The Coca-Cola IPTL: How and why did the revolutionary event come into being?

It is well-known by now that the Coca-Cola International Premier Tennis League (IPTL) is the brainchild of Indian tennis legend Mahesh Bhupathi. The 12-time Grand Slam champion announced the founding of the ‘Happiness Open’ on 25 May 2013, in Paris. The concept was simple – to introduce a new, short and more engrossing form of tennis.

“I think we’re focusing on the experience. So you’re going to see men, women and legends, you’re going to have music, give-aways, cheerleaders,” Bhupathi has been quoted as saying. “Hopefully the kids will have fun, the parents will have fun and the grandparents will have fun, that’s our goal,” he added.

The initial plan was to start the league with a number of franchises in Asia, with the inaugural season commencing in November 2014. That plan underwent a few changes until we got the final product last week, and it certainly looks like a perfectly refined version! Here is a look at how the Coca-Cola IPTL progressed over the last one year:

• On 21 January 2014, the Coca-Cola IPTL announced the locations of the charter franchises for the league’s inaugural season. Mumbai and Singapore were two of the confirmed locations right from the start.
• The league conducted its inaugural player draft on 2 March 2014.
• Four teams participated in the draft: Bangkok, Mumbai, Singapore and Middle East, which is now referred to as the UAE franchise.
• By the end of June 2014, the final franchises were finalized and the names were made permanent as well.

It’s not hard to see why Bhupathi came up with this idea in the first place. Tennis as a sport has a fairly limited geographical audience at the moment, and since a long time there have been calls for it to tap the potentially enormous market in Asia. The WTA tour and lately the ATP tour have started looking to establish a foothold in China and Japan, but there still remains a huge void as far as the Indian subcontinent and Middle East are concerned.

The likes of Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic are considered rock stars in Asia, but the people here don’t get many chances to see them live in action. A tournament like the Coca-Cola IPTL provides the platform for the fans to see their heroes up close, and the revenue implications of that are not hard to see.

Bhupathi has said that there are plans for the league to add to its four teams – Manila Mavericks, Singapore Slammers, Indian Aces and UAE Royals – but in a gradual manner. There could likely be six franchises by 2016, and that is surely going to add to the gravity of the event.

“We’re going to make sure that it’s planned well because obviously, we want to sustain this to 25 years, 30 years, and we want to make it something that both the fans and the players enjoy,” Bhupathi has said.

Truly, the Happiness Open has lived up to Bhupathi’s and the fans’ expectations. There is no second opinion about that – the sell-out crowds and frenzied media attention stand testimony to the tournament’s success.

As the Coca-Cola IPTL is now in its business end, the stakes have gotten higher and the game has risen in terms of quality. With Federer and Djokovic entering the picture in the Indian leg of the tournament, things are sure going to get heated up.

After all, who wouldn’t love to see a Fed v/s Djoko match that is being billed as the climax of the tennis season? Everything is leading up to that high-octane clash, and you can bet everyone’s excited!