International Premier Tennis League: UAE Royals – Dubai
International Premier Tennis League: UAE Royals – Dubai
The UAE Royals are one of four teams competing in the 2014 International Premier Tennis League. They are coached in their first year by former doubles specialist John-Laffnie de Jager from South Africa. With team colours of black, red, green and gold to represent the fact that they are the franchise from the UAE, a Slavic bias in their players, including world number 1 Novak Djokovic, means they are slight favourites for the 2014 title.
The IPTL is a unique tennis competition that follows a league system and some slightly different points scoring. For full information on the format of the IPTL, follow this link to understand what is going on.
Background
From the outset of the International Premier Tennis League there was the intention for one of the franchises to be based in the Middle East and Dubai in the UAE was chosen. The teams owners are an investment group called Ace Ventures and they were initially labelled the UAE Falcons, but have since changed their name to the UAE Royals.
Serbian Janko Tipsarevic and Swiss legend Martina Hingis were both in the UAE Royals team after the inaugural draft, but have since been replaced by Marin Cilic and Eugenie Bouchard, which only goes to strengthen their side. The roster sees player and coach combination Goran Ivanisevic and Marin Cilic team up together after a successful year working in tandem.
Roster
Men
Novak Djokovic
Marin Čilić
Goran Ivanišević
Nenad Zimonjić
Malek Jaziri
Women
Caroline Wozniacki
Schedule – UAE Royals
| Match | Date | Venue | Opponent |
| 1 | 28-Nov | Philippines | Manila Mavericks |
| 2 | 29-Nov | Philippines | Singapore Slammers |
| 3 | 30-Nov | Philippines | Indian Aces |
| 4 | 02-Dec | Singapore | Indian Aces |
| 5 | 03-Dec | Singapore | Manila Mavericks |
| 6 | 04-Dec | Singapore | Singapore Slammers |
| 7 | 06-Dec | India | Singapore Slammers |
| 8 | 07-Dec | India | Manila Mavericks |
| 9 | 08-Dec | India | Indian Aces |
| 10 | 11-Dec | UAE | Manila Mavericks |
| 11 | 12-Dec | UAE | Indian Aces |
| 12 | 13-Dec | UAE | Singapore Slammers |
Icon Players
Novak Djokovic is the not-so-secret weapon for the UAE Royals heading into the inaugural IPTL this winter, as the Serb comes into the event in startling form. Having secured his year end world number 1 ranking with consecutive victories in Paris and then in London, Djokovic is favourite to dominate the 2015 season.
His record in Dubai is immaculate and it is perhaps fitting that he has been recruited by the UAE Royals, who will have a huge amount of confidence sending Djokovic out to do the business in the men’s singles sets. At the end of the year at the World Tour Finals we saw a lot of very one-sided sets and that might be the case again at the IPTL, with the unique scoring system encouraging convincing victories.
Caroline Wonzniacki finishes her impressive year with the UAE Royals and she will no doubt be full of confidence after her fantastic showing at the WTA Finals, where she served for the match against Serena Williams in the semi-finals. Wonziacki pairing up with Djokovic will be a crowd-pleasing combination, with both players having engaging personalities.
Wozniacki is still only 24 years old and still possibly has her best years in front of her. She will be looking to 2015 as the year where she can break her Grand Slam duck, coming so close in this years US Open, losing in the final. She is certainly now making the headlines for her sporting accomplishments and that includes running the New York City Marathon earlier this month.
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