This is where things start to get a little complicated.
Led by Mahesh Bhupathi, the new International Premier Tennis League will consist of four teams to be based in Bangkok, Mumbai, Dubai and Singapore.
IPTL organizers held a draft on Sunday in Dubai where mystery owners stumped up a total sum of US$23,975,000 to put together their four teams, who will be headed by “icon” players like Murray, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams.
Joining Murray in Team Bangkok are other high-profile players Jo Wilfred Tsonga and Victoria Azarenka, as well as Canadian doubles specialist Daniel Nestor, Spanish former world no. 1 Carlos Moya and Kirsten Flipkens.
While the teams are taking shape, it’s still a bit unclear what to expect from the tournament, especially for tennis-starved Bangkokians who were stung by Murray's late withdrawal from last year’s Bangkok Open.
What we do know: the tournament will take place over 16 days, operating like a traveling circus, with each team playing their home matches during a three-day window.
The first round starts in Singapore on Nov 28-30, before moving on to Bangkok on Dec 1-4, and finishing with Dubai on Dec 11-13.
The “icon” players, including Murray, are only expected to be available for the three-day period of home matches, which means our adopted Scotsman may only feature here in Bangkok. This means, we probably shouldn’t expect too many more current stars to play here, either, though we may welcome a number of retired greats like Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras and Martina Hingis.
The tournament will be played under special conditions, too. The teams of up to 10 players will perform in matches involving five sets, each set played by a different combination of players, so that points are up for grabs in each of men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, mixed doubles and “legend’s” singles.
The teams are as follows:
Team Singapore: Playing November 28, 29, 30
Tomas Berdych, Andre Agassi, Lleyton Hewitt, Serena Williams, Bruno Soares, Patrick Rafter, Daniela Hantuchova, Nick Krygios.
Team Bangkok: December 2, 3, 4
Andy Murray, Jo Wilfred Tsonga, Victoria Azarenka, Daniel Nestor, Carlos Moya, Kirsten Flipkens.
Team Mumbai: December 7, 8, 9
Rafael Nadal, Gael Monfils, Pete Sampras. Rohan Bopanna, Ana Ivanovic, Sania Mirza, Fabrice Santoro.
Team Dubai: December 11, 12, 13
Novak Djokovic, Caroline Wozniacki, Goran Ivanisevic, Janko Tipsarevic, Nenad Zimonic, Malek Jaziri, Martina Hingis.
