MANILA: World number one Serena Williams is being called upon to do the heavy lifting and rescue her struggling Singapore Slammers team at the inaugural International Premier Tennis League tournament.
“We’re really excited about Serena coming. She’s an international superstar.... Everyone here in Manila is pretty pumped up and our team has been talking about it,” their Australian coach Josh Eagle said yesterday.
The Williams-led team were plastered by the Roger Federer-led India Aces on Friday as the IPTL, a speeded-up, television-friendly tennis format, made its debut in Manila.
Organisers said the American superstar was set to play Kirsten Flipkens of the Manila Mavericks on Sunday as the Manila leg of this year’s IPTL tournament ends. She will also play in the mixed doubles.
“She’s been sending us text messages. She’s really excited about going in,” Eagle told a news conference ahead of Saturday’s match against the UAE Royals.
The IPTL tour, which will also have stops in Singapore, New Delhi and Dubai next month, has a team format with ties consisting of five one-set matches, with no advantages. The first to six games wins.
A 20-second shot-clock between points guarantees quick play, and at 5-5, players go into a timed shoot-out in which they must accumulate the most points before time is up.
Players receiving a serve can also call a “happiness power point” once per set, meaning the next point will count double.
The Singapore team managed to win only one match on Friday as world number seven Tomas Berdych teamed up with rising Australian Nick Kyrgios to beat the Aces’ men’s doubles pair, Gael Monfils and Rohan Bopanna.
Struggling Daniela Hantuchova lost both her women’s singles and mixed doubles matches. She was thrashed 0-6 in the former by world number five Ana Ivanovic.
The Slammers’ fortunes still looked to be as dire Saturday as Berdych promptly lost to reigning US Open champion Marin Cilic 4-6 in the first match of their tie against the UAE Royals.
Eagle said the 31-year-old Hantuchova had recently changed coaches, taking former Li Na and Justine Henine mentor Carlos Rodriguez, and was still adjusting.
“She’s made a few technical changes in the last couple of weeks and she was probably struggling a little bit with confidence,” he said of the Slovak.
“She’s a great player. She’ll be back. She’ll be fine.”
Eagle said he was taking nothing away from Ivanovic, who he said had probably had one of the most successful years on the women’s circuit in 2014.
Meanwhile, Andy Murray has defended coach Amelie Mauresmo after former British number one Tim Henman said the Scot had not been “playing the right way” recently, questioning the partnership.
Henman claimed earlier this month that double Grand Slam winner Murray, who has slipped to sixth in the world rankings, was letting his opponents dictate matches and needed to play more offensively.
“(It’s) certainly not true, her telling me to play defensively, so I don’t agree with that,” former world number two Murray told reporters in Manila.
The 2013 Wimbledon winner was in the Philippine capital to play in the International Premier Tennis League (IPTL), a faster-paced, television-friendly format of the sport,
He said Mauresmo always tells him to play “aggressively”.
“That’s the sort of mindset and style that I want to play,” the 27-year-old added.
Murray in June turned to former female world number one Mauresmo, like him a Wimbledon champion, after predecessor Ivan Lendl brought an end to their hugely successful association.
The results have been less than spectacular, a fact Murray doesn’t dispute -- although he insists it is too early to judge Mauresmo’s impact. “Sometimes this year it hasn’t been possible, but you know we’ve only spent six or seven weeks together since Wimbledon,” Murray said of Mauresmo.
“Yes, there was a few periods of the year where I played a couple of bad matches, where my level dropped and I wasn’t expecting it.”
“It wasn’t my best season but it got better as the year went on,” Murray said, adding he played “solid” at Wimbledon and the Australian Open.
After Murray was whitewashed by Roger Federer at the ATP Tour Finals, Henman said his friend had to be “proactive” and “more offensive” on court. AFP
