| Season: | 2014 |
| Seasonlink: | 2014 International Premier Tennis League season |
| Team: | UAE Royals |
| League: | International Premier Tennis League |
| Record: | 2 wins, 0 losses |
| Owner: | Ace Ventures |
| President/Ceo: | Sachin Gadoya and Sawan Ravani |
| Nextseason Year: | 2015 |
The 2014 UAE Royals season is the inaugural season of the franchise playing in the International Premier Tennis League (IPTL).
On 21 January 2014, IPTL announced that one of the charter franchises for the league's inaugural 2014 season would be based in the Middle East.[1] [2] On 2 March 2014, IPTL revealed that the Middle East franchise would play its home matches in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.[3] The team was founded by Ace Ventures, a group of investors led by Sachin Gadoya, co-founder and chief executive officer of Musafir.com, an Internet-based travel agency, along with his friends Sawan Ravani, Rahul Saharia, Kaushal Majithia, Chirag Vora and Kunal Bansal.[4] [5]
The Dubai franchise participated in the IPTL inaugural draft on 2 March 2014, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Players selected by Dubai were[3]
| Player | IPTL Category | |
|---|---|---|
| Men | ||
 Novak Djokovic (Serbian: Новак Ђоковић) | Icon players | |
| Janko Tipsarević (Serbian: Јанко Типсаревић) | Category D | |
| Past champions | ||
| Nenad Zimonjić (Serbian: Ненад Зимоњић) | Doubles players | |
 Malek Jaziri (Arabic: مالك الجزيري) | Uncategorized | |
| Women | ||
| Icon players | ||
| Category C |
By May 2014, the team was being referred to as the UAE Falcons.[6] By June 2014, the Falcons had become known as the UAE Royals.
On 25 June 2014, the Royals announced that their home matches would be played at the Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Sports Complex.
On 25 June 2014, the Royals announced that they had signed Richard Gasquet. On 22 August 2014, the Royals announced that the team had signed Eugenie Bouchard during Wimbledon.[7] A team roster posted by the Royals on Facebook excluded Janko Tipsarević and Martina Hingis who were presumably released following the signings of Gasquet and Bouchard.[8] On 19 October 2014, the Royals announced that they had signed Marin Čilić and released Gasquet.[9] [10] On 24 November 2014, Bouchard pulled out from the competition due to an injury and was replaced by Kristina Mladenovic.[11]
On 27 October 2014, John-Laffnie de Jager was named the Royals' first coach.[12]
| Match | Date | Venue and location | Result and details | Record | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 28 November | UAE Royals 29, MANILA MAVERICKS 24 * LS: Goran Ivanišević (Royals) 6, Carlos Moyá (Mavericks) 5 * MD: Marin Čilić/Nenad Zimonjić (Royals) 6, Treat Huey/Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (Mavericks) 4 * XD: Kristina Mladenovic/Nenad Zimonjić (Royals) 6, Maria Sharapova/Andy Murray (Mavericks) 4 * WS: Maria Sharapova (Mavericks) 6, Kristina Mladenovic (Royals) 5 * MS: Marin Čilić (Royals) 6, Andy Murray (Mavericks) 5 | 1-0 | ||
| 2 | 29 November | UAE Royals 28, SINGAPORE SLAMMERS 22[15] * MS: Marin Čilić (Royals) 6, Tomáš Berdych (Slammers) 4 * MD: Tomáš Berdych/Nick Kyrgios (Slammers) 6, Marin Čilić/Nenad Zimonjić (Royals) 5 * WS: Kristina Mladenovic (Royals) 6, Daniela Hantuchová (Slammers) 1 * XD: Daniela Hantuchová/Nick Kyrgios (Slammers) 6, Kristina Mladenovic/Nenad Zimonjić (Royals) 5 ***Nick Kyrgios substituted for Bruno Soares * LS: Goran Ivanišević (Royals) 6, Patrick Rafter (Slammers) 5 | 2-0 | ||
| 3 | 30 November | Indian Aces 28, UAE ROYALS 20 * WS: Kristina Mladenovic (Royals) 6, Ana Ivanovic (Aces) 4 * XD: Sania Mirza/Rohan Bopanna (Aces) 6, Kristina Mladenovic/Nenad Zimonjić (Royals) 3 * MD: Rohan Bopanna/Gaël Monfils (Aces) 6, Marin Čilić/Nenad Zimonjić (Royals) 4 * MS: Gaël Monfils (Aces) 6, Malek Jaziri (Royals) 3 ***Malek Jaziri substituted for Marin Čilić * LS: Fabrice Santoro (Aces) 6, Goran Ivanišević (Royals) 4 | 2-1 | ||
| 4 | 2 December | ||||
| 5 | 3 December | ||||
| 6 | 4 December | ||||
| 7 | 6 December | Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium New Delhi, Delhi, India | |||
| 8 | 7 December | Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium New Delhi, Delhi, India | |||
| 9 | 8 December | Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium New Delhi, Delhi, India | |||
| 10 | 11 December | ||||
| 11 | 12 December | ||||
| 12 | 13 December |
Key: MS = men's singles; MD = men's doubles; WS = women's singles; XD = mixed doubles; LS = legends' singles; OT = overtime (additional games played in extended fifth sets); SO = men's singles super shoot-out
Reference:[16]
Eugenie Bouchard – injured, did not play Novak Djokovic (Serbian: Новак Ђоковић) Malek Jaziri (Arabic: مالك الجزيري)
Kristina Mladenovic Nenad Zimonjić (Serbian: Ненад Зимоњић)On 22 August 2014, IPTL announced it had reached an agreement for the Middle East and North Africa television broadcasting rights with Abu Dhabi Media.