Mahesh Bhupathi's International Tennis Premier League receives backing from Roger Federer

Roger Federer of Switzerland

Tennis legend Roger Federer, speaking to Gulf news, spoke about the enormous potential of the inaugral International Tennis Premier League, which has been touted as tennis’ answer to cricket’s Indian Premier League.

“What do I feel about it?” Federer mused. “Firstly, I want to see whether it takes off or not. I know a lot of people have invested in it or are part of it. Anywhere where tennis grows is a good thing, so I hope it takes off and becomes very successful. In Asia, there is enormous potential [for tennis to grow], in places like China and India due to the amount of people that live there and the excitement they have for tennis.”

The ITPL is a joint venture initiated by Indian doubles master Mahesh Bhupati and six-time Grand Slam winner Boris Becker, and is due to be launched later this year.

The event will see five franchises take part - Mumbai, Bangkok, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and another, yet-to-be-named, Middle East city. Each team will consist of 6 to 10 players, and the sides will play each other home and away, much like the English Premier League format.

Federer was also asked about his possible plans of coaching post retirement, in response to which he said he was still undecided.

“I haven’t thought about it any way,” he said. “I haven’t thought about opening any academies or anything. But any new tennis centres or academies created would be unbelievably helpful, and clearly I could be an inspiring person for those kinds of things in terms of talks.

“I hope that this tournament alone can inspire people with five of the world’s top 10 players.”

Australia’s Lleyton Hewitt is the first big name to officially commit to the league.