Tournament's innovations keep Leander on his toes

MANILA: Team tennis is right up Leander Paes' street. He is, after all, a good team man and a great motivator. What he is not used to is his team losing all the time.
It was in July that captain Paes led the Washington Kastles to a record fifth straight World Team Tennis title with a Most Valuable Player-winning performance in the finals. But right now, having joined the IPTL for the first time, Paes and his Japan Warriors teammates find themselves at the foot of the five-team table having lost all five matches in the Kobe and Manila legs.
“It is a new team with some young players without too much experience... we are playing together for the first time, so it will take some time to adjust. We will get better after a few more matches,” Paes said on Tuesday, a day off for Japan Warriors.
He finds the IPTL format interesting and exciting. “It is a very interesting and challenging format, I quite love it. Technically, this format takes getting used to.” Though similar in nature and concept, there are a few differences with the WTT, Paes pointed out. To start with, every one-set match is played over six games, with the tie-break applied at 5-5 in IPTL, while in WTT they play 5 games followed by a tie-break.
The shot clock and serve clock, giving players time limit for the ball toss and serve, are not used in WTT either.
“These are nice innovations, they could affect players like Rafa (Nadal) who takes his time between points. For me, the buzzer which goes off telling me 5 seconds are left for the ball toss is a helpful one because it keeps you alert,” said Paes.
But the rule which Paes finds most challenging is the `Coca-Cola power point', which gives the receiving team one chance per set to opt for it and win two points at a time. “It puts huge pressure on the team opting for the power point... It's a gamble, you try your best to pull it off. I really like the concept.”
The `substitution' rule comes in handy particularly if a player is struggling with serve. Like when Paes subtituted himself to get in Pierre Hugues Herbert in the mixed doubles set against Singapore Slammers. “I wasn't winning games, and in these formats, only the number of games count in the end,” he explained.
Another significant difference between the two leagues is the gulf in standard of players. “In WTT, the players in all teams are more or less evenly matched but in IPTL, you have the world No. 1 playing against the world No. 80.“
The Warriors look the weakest, especially after Maria Sharapova and Kei Nishikori left after the Kobe leg.