Mahesh Bhupathi to launch ITPL later this year

Indian tennis ace Mahesh Bhupathi will launch the International Tennis Premier League (ITPL) later this year as confirmed by President of Asian Tennis Federation (ATF) Anil Khanna.

Khanna said that ATF is giving full support to this very challenging and initiative taken by Bhupathi in bringing the highest level of tennis to Asia in a competitive form.

The ITPL is proposed to be held in the Philippines after the Champions Tennis League (CTL), that would be held in six cities of India in from November 17 to 26 is over.

Khanna, who is also president of the All India Tennis Association (AITA), said that the initiative of AITA along with Indian tennis legend Vijay Amritraj has taken shape and CTL would be launched in six cities of India.

He also said that highly ranked players and legends including Indian players would form part of the six teams participating in CTL, adding that with this new initiative high quality tennis would be brought to six states in India.

Khanna further said that he feels that Asian nations are looking forward to watching high quality tennis and the league format, which is now being introduced in Asia and India.

Khanna said that in his view, the efforts of Bhupathi and Amritraj are laudable and are complimentary to the growth and success of tennis.