Former World No. 1 Roger Federer will be playing in the third edition of the IPTL after all. Although his name was missing from the initial list of players rostered for the league this year, it was confirmed by the IPTL by way of its official Twitter account that the Swiss would be a part of the Indian Aces’ squad.
This will be the second time that Federer will be playing for the Indian Aces. During the IPTL’s inaugural edition, in 2014, he’d played for the Aces after Rafael Nadal had to pull out of the tournament with injury concerns.
The confirmation of Federer’s participation tallies with what Mahesh Bhupathi, the founder of the league, had mentioned to PTI on the 24th November, while announcing the launch of the event, after the initial player names were announced. “One of the Big Four is definitely coming. We did not want to reveal all our cards today. We will announce the name in the next 48 hours. That’s why they say don’t believe in everything you read,” Bhupathi had emphasised.
The highest ranked singles players in the tournament are the World No. 2 Serena Williams and the World No. 5 Kei Nishikori. Williams will be playing for the OUE Singapore Slammers, while Nishikori will be leading his home team, the Japan Warriors.
Regardless of the IPTL’s announcement, there’s been no word from Federer himself on any of his social media channels. Likewise, it’s still unknown as to in which cities the 17-time Grand Slam champion would be playing.
The 2016 IPTL schedule features four teams playing across three cities, starting with Tokyo from 2 to 4 December, then moving to Singapore from 6 to 8 December. The final leg of the tournament will be held in Hyderabad, India from 9 to 11 December, with the finale being played on the 11th. Singapore Slammers are the defending champions, while the Aces are the finalists.
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