The broadcasters are at the mercy of the game.

The goal was to make it time-sensitive.

Having a platform with three groups of stars—men, women and legends, the oneset format with no add scoring was the ideal format,” he says.

Bhupathi is keen to keep reminding that this is not an Indian league, it is ‘Asia focused’.

And he picked Asia for a reason. In the last ten years, tennis has seen its biggest growth in Asia, he explains.

“The tennis stars are stars across the world, but they are really superstars in Asia. Also, we are going to many cities where world-class tennis has never been seen before. The kind of stars that are coming to India for the first time, the superstars who are playing in Manila, are at a level never been seen before. So it’s an untapped market,” Bhupathi explains.

The average amount being spent on players per team is about $6 million. There will be a few money-spinners such as ticket sales, merchandise, sponsorships and television rights for now. The return on investment, explains Bhupathi, will differ from country to country, with ticket prices, local market, maturity of the game being factors. Player transfers, a source of revenue, will only happen after they cap the number of teams in the league. Till then, IPTL will have player drafts every time they add franchises.

And no, there won’t be any IPL-style dhamaka. “We believe in the product so when say Rafa (Nadal) is playing Novak Djokovic, or Maria (Sharapova) is playing Serena (Williams), I think that itself is enough of a draw to fill a stadium. There are enough celebrities who are tennis fans who would love to see these players, so we will be inviting them and I hope they will come,” says Bhupathi, who lets it slip though that there will be cheerleaders and DJs.

Fears of whether the likes of Andy Murray will give their best in a busy schedule is something Bhupathi does not worry about. There’s prize money at the end of the day: a million dollars. “So there is a lot to play for,” says Bhupathi. That’s a good serve. Now for the return.