ANDY MURRAY has thrown his weight behind the creation of the International Premier Tennis League - but wants the yearly schedule for top players adjusted accordingly.
The Wimbledon champion insists he is excited about the brainchild of Indian doubles player Mahesh Bhupathi, who worked briefly with the Scot last year in an advisory capacity, which will see the likes of Novak Djokovic, Rafa Nadal, Serena Williams and Pete Sampras team up to represent Dubai, Bangkok, Mumbai and Singapore in a series of matches in the cities between November 28 and December 14.
As in the cricketing version - the IPL - players are auctioned and team franchises bought in the hope vast sums of cash will be generated while boosting the profile of tennis in Asia.
Confusion and doubts continue to reign about the logistics of the tournament - and who is financing it - with Andre Agassi already admitting he is now not sure of his availability while others have accused Bhupathi of congesting an already heaving schedule on the ATP tour.
Murray, though, speaking after losing a highly entertaining exhibition match 6-3, 7-6 to Djokovic at Madison Square Garden on Monday night as part of World Tennis day, is keen for the tournament to go ahead - providing the ATP try to revise the amount of Masters events the top players are contracted to play.
The top players such as the Scot and Djokovic have to play in eight of the nine Masters 1000 events during the year or risk losing ranking points which will severely affect seedings moving forward.
"The schedule is fine, we are just told we have to play in all the tournaments," said Murray who has been listed to play for Bangkok alongside Jo Wilfried Tsonga and Victoria Azarenka. "People get it mixed up. It's not about the schedule being too long - that is fine, it's more about if we can decide when we can or cannot play. If we don't play then our rankings can go down which can affect many things.
"I haven't been big into playing exhibitions, I have taken my training very seriously for a number of years, done all my work in Miami in the off season. My agreement was to play for one week in one city, I wouldn't have to move around so I could do all my training and play some matches against some good players which, in the off season, isn't easy to find. There are maybe one or two tournaments throughout the year which we can decide if we want to play, the rest we're told where to go."
Djokovic, signed up to represent Dubai, added: "It is a great idea and can help bring a lot of positive things to the sport."
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