( CNN ) -- The draft for the first edition of International Premier Tennis League ( IPTL ) Sunday has attracted the top ranked players in the men 's and women 's game , Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams . Teams based in Mumbai , Bangkok , Singapore and Dubai will contest the event from November 27-December 14 later this year with 24 matches taking place across the four host cities . Spain 's Nadal was picked for Mumbai , who also include 14-time grand slam legend Pete Sampras , while his WTA Tour counterpart Williams is in the Singapore line-up . Novak Djokovic will feature for Dubai , with Wimbledon champion Andy Murray representing Bangkok . The event is the brainchild of Indian doubles star Mahesh Bhupathi and the concept is modeled on cricket 's Indian Premier League . A total sum of $ 23,975,000 was spent across the four teams , with Bhupathi delighted to have attracted a clutch of current and former champions . `` We 've got some unbelievably strong teams . I think out of the 28 players that got drafted we have about 21 Grand Slam champions . We have 14 present and past number ones . It 's a pretty blockbuster field , '' Bhupathi said . The dates are during the off-season for both the ATP and WTA Tour , but there are some notable absentees with both Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova sitting it out . Australian Open champion Li Na is also missing despite her popularity in Asia and her male counterpart Stanislas Wawrinka has joined fellow Swiss star Federer on the sidelines . The matches will be in best-of-five format with single set contests in men 's singles , women 's singles , men 's doubles , mixed doubles and past champions singles . The schedule will see matches in Singapore , followed by Bangkok and Mumbai with the finale in Dubai .
International Premier Tennis League ( IPTL ) holds first draft . The winner of the tournament will be crowned as a world number one tennis player, and receive $ 1 million in prize money for winning this event. Four teams based in cities in Asia . Roger Federer a notable absentee for Nov 27-Dec 14 event .