Murray: IPTL stars to dish out their best

MANILA, Philippines - Former Wimbledon champion Andy Murray can only guarantee one thing when the three-day International Premier Tennis League is played starting tomorrow at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Murray said everybody will give their best.

The two-time Grand Slam winner will team up with Maria Sharapova, Jo-Wilfred Tsonga, Kirsten Flipkens, Daniel Nestor, Carlos Moya and the Philippines’ Treat Huey for the Manila Mavericks.

“We win as a team and we lose as a team and I’m sure we will all do our best to support each other,” said Murray ahead of today’s press conference at Edsa Shangri-La.

“There are some great players in our team. I’m going to make sure I’m prepared and try to play as best as I can. Obviously I don’t want to reveal too much, just in case our rivals are reading this,” he said.

Other teams vying for the $1 million top prize are the Singapore Slammers, Indian Aces and UAE Royals. From Manila, they travel to Singapore (Dec. 2 to 4), New Delhi (Dec. 6 to 8) and Dubai (Dec. 11 to 13).

Playing for the Singapore Slammers are Serena Williams, Andre Agassi, Tomas Berdych, Lleyton Hewitt, Nick Kyrgios, Daniela Hantuchova, Bruno Soares and Patrick Rafter.

For the Indian Aces, hitting their best shots are Roger Federer, Pete Sampras, Gael Monfils, Ana Ivanovic, Sania Mirza, Rohan Bonanna and Rohan Santoro.

Leading the charge of the UAE Royals are Novak Djokovic, Caroline Wozniacki, Malek Jaziri, Nemad Zimonjik, Goran Ivanisevic, Eugenie Bouchard and Marin Cilic.

“It’s definitely exciting to be part of it in the first year,” Murray said.

On the side, the 2013 Wimbledon champion said he wants to meet Manny Pacquiao, who got a special invite from the IPTL to watch the matches live.

On paper, the Manila Mavericks are the hottest team, mainly because of the presence of Sharapova.

“I just wanted to say how excited I am to finally be coming all the way to the Philippines for the first time in my career,” said Sharapova in a video message posted at www.manilamavericks.com <http://www.manilamavericks.com> .

“I’m gonna be playing for the Manila Mavericks so I hope all of you gets the chance to watch me play and support me and of course, hope for the win,” she said.

For most of these tennis stars, it will be their first visit to the Philippines, and also their first time playing under the IPTL format.

“Playing in Manila will be fun. The fans there don’t get to see a lot of live tennis, so that will be good. I like the format,” Murray also said.

Part of the innovations are time-outs, power points, shootouts, a running shot clock, Hawk-eye and live entertainment.

“People are excited. How can you not be,” said IPTL managing director Mahesh Bhupathi.