By Randy Walker
@TennisPublisher
Maybe it is just because it is Roger Federer.
Or Roger Federer playing Novak Djokovic.
Or Roger Federer playing Novak Djokovic in the new curiosity in tennis, the International Premier Tennis League (IPTL).
Or Roger Federer playing Novak Djokovic in the IPTL in tennis-mad India.
It was a perfect formula for a memorable day of tennis Monday on the final day of the India leg of the IPTL in New Delhi. The energized, loud and excited full-house crowd were treated to an amazing display of tennis from Federer along with world No. 1 Djokovic that prompted respected tennis TV man Robbie Koenig to say of the environment, “It was an atmosphere I don’t think I have ever experienced in all of my commentary years.”
While tweeting and doing social media promotion and commentary for my client Integrated Sports Media, the exclusive pay-per-view TV and on-line rights holder for the IPTL in the United States, I was amazed at the social popularity at what was going on in my Ipad screen in front of me. During Federer’s mixed doubles appearance with India’s Sania Mirza, his doubles match with Gael Monfils and his Wimbledon final rematch singles encounter with Djokovic, I garnered a social media tally of 502 retweets, my tweets being favorited 659 times, 28 separate mentions of my tweeted content and a gain of 83 new followers. This was all achieved in about 90 minutes of time. This is about 20 or 30 times the amount of on-line virality that I usually get when tweeting and creating and documenting content for social media for the major events in tennis, like Wimbledon or the US Open. This, to me, is a huge indication of how the strength and potential of the IPTL and the popularity of tennis in India and in Asia.
The popularity of Federer and Djokovic in India was covered in Carl Bialik’s story on the FiveThirtyEight.com website here: http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/federer-djokovic-set-to-play-for-first-time-in-a-tennis-hotbed-india/
The highlight of the day’s play was Federer and Djokovic competing in the final singles match of the team match – Federer representing the Micromax Indian Aces against Djokovic playing for his United Arab Emirates Royals team. The two played a high-intensity set, Federer winning in a tie-breaker – or a “shoot-out” – 6-5, highlighted by this amazing shot from Federer – perhaps one of the greatest of his career – as documented on my Vine social media account: https://vine.co/v/OrHKe3TAlTt
Craig Willis, the voice of the Australian Open, in the post-match on-court interview of both Federer and Djokovic, said of the single-set match, “That was a match worthy of a Grand Slam final.”
Earlier, Federer paired with Gael Monfils in doubles – talk about an entertaining combination – and while Gael’s slam dunk overhead winner, followed by a leaping celebratory bump with Federer was a highlight of the match – as seen here on my Vine: https://vine.co/v/OrX2OvBz15Jit was Federer’s stinging backhand return of serve on the decisive point that gave he and Monfils the win in men’s doubles over Zimonjic and Djokovic. Monfils celebrated in a unique way as seen here: https://vine.co/v/OrXE9QB9IAF and Federer got a high-five from Ana Ivanovic as seen here: https://vine.co/v/OrXVatEzYpV
In the end, it was Djokovic’s UAE Royals who emerged as the 29-22 victors over Federer and his Aces.
IPTL play resumes Dec. 11, 12 and 13 in Dubai for the event’s finale. US viewers can click here: http://news.gfl.tv/2014/11/international-premier-tennis-league-to-air-live-on-pay-per-view-in-united-states-via-integrated-sports-media/ to order the on-line or cable pay-per-view packages:
For people looking for holiday gift ideas for Federer fans, consider the Rene Stauffer authored book “Roger Federer: Quest for Perfection” at www.RogerFedererBook.com or the new book “The Days of Roger Federer” that I can also personally vouch for since it was written by me! It is available here: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1937559378/ref=cm_sw_r_pi_dp_zbKHub0GZ3NGA
The International Premier Tennis League (www.iptlworld.com) is the first international city-based professional tennis league played across four countries. Created to for fill the increasing demand for top-level tennis in Asia, the IPTL features teams based in India, Singapore, the Philippines and the United Arab Emirates featuring current champions, tennis legends and up-coming talent in a unique format of team matches to determine a team champion. Seventeen-time-major tournament champion Federer, 18-time major winner and current world No. 1 Serena Williams, current world No. 1 and seven-time major champion Djokovic and five-time major champion and former world No. 1 Maria Sharapova headline the players competing in the inaugural season of the IPTL. The league also features past champions such as 14-time major champion Pete Sampras and career Golden Grand Slam winner Andre Agassi and other top current players including 2013 Wimbledon champion Andy Murray, 2010 Wimbledon finalist Tomas Berdych, and former world No. 1s Ana Ivanovic and Lleyton Hewitt among others. In all, the league will feature 21 Grand Slam tournament champions and 14 current or former world No. 1 players competing in 24 team matches through December 13.
Each IPTL match will consist of five sets played by different players that will include men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, mixed doubles and former champions singles. Each game won counts as one point for the team points total and the team that wins the most games overall across the five sets wins the match. The IPTL matches will feature live entertainment, a running shot clock and many more features to ‘Break the Code’ of the traditional etiquette of tennis to attract a new audience to the sport across the world. The team with the most accumulated points during the season are declared league champions and are awarded the IPTL Challenge Trophy in Dubai on December 13.
Dates and US times for action from Dubai, UAE are as follows:
December 11th
Aces v Slammers (7:00 am ET/4:00 am PT)
Royals v Mavericks (10:30 am ET/7:30 am PT)
December 12th
Mavericks v Slammers (7:00 am ET/4:00 am PT)
Royals v Aces (10:30 am ET/7:30 am PT)
December 13th
Mavericks v Aces (7:00 am ET/4:00 am PT)
Royals v Slammers (10:30 am ET/7:30 am PT)
