Ashleigh Barty paid the ultimate tribute to Evonne Goolagong in the 50th anniversary year of her fellow Australian's historic Wimbledon triumph by emulating her hero and winning the Championships on Saturday.
Barty, who throughout the tournament wore a dress inspired by Goolagong's scallop-trim outfit from her 1971 title-winning year, held off a spirited fightback from Czech eighth seed Karolina Pliskova to win the final 6-3, 6-7, 6-3 for her second Grand Slam title.
“I hope I made Evonne proud,” an emotional Barty said in her post-match interview as she choked back the tears.
The top seed and world No 1 looked to be marching to victory when she won the first 13 points of the match on her way to a 4-0 lead. Pliskova appeared to struggle with her movement and timing and her vicious serve refused to behave. It was a clear sign of nerves from Pliskova and Barty was more than happy to capitalise.
Pliskova soon shrugged off the tension, though, and a break to love for 4-1 got her on the board. Barty did break back immediately as Pliskova's issues on serve continued, but another break with the Australian serving for the set suggested the Czech could find a way back into the match.
The first set was a lost cause — as Barty served it out to love — but a far more competitive second set followed, although it looked like it would be another cakewalk when Barty broke and held for a 3-1 lead.
However, Pliskova's serve finally started firing and as the world No 13 grew in confidence, she clawed her way back to level at 3-3. The set stayed on serve until Pliskova inexplicably collapsed after leading 40-0, but she responded by breaking Barty as she served for the match to send the set into a tiebreak.
A tense and thrilling tiebreak ensued, of which Pliskova assumed control when she won the point of the match for a 5-2 lead having chased down a ball at the net before thumping an overhead winner. The Czech earned herself three set points and eventually converted the third to send the final into a decider.
Finally the packed out, capacity crowd on Centre Court had a contest to get behind, but just as the match looked to be finely-poised, Barty once again struck out into an early lead after breaking Pliskova in the second game.
The rest of the set stayed on serve and Barty was again given the chance to serve out the match. After fending off a break point, the Australian brought up her first match point with an ace down the middle and she sealed the championship when Pliskova put a backhand into the net.
Having emulated Goolagong by winning the title Barty followed, quite literally, in the footsteps of another Australian Wimbledon champion by 'doing a Pat Cash' and climbing up the Centre Court tiers to celebrate with her team in the player's box.
“This is incredible,” Barty, 25, said. “I want to thank everyone in this stadium. You've made my dream so special, thank you very much.
“It took me a long time to verbalise, to dare to dream it and say it. I didn't sleep a lot last night, I was thinking of all the what-ifs.”
While Barty has now won both of her Grand Slam finals, having clinched her first major at the 2019 French Open, Pliskova is 0-2 from her title match appearances.
“Thank you so much to everyone here today, I enjoyed every minute of playing on this court,” Pliskova, 29, said. “I never cry, never, and now … I want to say Ash played an incredible tournament, I fought to make it difficult for her but she played very well.
“No matter which trophy I have, we have an incredible three weeks here.”
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The calling app is available to download on Google Play and Apple App Store
To successfully install ToTok, users are asked to enter their phone number and then create a nickname.
The app then gives users the option add their existing phone contacts, allowing them to immediately contact people also using the application by video or voice call or via message.
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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.”
