ABU DHABI // Given the site, timing and situation, it clearly ranks as a comprehensive test of his physical abilities.
Andy Murray, the reigning Wimbledon champion and the planet’s No 4-ranked player, tonight will play for the first time in three months, since undergoing back surgery, at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship.
The stacked field features six of the top 10.
But that is not the ticked box to which we are referring. The first daunting hurdle has already been cleared.
Earlier this week, Murray twice negotiated the rollicking hustle and bustle at one of the world’s most harrowing airports, Heathrow, during the mad, pre-holiday travelling crush.
And lived to talk about it.
“It was busy yesterday morning when I got in,” Murray said, laughing, before boarding his flight to the UAE. “But, actually, it was all right today.”
As it relates to the latter, he hopes to relay a similar report after playing the world No 10 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at 7pm tonight as first-round play begins at Zayed Sports City.
Facing the best field in the tournament’s six-year history – for the first time, the top four in the world are playing – the training wheels for the Scottish hero will fast be removed after his post-surgical lay-off. Murray spent the past few weeks in Miami, taking physician-ordered baby steps toward rehabilitation and recovery.
While the field this week surely merits attention, the health of the first Briton to win Wimbledon in 77 years is far and away the No 1 news hook. After having a procedure in mid-September to repair a sciatic issue that had bothered him for 18 months, he did not begin playing live points on the court until December 4.
He chuckled while admitting that he has adjusted his sights accordingly.
“I have pretty low expectations, playing against the best players in the world,” he said. “I’m pretty relaxed about the results. I am just hoping to be healthy and hope my body lasts over the course of the competition.”
After struggling with the back issue, that caused pain in a leg and hip, and forced him to skip the French Open, he opted for the surgical option, though he knew it would mean his season was over. It had become an inevitability.
“I needed to have a few things looked at because it had been giving me problems, up and down my leg, for a number of months,” he said. “It got to the point where I didn’t want to have to go another five, six years with that sort of pain and problems, so I decided to try to get it fixed.”
This week, where he is assured of playing in at least two matches, represents a running start as the Australian Open beckons in mid-January. He lost in the final there last year.
“I’ve still got a ways to go before I am playing my best tennis and ready for the new season,” he said. “But it’s been a good training session, I have had no major setback with my back, and hopefully that will be the case” this week. After being parked for three months, he is equal parts curious and anxious to see what he can muster and how his back responds.
“The movement and anticipation from matches, you are only going to get that from playing against the best players,” Murray said.
“They hit the ball a bit harder, they are quicker, smarter. So for me, this is going to be great, to get matches and an idea of where my game is at and where I need to improve.
“Because any weaknesses will show up on the court against the best players, who are going to exploit that. And I am expecting them to.”
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The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
Brief scores:
Liverpool 3
Mane 24', Shaqiri 73', 80'
Manchester United 1
Lingard 33'
Man of the Match: Fabinho (Liverpool)
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
