Marking a celebratory start to a new chapter in the sport of tennis in the country, the first ever installment of a premiere tennis league styled tournament will start at the Queens Club Tennis Courts tagged as the Sri Lanka Premiere Tennis League.
The Sri Lanka Premier Tennis League (SLTPL) is the first of its kind and is a Sri Lankan adaptation of the International Premier Tennis League and will feature the top-seeded players in the country ranging from the junior age category to the top most category of veterans.
Bringing new innovation has always been challenging. In the case of tennis that is one of Sri Lanka’s emerging sports, the inclusion of a franchise league of this stature would definitely be a boost for the sport. Speaking at a press conference held to announce the launch SLTPL, renowned sports administrator and key organizer of the event, Asanga Seneviratnestated“Tennis is a sport that has one of the biggest followings in the world and we are trying to take the sport to the next level with this (SLTPL)”
The tournament will run for a span of three days starting from the 30th of June and is expected to finish on the 2nd of July. All three days of play will take place at the Queen’s club tennis courts and each day of play is expected to start at 5.00 p.m.The specialty of this tournament will be that it will be played under lights and will have four franchise teams competing for the JAT SLTPL title.
The four franchise teams for the inaugural tournament will be the SLT Tuskers, NSB Jaguars, Cargills Eagles and the Crown Sharks. Each of this teams will consist of ten players each which will include a men’s player, 2 women’s players, 2 veteran players and a corporate player. In addition, each team will have a team captain and a team manager.
The initial tournament will be played on a round-robin basis with each of the franchise teams playing it out with each other. Every tie will consist of five sets that will be divided among the different players.
Adapting a new playing format into the tournament, the five sets that would be played will be by each representation of the team. It will consist of a Men’s Single set, a Women’s Single set, an Open Doubles set, a Junior Boy’s Single set and a Veteran Doubles set. This new implementation is set to increase the competitiveness of the sport as well as making the ties between the teams be more energetic and more interesting to the audience.
The finalists from the two teams will then be decided by the total games each team wins and is expected to take place in the center court on the final day.
The teams will consist of the top level tennis players including reigning champions Dineshkanthan Thangarajah, six-time women’s champion Amritha Muttiah, top seeds Sankha Atukorale, Nishangan Nadarajah, Nethmi Waduge, Anika Seneviratne and Yasitha De Silva who will represent the different franchises in the tournament.
JAT Holdings, one Sri Lanka’s top conglomerate brands will be the title sponsor for the 1st SLTPL while ThePapare.com will partner as the Online Sporting Partner for the tournament.
