I hopped on a plane to Delhi last week to catch the International Premier Tennis League (IPTL) and it was LEGENDARY. Not only did we witness some rockstar International players in a once-in-a-lifetime face-off but also the Indian Aces – comprising of Roger Federer, Pete Sampras, Gael Monfils, Sania Mirza, Ana Ivanovic, Rohan Bopanna and Fabrice Santoro – did a victory dance to Happy New Year’s Indiawaale! And if THAT wasn’t enough – Aamir Khan, Deepika Padukone, Akshay Kumar and Riteish Deshmukh actually joined them on court. Unexpected, but totally ace 🙂 So here’s a little flashblog into last weekend’s shenanigans in chilly Delhi and the things I loved best. xoxo
1. THIS Face.
When Nowshad found out we were going to Delhi for the IPTL he was SUPER excited! Wanna see his happy face? 🙂
2. Being 10 Feet Away From Roger Federer…
‘Nuff said. There’s something mega cool about being 10 paces away from tennis icons like this and watching them serve aces! #Bucketlist.
3. India Rising.
And how bloody cool is it to have our very own home grown talent, Rohan Bopanna and Sania Mirza playing doubles on court with legends like these?!
4. My Man, Monfils!
Ok, so I’ll be the first to admit I have a fairly limited knowledge of tennis personally (and can only identify a handful of players) but I think I’m going to remember THIS guy. Gaël Monfils is a French professional tennis player (also former French No. 1) and he is endlessly entertaining! Also he was very sweetly always ready with a bottle of water whenever his team mates came off court between games 🙂
5. Aaaannnd Then They Took Their Shirts Off!
Sorry gentlemen, but when you’re a tennis legend, it’s totally called for (even encouraged).
6. The Indiawaale Victory Dance!
Sweet how one of the Micromax founders, Rahul Sharma was there with his team the whole time ON court cheering them on from the bench! #GoAces
In fact the Micromax team the Indian Aces were all kinds of awesome. They were constantly cheering each other on and being happy shiny. And of course they posed up a storm after every match 🙂
I love that the Indian Aces decided to prepare a synchronised dance to Indiawaale in case they won. It’s really the cutest thing ever because Ana Ivanovic is clearly into it! #BollywoodCaling?
WATCH!
PS. Looks like they nailed it and took home the trophy in Dubai, YAY!
7. The Bollywood Quotient.
Now don’t get me wrong, I know tennis is a serious sport but I think the Bollywood presence was totally smashing! (Please forgive me, but I can’t stop making tennis puns, I hope it helps that at least I’m aware of it!) Not only did Amitabh Bachchan, Anuskha Sharma, Rana Daggubati and Lara Dutta turn up to watch the tournament…
Aamir Khan, Deepika Padukone, Akshay Kumar and Riteish Deshmukh grabbed rackets and wound up on court while Kiran Rao and baby Azad Khan looked on!
During Aamir’s game something pretty hilarious happened, despite being a decent player (he plays all the time at Khar, Gym!) he kept serving his balls into the net. So at one point Roger and Novak jokingly offered to hold down the net for him!
Deepika Padukone played too, she seemed to be enjoying herself, but I have to say I was disappointed in the outfit she chose. Sheer stockings for a tennis match? Why Dippy, why?!
There are at least 400 more appropriate (and not to mention MUCH cuter!) outfits meant for this sport, readily available around the world.
8. Two Little Munchkins!
My friends Naveen & Geetu Wadhera‘s daughter Sania wrote an essay that won her a spot as an Indian Aces mascot! She even got to walk a few tennis legends on court before their matches including Novak Djokovic, Mark Philippoussis and her own namesake Sania Mirza. (Needless to say, she was thrilled!) Here’s a copy of the letter she wrote, it’s utterly adorable. 🙂
I want to be a mascot because I love tennis. It would be so fun to be around the best tennis players in the entire world. I love playing the game! I play every week and really look forward to my lessons. My favorite stroke in tennis is backhand. I love the movement of the sport and all the coordination involved. It feels good to run around, move my arms and get to the ball. My parents both grew up playing tennis and we all get really excited to watch all the tournaments on TV. It’s fun to watch all the amazing tennis players. I like learning about the sport and seeing how they approach every shot. I also like seeing all of the rules of the game in action like how a player wins a point or how someone loses a match or when the ball hits the line what happens. It would be my dream come true to meet any of the players. I’m going to practice really hard and one day, I hope to become a famous tennis player too! – Sania
PS. This is her little brother (munchkin #2) Ishaan and he’s SUCH a mega cutie pie. Just eating a cookie, #LikeABoss.
#MostAdorableFamilyEver!
9. Ana Meri Jaana!
(Obvious Bollywood reference, leave me a comment below if you got it!) But yeah, most of the time Ana Ivanovic was playing some guy was yelling either “Ana, I love you!” or “Marry me, Ana!” loudly from the stands! (Also Deepika, please note the activity-appropriate outfit and those adorable pink kicks!) I WANT!
10. Fanboy Moment!
At one point our buddy Naveen Wadhera actually caught the Nike sweatband Roger Federer threw into the crowd after his victory.
And guess who got to pose with it on? 🙂
11. Johnnie Bombay.
Speaking of fanboy, have you met Johnnie Bombay?! He was there too and it’s awesome how he brings his game face to every kind of event!
12. The Delhi Crew!
I ran into some of my favourite Delhi fashion crew who were adorably out of their element at a sporting event, but dressed perfectly for it anyway! 🙂
13. My Framily!
A lot of my Bombay peeps also made the trek down for the love of tennis and we had an amazing time 🙂
14. Special Props to KZK!
I’ve told you this a bunch of times but here’s a picture to go with it finally. Remember the guy who convinced me to start my blog back in 2008 while we were on a friends group holiday to Dubai? Well this is him! Karan Wadhera 🙂 Can you believe it KrazyK? Look how far we’ve come 🙂
PS. He’s also a sick DJ and here are his 10 MUST PLAY hip-hop tracks for your next party!
15. DJ IRIE
Speaking of DJs, the IPTL DJ Irie (also the official DJ of the Miami Heat) was OFF THE HOOK! He was SO good we looked for him all weekend 🙂
16. The Pangea Afterparty
Club Pangea (which I took you to virtually for the launch, remember?) hosted the official after party.
Pangea India, IPTL
Pangea India, IPTL
Pangea India, IPTL
Pangea India, IPTL
Pangea India, IPTL
Pangea India, IPTL
I love that this club is almost always bathed in pink and purple light and the music’s always pumping!
As you can see Johnnie Bombay struck again, able to somehow look Photoshopped even when it’s a real picture. #SpecialSkill
17. Bonus Set.
Goran Ivanišević is one of Nowshie’s tennis idols. So it totally made his year to meet him at Pangea that night 🙂 Its so cute to see Nowshad having a real fan moment because it’s almost always the other way around with me jumping up and down about the latest celebrity to appear on MissMalini’s World 🙂
18. And That’s A Wrap!
After a crazy awesome three days of IPTL we were pretty much exhausted and almost fell asleep at dinner in Hauz Khas Village (where FYI, the Ogaan building has a darling little restaurant called the Coast Cafe!)
