Nadal spices up 2nd IPTL Manila leg

MANILA, Philippines - The “King of Clay” will soon find out for himself that “It’s more fun in the Philippines.”

Rafael Nadal, winner of 14 Grand Slam titles, will be in Manila to stellar role in the second International Premier Tennis League leg at the Mall of Asia Arena.

“Nadal is coming to play,” said Clementine Apacible, project lead of the IPTL Manila leg, during yesterday’s PSA Forum at Shakey’s Malate.

Nadal, always a hot favorite among female fans, will lead Indian Aces in the 2015 IPTL that has scheduled stops in Japan, Manila, New Delhi, Dubai and Singapore.

It will be the first trip to the Philippines for the Spanish superstar.

Last year’s Manila leg was a tremendous success, and tennis superstars who came over, including Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams, said it was like no other.

“They were so happy. They loved our crowd. We had the best audience. They found the MOA Arena a great venue,” said Apacible.

“It’s really more fun in the Philippines,” she said, promising that the second IPTL season will be bigger and better than the previous one.

“We have more teams, more players,” said Apacible, who referred to the event set Dec. 6 to 8 as the “All-Stars” tennis.

Also gracing the forum supported by Shakey’s, Accel, San Miguel Corp. and Pagcor are Roland Kraut, head coach of the Philippine Davis Cup team, and Stephanie Henares of the SM Lifestyle Entertainment, Inc.

Williams, eyeing the Grand Slam this year, will lead the Philippine Mavericks against the Japan Warriors, UAE Royals, Indian Aces and Singapore Slammers.

The Mavericks, co-owned by Jean Henri Lhuillier of Cebuana Lhuillier, Hans Sy of SM Prime Holdings, Edgar Tejerero of SMLEI, businessman Haresh Hiranand and Kevin Belmonte, CEO of Philstar.com, the web portal of The Philippine STAR, are going all out this year.

The winning team gets $1 million.

“That’s one million dollars plus the trophy and the bragging rights. But it’s really about the camaraderie among the teams,” said Apacible.

There’s an early bird promo on the three-day passes that are transferable – VIP P49,000, patron P40,000, lower box P23,000, upper box P11,600 and general admission P2,700.

Nadal will lead the Micromax Indian Aces, playing alongside Gael Monfils, Agnieszka Radwanska, Fabrice Santoro, Ivan Dodig, Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna.

Maria Sharapova, who played for the Mavericks last year, is now with the Japan Warriors, who also boast the presence of Daniela Hantuchova and Marat Safin.

The UAE Royals will have Roger Federer, Ana Ivanovic and Goran Ivanisevic in its core while the Singapore Slammers will be bannered by world No. 1 Novak Djokovic, Nick Kyrgios, Belinda Bencic and Carlos Moya.

Joining Williams in the Mavericks lineup are Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Treat Huey, Mark Philippoussis, Richard Gasquet, Jarmila Gajdosova, Borna Coric and Sabine Lisicki.

“It’s a treat and let’s drum it up,” said Kraut, adding that last year’s IPTL created a big impact on the Filipino tennis fans, especially the young ones.

“There was a great impact on the kids because aside from the actual competition there were side-events like tennis clinics attended by the tennis superstars,” he said.

“It had a very valuable effect on our young players,” said Kraut.