Former tennis great Vijay Amritraj believes that the second edition of the Champions Tennis League (CTL), which he formally launched in the presence of Hyderabad Aces owner Rajesh Dandu in Hyderabad on Tuesday, will be much stronger, better and bigger this time around.
“I believe it is the first edition of CTL, which gave Martina Hingis the kind of confidence to get that feeling to be back in the circuit at the highest level having won so many Grand Slam titles when she was just around 17 years of age. There is no doubt CTL provided Hingis a huge platform to reset her targets and the way she has come back after the hiatus is truly remarkable. The CTL helped her realise her quality as a world-class performer,” Vijay explained.
“Generally, top players would love to repeat the best performances of the previous year. And, that is why, perhaps, Hingis opted to come back to the CTL before the next year’s hectic schedule starts. Hyderabad Aces were happy to retain her in their team too,” he said.
“Well, we generally look at the top 25 to 30 players who will be playing for different teams in the CTL. And, I must say given the kind of performances Martina Hingis has put up since March this year, they will be added value to the CTL, which starts on November 23 in Mumbai,” Vijay said.
“There are big names and it will be tough a call to predict who will be the favourite to win the title given some of the big names in various line-ups. But, I must remind that all the players will give their heart out and it will be a very competitive event and I have a feeling that most of the games will be very close,” Vijay observed.
“The final will be played in Hyderabad on December 6 besides the city hosting its home games on November 29 and 30,” he said to a query.
“This is a 14-day event unlike the 10-day affair last year and will again feature some of the best young Indian talent who will be training and travelling with the big names to be better players. We take pride in this initiative, which is going to help Indian tennis a long way,” he said.
“The format remains the same with each match comprising five sets but there is a minor change with now the tie-breaker rule being implemented at 4-all instead of 5-all last time,” he said.
“I strongly feel that after the Chennai Open, the CTL is the biggest thing to have happened to Indian tennis as it also happens to be the only league to be played in India,” Vijay concluded.
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