Kuumar Shyam (Abu Dhabi)

Punit Balan Eagles soared when it mattered to clinch the trophy in the second season of the Meteora World Tennis League as they beat the SG Mavericks Kites on Sunday. 

The Eagles squad – Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev, Mirra Andreeva and Sofia Kenin – got to lay their hands on the glittering trophy at the Etihad Arena. The format consisted of five sets per match – three doubles and two singles encounters with the team accumulating the most points winning the match. 

Kites were the favourites to win, but they missed out at the final step for both times in the two editions of this exciting format of the first mixed-gender franchise tournament. 

  • Daniil Medvedev tries to slice his return with partner Andrey Rublev watching at the Etihad Arena

 



This year the motley mix consisted of men’s Stefanos Tsitsipas (world No. 6), Grigor Dimitrov (14), and women’s Aryna Sabalenka (world No. 2) and Paula Badosa (64).

However, an injured Tsitsipas broke down even as he and his girlfriend Badosa gave the winning start to the finale. Having defeated Andreeva and Medvedev, Tsitsipas retreated from the court and put a question mark on his Australian Open participation.

Heading into the final of the five-set contest across each category of the mixed gender tournament, the Eagles went clear at 25-19, needing one point to clinch the trophy fate. Then world No. 5 Rublev took the first two games to seal the result against Dimitrov. 



Even though it is an exhibition status tournament, the intensity was there for all to see. Rublev remained an animated self in a heated clash. 

The emotions showed the players had their own internal battles about their game in the usual tennis off-season. Once Rublev had took the killer punch, Dimitrov still fought and won the set 6-3, as Eagles ended up with a 29-26 winning margin.

In the final round of the round-robin stage, Eagles defeated Honor FX Falcons 22-18, winning three of their four sets with their overall games win percentage enough to finish second with 75 points. 

Falcons also had 75 points, but it was Eagles who made the most at the business end of the competition. They faced the Kites, led by Sabalenka, whose team lost 20-19 against TSL Hawks but topped the standings on 79 points after three matches. 

On the eve of the tournament, Tsitsipas had admitted in a recent interview that the injury he suffered during the ATP Finals was a painful one. “The injury was painful, really painful, because I couldn’t finish the last tournament of the year,” he said.

“So it had a big impact on my body. In the days following the ATP Finals I had difficulty waking up and getting out of bed. In fact, the pain I felt for a week or two was very severe.”

The second edition of the WTL took place for the first time in Abu Dhabi following the WTL’s collaboration with Abu Dhabi Sports Council, the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi and Miral. The tournament made its debut in Dubai.