Top stars including Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and Serena Williams have been confirmed as participants in the International Premier Tennis League (IPTL), after organisers announced a field of 70 players yesterday.

The IPTL, an exhibition league set to take place from November 28 to December 20 this year, will consist of five franchise teams based in Asian cities – believed to be Hong Kong, Mumbai, Singapore, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur.

A player draft will take place in Dubai at the Oberoi Hotel tomorrow, where team owners will be competing over the players, which have been grouped into categories based on their status, asking fee, and level of commitment to matches.

Nadal, Djokovic, Murray, Stanislas Wawrinka, and legends Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi, along with WTA stars Williams, Victoria Azarenka and Caroline Wozniacki belong to the category coined ‘Icon Players’.

The rest of the active players are divided across categories A through D while two more categories are dedicated to past champions and doubles players.  

Notable absentees from the player field announced are Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova.

“I just didn't sign up because I didn't want to,” Federer told reporters earlier in the week. “I just first wanted to see it get off the ground. I wanted them to put in the work. They already signed up with a lot of other guys. 

“I hope it's going to be successful, because there is definitely potential, you know, in the Asian market, so many people live here, a lot of tennis enthusiasts come from this part of the world.”

Others competing in Dubai this week like Berdych and Djokovic have supported the project with the former calling it “ambitious” and the latter saying it was a “fantastic concept”.

“It's going to promote tennis in the Asian part of the world,” said Djokovic. “That is a huge market. It's a fun concept. It lets the players enjoy in the court and off the court together. It's something that we don't get to see that much – the kind of concept of the teams.”

Five-time Grand Slam champion Martina Hingis has been surprisingly placed in Category C alongside the likes of Jelena Jankovic and Svetlana Kuznetsova but organisers have explained to Sport360 that it is because of her low asking price and her commitment to a less matches than those in higher categories.

 

To understand the IPTL in more detail, check out Sport360's exclusive interview with IPTL CEO Morgan Menahem

FULL LIST OF PLAYERS

MEN

Icon Players:
Rafael Nadal
Novak Djokovic
Andy Murray
Stanislas Wawrinka
Andre Agassi
Pete Sampras 

Past Champions:
Patrick Rafter
Goran Ivanisevic
Mark Phillipoussis 
Fabrice Santoro
Juan Carlos Ferrero
Rainer Schuettler
Michael Chang
Carlos Moya

Category A:
Tomas Berdych
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
David Ferrer

Category B:
Richard Gasquet
Milos Raonic
Tommy Haas
John Isner
Gael Monfils
Lleyton Hewitt

Category C:
Jerzy Janowicz
Philipp Kohlschreiber
Aleksandr Dolgopolov
Marcos Baghdatis
Fabio Fognini
Feliciano Lopez
Fernando Verdasco

Category D:
Kevin Anderson
Marinko Matosevic
Sam Querrey
Marcel Granollers
Dmitry Tursunov
Somdev Devvarman
Janko Tipsarevic
Rendy Lu

Doubles Players:
Bruno Soares
Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi
Alexander Peya
Marcin Matkowski
Marcelo Melo
Mariusz Fyrstenberg
Marc Lopez
Daniel Nestor
Rohan Bopanna
Robert Lindstedt
Nenad Zimonjic

WOMEN

Icon Players:
Serena Williams
Victoria Azarenka
Caroline Wozniacki

Category A:
Agnieszka Radwanska

Category B:
Ana Ivanovic
Samantha Stosur
Sloane Stephens

Category C: 
Sara Errani
Jelena Jankovic
Angelique Kerber
Svetlana Kuznetsova
Martina Hingis
Daniela Hantuchova

Category D:
Sabine Lisicki
Kirsten Flipkens
Alize Cornet
Kristina Mladenovic
Su-Wei Hsieh
Francesca Schiavone
Flavia Pennetta
Sania Mirza
Donna Vekic