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World number two Roger Federer has joined the UAE Royals franchise for the second season of the Coca-Cola International Premier Tennis League (IPTL) 2015, which will be held from December 2 to 20, 2015.
The announcement was made on Thursday at an event in Dubai, attended by Mahesh Bhupathi, Managing Director - IPTL, and India's current Test captain and co-owner of the UAE Royals, Virat Kohli, among others.
Federer joins a formidable team of tennis superstars that include Goran Ivanisevic, 2001 Wimbledon champion; Ana Ivanovic, the 2008 French Open winner and current world No 7; Daniel Nestor, winner of 88 men's doubles titles; Kristina Mladenovic, winner of the 2014 Australian Open and 2013 Wimbledon Championships mixed doubles titles, and Tomas Berdych, the 2010 Wimbledon finalist.
The UAE leg of the league will be held from December 14 to 16 at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium.
"I have always followed tennis with great interest and today I am glad to be part of a professional tennis league team," said Kohli, at the official unveiling of the UAE Royals team for the second season of IPTL 2015.
"I am a huge fan of Roger Federer and with him joining the UAE Royals, my decision to be on board with the team was firm.
"The UAE Royals feature some of tennis' greatest players and I am confident about the prospects of the team in the IPTL. I am also excited about the format of the IPTL, which I am sure will drive further interest in the game of tennis."
"The UAE is fast getting recognized as a global sporting hub and the country has already hosted several internationally reputed events. With the participation of UAE Royals in the IPTL, we have now succeeded in bringing a unique and exciting format of tennis that will certainly add impetus to UAE being recognised as a key sports destination," said Neelesh Bhatnagar, CEO UAE Royals.
"With Roger Federer in our team and Virat Kohli on board, the UAE Royals have much to celebrate in the second season of IPTL," he added.
The innovative, team-based, multi-nation tennis league has expanded to five teams for its second edition, with the Japan Warriors joining last season’s champions, the Indian Aces, alongside the UAE Royals, the Philippine Mavericks and the Singapore Slammers, in a five-city swing, starting December 2 in Japan and ending at Singapore’s Indoor Stadium for the grand finale on December 20.
IPTL 2015 will see the top two teams in the league standings play-off to determine the champion for Season 2 on Dec 20 in Singapore.
"UAE has tremendous tennis following and we are excited to be back in the country with the second edition of the IPTL," said Bhupathi, IPTL’s Founder and Managing Director.
"Fans in the UAE and world over have embraced the innovative and unique format of the IPTL and we have hence made the event bigger in 2015. With Roger joining the UAE Royals, we are confident that tennis fans in the UAE will come out to support their team in great numbers."