Marin Cilic says IPTL shut down due to payment issues

Pune, January 3: Croatian Marin Cilic acknowledged that there were issues with regard to players' payment during the International Premier Tennis League (IPTL), which shut down last year due to financial crunch.

India's celebrated player Mahesh Bhupathi had launched the League in 2014 on the lines of much successful cricket league IPL. It began with four teams with bases in India, Dubai, Singapore and Manila.

Japan was added in the 2015 season but in 2016 again it was back to four teams with Manila backing out, reportedly because the league did not fulfil its financial obligations.

The league was not played in 2017 as Singapore Slammers complained of payment issues.

Cilic, who was part of the UAE Royals team in the 2015 edition, did not elaborate much but acknowledged that the money indeed was an issue.

"There were some issues, just bad thing that it happened like that for a event so successful. I think all things will clear up. Looking overall, it's very very positive for Asian cities where there was not much tennis. Best players in the world came and played tennis. That was great to see and fan reaction was very nice," Cilic said after he made it to the quarterfinals of the Tata Open Maharashtra.

.@cilic_marin stormed into the quarter-finals after daunting @ramkumar1994's hopes of making it to the next round. The Croatian giant won this clash in straight sets (6-4, 6-3).

Watch the highlights of this entertaining encounter!#AdvantagePune #TataOpenMaharashtra pic.twitter.com/mKRWKB3plY

— Tata Open Maharashtra (@MaharashtraOpen) January 3, 2018

Cilic beat Ramkumar Ramanathan 6-4, 6-3 in the second round.

Bhupathi's comment was sought on the issue, but he had refused to speak on the issue.