MUMBAI: Four days of fast-paced tennis starting today, 19 December, with some of the leading players globally battling it out in the World Tennis League (WTL) Season 3 for the title of champion team. That’s what tennis lovers are going to be glued to on the Sony Sports Network (SSN) till 22 December.
SSN has acquired the exclusive television and digital rights for the tournament for India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Maldives, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The year-end treat has Sania Mirza and Rob Koeing serving as commentators.
The WTL is a one of its kind mixed gender leagues which is being held at the Etihad Arena, Yas Island, in Abu Dhabi with thrilling match ups between four teams namely Eagles, Falcons, Hawks and Kites.
What makes the tournament even more interesting is the presence of the players like Stefanos Tsitsipas, Andrey Rublev, Casper Ruud, Daniil Medvedev, Nick Kyrgios, Taylor Fritz, Hubert Hurkacz and Sumit Nagal from India in the Men’s. On the other hand, the women stars participating include the likes of Iga Swiatek, Barbora Krej?íková, Paula Badosa, Elena Rybakina, Aryna Sabalenka, Caroline Garcia, Jasmine Paolini, and Mirra Andreeva.
During the tournament, the teams will play each other in a round-robin format. Each tie will consist of four sets: one men’s singles match, one women’s singles match, and two doubles sets, which may include men’s doubles, women’s doubles, or mixed doubles, as determined by the team that wins the coin toss.
Following the round-robin phase, the top two teams will face off in the final on 22 December 2024.
The squads are as follows:
Eagles – Iga Swiatek, Barbora Krej?íková, Hubert Hurkacz, Casper Ruud
Hawks – Aryna Sabalenka, Mirra Andreeva, Taylor Fritz, Sumit Nagal
Falcons – Elena Rybakina, Caroline Garcia, Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev
Kites – Jasmine Paolini, Paula Badosa, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Nick Kyrgios
The WTL can be watched live on Sony Sports Ten 1 SD & HD channels & on Sony LIV
Live performances by ageing evergreen Canadian rockstar Bryan Adams and Anastacia (19 December) and by Akon (21 December) are other standouts for the WTL What was not clear at the time of writing was whether the performances were going to be aired. So if you are a fan of any of these and the top tennis ranked players, head out and book your flight tickets as well as tickets for the arena.