Organisers of the International Premier Tennis League (IPTL) Tuesday appointed Joshua Eagle and John Laffnie de Jager as coaches of Singapore Slammers and UAE Royals respectively. Fabrice Santoro and Treat Huey will be player-coaches for the Indian Aces and Manila Mavericks.
France's Santoro is a distinguished doubles player, holds several ATP records, and has made an unbeaten 70 appearances in singles competition at Grand Slam events. He is also the only male player to have appeared in Grand Slam singles competitions in four different decades. Santoro's repertoire of trick shots make him a delight to watch.
Slammers coach Eagle of Austrlalia is a former professional male player. In January 2013 he was appointed as the Australian Davis Cup coach, having previously won Tennis Australia's elite coaching excellence award in 2012 for helping Australian Marinko Matosevic break into the top-50 from outside 200. Eagle is classified as a doubles specialist and has won five ATP doubles titles.
Royals coach de Jager is a South African former tour professional. A doubles specialist, de Jager reached the semi-finals of three different Grand Slams three times in three different years partnering three different fellow South Africans. De Jager is the current non-playing captain of the South Africa Davis Cup team.
Like Santoro, Filipino-American Huey is also player-coach. The Mavericks player specialises in doubles and has reached three finals on the ATP World Tour. Huey reached his career-high doubles ranking of World No.21 in November 2013. The 28-year-old is the Philippines' No.1 and current ATP doubles World No.40.
The competition will be played in four Asian cities - Manila, Singapore, New Delhi and Dubai - from Nov 28 to Dec 13.