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Business News/ Mint-lounge / Features/  Tommy Robredo: On a comeback trail
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Tommy Robredo: On a comeback trail

World No.17 Tommy Robredo on his experiences playing the Champions Tennis League

File photo of Tommy Robredo playing at the Champions Tennis League at Kalina University Sports Complex, Mumbai. Photo: Indranil Mukherjee/AFPPremium
File photo of Tommy Robredo playing at the Champions Tennis League at Kalina University Sports Complex, Mumbai. Photo: Indranil Mukherjee/AFP

Ranked 17th in the world, Tommy Robredo of Spain is keen to crack the top 10. He was once ranked a career-high fifth, but a spate of injuries between 2010 and 2012 saw him finish the 2012 season outside the top 100 for the first time in 12 years.

On the comeback trail, Robredo needed to get as much time on the court as possible, and that’s one of the reasons he was in India to play the Champions Tennis League (CTL), a city-based league organized by player-turned-commentator Vijay Amritraj, that had its debut run from 17-26 November. Robredo played for the Mumbai Tennis Masters team. He spoke to us about his experiences in the CTL’s new format of quick tennis. Edited excerpts:

How did the CTL happen? It’s very different from tennis as we know it—each set constitutes a match, scoring is a bit different, and it’s all very pacy.

The CTL officials talked to my manager, who then asked if I was interested in going to India. This is usually our rest season; the year-end season’s finale, the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, are done, the tennis calendar is done for the year. I thought since I was free, it would be a good experience for me. I think it’s been great. It’s a very different experience.

Do you like the format? It’s quick tennis.

I like the format. The only thing I’d like to change is the order of matches within a tie. Right now, the order of play is the Legends match, mixed doubles, ladies singles, men’s doubles, men’s singles. According to me, the ideal order is Legends (played by retired international tennis stars), women’s singles, mixed doubles, men’s doubles and men’s singles. Like this, nobody has to stop between one match and another. So in my case, I am playing the second, fourth and fifth matches. So to stop one set (match in CTL’s terminology), sometimes it’s tough, no? And especially in places like Delhi and Chandigarh where we played; it was very cold. I think if we change the order of play, we’d be on court in successive matches and get it done with.

A couple of years back, some men’s tennis players had protested against the jam-packed schedule on the men’s calendar. Has that been sorted out, given that league tennis has now come up?

I think it’s different. The Association of Men’s Tennis (ATP) tournaments carry prize money and ranking points. That brings a certain amount of pressure on us to perform. The league tennis carries no ranking points. It’s fun, it’s also used by many of us as a good practice ground to prepare for the next year’s season. It’s the time to cool down a little bit, to play less. Fun leagues like this one also give us an opportunity to do some sightseeing, play a little tennis, practice sessions, go to the gym; basically to wind down.

How has the fan response been? We’ve seen many empty seats in the stadiums.

It’s not bad but it could be better. Stadiums were not full. But it’s also in its first year, so people don’t know exactly what the league tennis is all about. It’s a new format, being tried for the first time ever. But it’s our job to try and improve, to make the fans get more pleasure out of tennis.

How would you rate 2014? You were mostly out in 2012 because of injury.

Last year was a good year, having come back from the injury I had in 2012. This year was great for me as well. The important thing is to stay healthy, to play my best and to try. I think I did that; the second part of this year I played very good tennis.

Your matches with Britain’s Andy Murray this season at Shenzhen (Shenzhen Open) and Valencia (Valencia Open 500) were very tough. You lost five match points to him on each of those two occasions, both in the finals. Do you still think about that?

Sometimes, yeah, I think about it, especially when people ask me about it. Shenzhen was a good match. Valencia was amazing; I think that was one of the best matches of the year, not only for myself, but also for the people. So many emotions; we fought passionately, we were both fighters, all those match points; I thought it was lovely for the sport.

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Published: 03 Dec 2014, 09:37 PM IST
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