Mavs upbeat for next IPTL season

MANILA, Philippines - Philippine Mavericks co-owner and team manager Jean Henri Lhuillier said yesterday he’s optimistic the next International Premier Tennis League (IPTL) season will be more exciting than either of the first two editions with franchise holders taking an active role in assuring competitive balance.

“We had an owners meeting on the last day of the competitions in Singapore and we’re all getting involved in promoting the league and making it more exciting,” said Lhuillier. “Next year, we’ve got quarterly owners meetings. The first quarter meeting is scheduled just before we hold the draft in Dubai where the IPTL is based. (IPTL founder) Mahesh (Bhupathi) will advise us who are the players available for the third season in the meeting. There are plans to add one or two more franchises. Maybe, we could go up to six so we’ve got an even number. We could split the teams to two brackets so the travel is less taxing. We’ll consider all options. The superstars are paid at least $1 million to play in one leg so obviously, there are budgetary restraints.”

Lhuillier said this season, the Mavericks could’ve done better but injuries decimated the lineup even before the first leg in Kobe. In the end, the Philippines finished fourth of five, picking up 253 games won and 273 lost for a rate of 48.1 percent. The Mavericks, however, took six of 11 matches. Last season, the Philippines wound up third of four, winning 293 games and losing 273 for a rate of 51.7 percent on six of 12 matches.

“We’re disappointed,” said Lhuillier. “Before the season started, one of the players we drafted, Sabine Lisicki, backed out due to injury. We knew Serena (Williams) would play in only two legs so we were relying on Sabine to keep us competitive in women’s singles and mixed doubles. Mahesh offered us replacements and we took in Ajla Tomljanovic. Our original backup Jarmila Gajdosova tried her best but wasn’t consistent.”

Lhuillier pointed out that after two legs, the Mavericks were in second place and in contention to play in the final. Then, Williams, Milos Raonic and Richard Gasquet pulled out starting the New Delhi leg. Raonic and Gasquet withdrew with back problems while Williams played out her contract. The New Delhi leg was a disaster for the Philippines as the Mavs were trounced by India, 30-12 and Singapore, 30-22.

Lhuillier recruited 6-11 Ivo Karlovic and 6-5 legend James Blake to keep the Mavs’ hopes alive and for a while, the Philippines was back in the race. In Dubai, the Philippines’ 30-17 loss to India was nullified and corrected to 24-23 after Blake’s 6-0 setback to Rohan Bopanna was reversed, triggering a wave of optimism.

“Bopanna was named to replace India’s legend Fabrice Santoro who was ill but he’s not a legend,” said Lhuillier. “We were told about the replacement only as we headed to the court. India argued that Bopanna is 35, as is Blake but that’s not the qualification for a legend. Ivo is 36 and isn’t a legend. I insisted on sticking with the rule that if a team has no replacement for an injured or sick player, then it’s an automatic 6-0 for the other team. The organizers wanted the match to go on and I told them that’s fine but let’s announce it as an exhibition. We went back and forth until before the fourth set of the match, it was decided to reverse the 6-0 score to our favor. By then, we had lost the women’s singles and mixed doubles. Our morale was down. In this format, if you lose the opening set 6-0, you’re pressured to come back with another 6-0 to even things up. We still lost the match to India but by only one game.”

Legend playing coach Mark Philippoussis went down with a knee injury after three legs and sat out the last two in Dubai and Singapore to make way for Blake. The Mavericks were still within striking distance of second place with two matches left. But they were struck out of the running after losing 29-15 to Japan in Singapore. That was the last nail on the coffin as the Mavericks won only one of five sets with Edouard Roger Vasselin and Treat Huey combining to beat Pierre Hugues Herbert and Leander Paes, 6-5, in men’s doubles. Blake bowed to Marat Safin, 6-3, in the legend singles to lead off the tie then Kurumi Nara crushed Gajdosova, 6-1 and Paes and Mirjana Lucic-Baroni whipped Vasselin and Gajdosova, 6-2. Herbert ended it with a 6-3 romp over Karlovic.

“James started cold then Jarmila couldn’t get her game going and before we knew it, we were down 3-0 in sets,” said Lhuillier. “It’s really a tough format. You can’t afford blowouts in any set because you count the games won, not the sets won. So if you’re blown out in one set, you’ve got to blow out back in the next. Otherwise, you’re in a deep hole. Overall, I think our performance this year was at par with last year’s. We started out strong this year but we finished mediocre.”