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The 2015 Champions Tennis League is only a few weeks away and the player line-ups have been announced. The event, which aims to bring world class tennis to the audiences in India, comprises of some of the top ATP and WTA players and the legends of the game.The team format also gives the young Indian tennis brigade an opportunity to rub shoulders with the top ranked players. The League is run by Vijay Amritraj, who is one of India’s most recognised tennis players and broadcasters.The 2014 edition had a star-studded cast, which included the likes of Leander Paes, Garbine Muguruza, Pat Cash, Agniezska Radwanska and Venus Williams. This year, the line-up has been revamped a bit and we see some of the stars return along with a host of fresh faces. Here are 5 players that will really make the event a spectacle worth watching.
#1 Flavia Pennetta
One of the biggest stories of 2015 in the world of tennis was that of Flavia Pennetta. Her career seemed to be destined for oblivion as one of those many familiar faces that made up the numbers. Then, suddenly and without any indication, she took one of the sharpest upswings of all time and found herself a little chapter in the history of the game.
Little else was being spoken about, throughout the 2015 US Open, apart from the history making opportunity that Serena Williams was sitting on the cusp of. With each match that Serena won, the chatter grew louder and louder. Deservedly so – after all, such an feat hadn’t been accomplished in 27 years.
There were 4 women in the semi-finals but with all that was being spoken about, the entire tournament might have as well been about just the one. Pennetta had already done much more than her previous best and found herself in the final.
Then, a whole market that was set up on the tickets to the finals that Williams was supposed to be in came crashing when Roberta Vinci defeated Williams in the semi-finals. All talk and speculation ended, hundreds of pre-drafted articles were trashed and the world watched, stunned.
In this atmosphere of shock and disbelief (which was what even Roberta Vinci felt), Pennetta stepped ahead and seized one of the biggest prizes in tennis. It was her first chance ever in nearly sixteen years of top level tennis. And she did not falter, winning her first ever majors title. And to make it doubly sure that she ended on the highest of highs, she promptly announced her retirement from professional tennis at the end of this season.
So there you have it, Flavia Pennetta - the 2015 US Open Champion and the WTA star of the Mumbai Tennis Masters. It is unclear what she plans to do in the upcoming years and the 2015 Champions Tennis League might as well be the last chance to see this unlikely champion in action. Compelling stuff, indeed.
#2 Ivo Karlovic
Croatia has a knack for producing big servers. So much so that Croatians occupy 3 spots in the top 10 list of most aces served in a career. Ivan Ljubicic and Goran Ivanisevic are at the 6th and 2nd spots, respectively. At the very top of the pile, an honour he accomplished just this year, is Ivo Karlovic. His tally is impressive. 10,442 times he has had his opponents flailing at thin air.
Karlovic takes full advantage of his height. Towering over everyone in the entire world of tennis at 6’11”, he is able dish his serve straight and flat to almost any point in the service box. With an impressive 66% first serves in over his entire career and a fastest serve of 251 km/h, with Dr. Ivo, it is a common sight to see his opponents simply move side to side as unretunable serves whizz past them.
The 36-year-old is a formidable opponent simply beause he is so hard to break. Add to this the fact that Karlovic has not much of a return game or a penchant for rallying from the baseline, and you tend to get plenty of variety and outrageous patterns of play in his matches. And you also understand why his matches tend to feature tie-breakers.
But that is where they get more exciting. He puts his opponents serves under immense pressure and it takes only one mistake to lose a tie-break. Over the years, Karlovic has used his strength to great advantage and earned wins over the likes of Federer, Djokovic, Wawrinka, Roddick and Hewitt.
Karlovic will be playing for the Hyderabad Aces in the 2015 Champions Tennis League.
#3 Alex Corretja
Watching retired top players play is all about setting the expectations right. If you expect a high intensity physical match like the ones they were a part of in their heydays, then you are likely to be disappointed.
These men and women retired to stop going through precisely that. However, if you watch for that sense of nostalgia, a flash of that old brilliance that took them to the top the first time or for just witnessing the former heroes in the flesh, then you will begin to enjoy the matches.
A former World No. 2, Davis Cup winner, French Open finalist and one of the Spanish clay-court specialists of his day, Alex Corretja is not the most illustrious of his fellow participants in the legends bracket. Muster, Krajicek and Johansson have grand-slam titles to their names. However, Corretja is still an active player on the ATP Champions Tour and, just last month, he won the title at the Legends Cup in Mallorca, Spain.
He defeated the likes of Tim Henman, Henri Leconte and Thomas Enqvist en route to the title. Further, Corretja is a versatile player who, despite having a preference for the red clay, won titles indoors and on hard courts as well. This makes for an exciting contrast against a field that is predominantly made up of serve and volleyers – Johansson, Krajicek, Schuettler and Rusedski who have had most of their successes on hard and grass courts.
Keep an eye out for some crafty moves from the baseline as Alex Corretja, for the Nagpur Orangers, tries to get some balls past his opponents.
#4 Feliciano Lopez
The highest ranked ATP player in the 2015 Champions Tennis League is Feliciano Lopez. One of the over-30s players in the top 20 enjoying a decent year, Lopez is ranked No. 17 in the world. He has had a memorable 2015, with two ATP finals and a quarter-final showing at the US Open.
A unique player, Feliciano Lopez prefers the faster hard-courtss. He has a slinging, pacy serve, a single-handed backhand and a penchant for slicing the ball and making a move forward. He is an extremely stylish player to watch (I am sure his model like looks only add to the overal picture!).
At the same time, Lopez keeps switching on and off during the course of a match. All this means that his matches tend to go the distance and are full of momentum swings. The Spaniard holds the record for most nuber of five set matches played that have gone beyond 6-6 in the final set. His longest fifth set ended 16-14 at the 2009 Australian Open against Gilles Muller.
Plenty of excitement should be expected when Lopez turns up for the Nagpur Orangers.
#5 Martina Hingis
Martina Hingis is easily the most accomplished tennis player in the 2015 Champions Tennis League. With 5 singles, 11 doubles and 4 mixed doubles titles at the grand slams, Hingis is the definition of a superstar! But even if you remove her past victories and honours, she would still be the most exciting player this year.
And that is because of the successful season she has had with the leading Indians. Wimbledon, US Open, year end Championships titles and the top ranked doubles team with Sania Mirza and the Australian, Wimbledon and US Open mixed-doubles title with Leander Paes - the Swiss Miss is in a purple patch in her third career renaissance. We ought to convince her to take up Indian citizenship and officially claim all the success as Indian!
This is what makes her the top draw in this years Champions Tennis League. While she hasn’t played singles tennis in a while, with her pedigree she is likely to be highly competitive in it. And when it comes to doubles, her sizzling form will make her the favourite in each encounter. Martina has the star like presence on court and her tennis game is eye-catching and compelling to watch.
Expect her to light up the competition every time she steps on to the court. There is also the added benefit that her presence will serve to inspire the young Indian players in the squads.
Martina Hingis will be playing for the Hyderabad Aces.
