IPTL needs more Indian players to lift tennis in the country

The recipe of International Premier Tennis League (IPTL) has most ingredients in perfect measure, except one - the presence of Indian players.

Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna, playing for the Indian Aces, are the only two local players featuring in the inaugural season of the league that includes a host of current international stars, including Roger Federer and Serena Williams.

While big names is what drives a venture like this devised by Mahesh Bhupathi, India will expect the game's standard to improve - something similar to what the Indian Premier League (IPL) and Indian Super League (ISL) have done for cricket and football, respectively.

On that count, the IPTL appears a poor cousin of the IPL and ISL. What such leagues should do is give home players the opportunity to rub shoulders with their idols. That's where Bhupathi will have to innovate after ensuring the ground beneath IPTL is firm enough to experiment.

Perhaps there is neck-breaking pressure from the advertisers and getting franchises ready to buy a team devoid of international stars is tough. But rise of Indian tennis is something on which the league's long-term success will rest, as much as the presence of the Federers, Djokovics and Sharapovas.

And since the league resides in Asia - Manila, Singapore and UAE apart from India, the other three countries won't mind one bit if the IPTL helps them develop Grand Slam and Olympic winners.

Bhupathi has built a perfect platform for franchise tennis. The next challenge for him is to turn this platform into a launchpad.