Australian Open champion Li Na on
Monday defended her decision to skip the International Premier Tennis League,
as she targets more Grand Slams and the world number one spot.
The inaugural edition of the IPTL takes place later this
year with matches in Bangkok, Mumbai, Singapore and Dubai geared to raise the
profile of the game across Asia and the Middle East.
But the event, modelled on cricket's financially
successful Indian Premier League, has been dealt a blow by the absence of
Asia's top male and female players -- Japan's Kei Nishikori and second-ranked
Li.
The Chinese star became Asia's first Grand Slam winner at
the 2011 French Open and followed it up with a second major title at Melbourne
in January, propelling her to a career-high rankings position.
Women's Tennis Association (WTA) chief Stacey Allaster
has placed the 32-year-old at the head of a concerted push into Asia including
multiple new tournaments in China and the end-of-season championships in
Singapore.
In September, Li's home city of Wuhan will host a new,
premier-level competition, one of six WTA events on Chinese soil this year.
- Full diary -
But the current hottest property in women's tennis
appears to have no room in her tightly-packed calendar for November and
December's IPTL -- the brainchild of Indian doubles star Mahesh Bhupathi.
"I already put my schedule (together) at the end of
last year," Li told a press conference in Hong Kong, where she was due to
play an exhibition match against former US Open champion Samantha Stosur to
mark World Tennis Day.
"When I was doing it I didn't see any (IPTL)
tournament... so that's why I didn't do (schedule) it."
The much talked about league will take place during the
off season in the tennis calendar, between November 27 and December 14, and
will feature 24 matches across the four host cities.
It falls at a time when most tour players opt to get some
rest and will come just weeks before Li would be due to defend her Australian
Open title in January.
The team event will take place shortly after October's
season-ending WTA Championships in Singapore, which, barring any mishap, Li
will contest as one of the world's top eight players.
Li told reporters in the southern Chinese city that her
focus was on adding to her two Slams and replacing Serena Williams at the top
of the rankings.
"I want to be number one in the world," she
said. "It's a goal, the dream for all athletes. I will try as hard as I
can. There's no timing (put on it)."
Li said she was handling the aftermath of her second Slam
win better than her first when she struggled to deal with the pressure of
expectation and suffered a slump which led her to even consider retirement.
"After I won the French Open I didn't have any
experience and also nobody told me what I should do next," she said.
"This time it's different. I'm working with (coach)
Carlos (Rodriguez) and he has a lot of experience. He told me before what I
should do."
Russia's Maria Sharapova and Swiss great Roger Federer
are also missing the IPTL in which $23,975,000 has been spent signing up
players including Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Williams.
World number five Tomas Berdych and former top-ranked
Lleyton Hewitt will play for Team Singapore while Wimbledon champion Andy
Murray lines up for Team Bangkok.
Each match will follow a best-of-five format comprised of
separate sets contested in men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, mixed
doubles and past champions singles.
"It's an honour to be picked," Berdych told AFP
in Hong Kong Monday ahead of his exhibition match with Hewitt. "I'm always
looking for a new experience and I see this is a good one. I think it's going
to be a great success."
Hewitt said it was a "fantastic concept".
Culled from Yahoo Sports
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