The International Premier Tennis League (IPTL) will kick off as planned in Japan on 2 December and the Singapore leg will be played as well, tournament director Mahesh Bhupathi has confirmed.
Since Singapore Slammers took the 2015 title by defeating Indian Aces at the Singapore Indoor Stadium in December last year, there has not been much revealed about this year's edition. However, Bhupathi's assurance will come as a welcome news for tennis fans, who are awaiting star-studded action, across the globe.
The veteran Indian tennis star confirmed that the tournament officials would visit Singapore on 10 and 11 November to finalise contracts after which announcements about the 2016 edition will be made.
"The IPTL is coming to Singapore. The team will be in Singapore tomorrow and the day after tomorrow," Bhupathi was quoted as saying by The New Paper.
"Some contracts need to be signed and as soon as they are signed, we'll make the announcements.
"Ticket sales [in Singapore] will start on Nov 15 or 16."
Notably, Roger Federer, who has not featured in any tournaments since his semi-final loss at Wimbledon due to knee injury, is reportedly keen on making an early comeback and speculations are rife he will take part in IPTL 2016. Notably, the Swiss star pulled out of Rio Olympics and said he would be returning to court in 2017.
Also, Maria Sharapova, who is serving a reduced 15-month ban for doping, is likely to feature in the year-ending exhibition event. The former world number one participated in a charity match last month and has reportedly hinted at playing a couple more of exhibition events before making a comeback in April 2017.
The 2016 tournament will begin in Japan and will head to Singapore on 6 December. Philippines will hold the subsequent leg from 9 December from which the stars will travel to United Arab Emirates for the second-last leg, beginning 13 December.
The last leg and the final of the 17-day-long tournament will be played in India from 16 December. The Slammers and the Indian Aces are the only two teams to have won a title each so far.
Japan Warriors will reportedly have the likes of local star Kei Nishikori, Marat Safin, Martina Hingis and Fernando Verdasco among other while the rosters for the other teams are yet to be updated.
