Serena Williams, Iga Swiatek and Emma Raducanu train at Wimbledon - in pictures

World No 1 Iga Swiatek said she felt “overwhelmed” after seeing Serena Williams at Wimbledon ahead of the UK Grand Slam.

Williams was a surprise wild-card entry for Wimbledon having not played a competitive singles match since her tearful, injury-enforced withdrawal in the first round last year.

The 40-year-old American reached the semi-finals at Eastbourne this week but was forced to drop out of the tournament when doubles partner Ons Jabeur picked up an injury.

Swiatek has surpassed Serena's best of 34 successive wins and equalled Venus Williams' record of 35 straight victories in 2000 for the longest winning stretch by a woman in the 21st century – winning six titles along the way, including the French Open.

But the 21-year-old Pole admitted to feeling start-struck when seeing the 23-time Slam champion. “I saw her yesterday, I was pretty overwhelmed,” said Swiatek, who was not even born when Williams made her Wimbledon debut in 1998.

“I didn't know how to react. I wanted to meet her. I saw that she had so many people around her. I don't know her team. It was pretty weird.

“But just seeing her around is great because she's such a legend, there's nobody that has done so much in tennis.”

With defending Wimbledon champion Barty retired, Swiatek has been given the honour of opening Tuesday proceedings on Centre Court against qualifier Jana Fett of Croatia. “I feel really privileged that I've been chosen,” she said.

On the same day, Williams – who has won seven Wimbledon singles titles – is set to take on Harmony Tan of France looking to banish the memory of last year's painful exit.

“It was always something since the match ended that was always on my mind,” said Williams. “So it was a tremendous amount of motivation for that.”

In the gallery above, you can see Williams, Swiatek and home hope Emma Radacanu training ahead of the start of Wimbledon. To view the next image, click on the arrows or just swipe if on a mobile device.

If you go

The flights

Fly direct to London from the UAE with Etihad, Emirates, British Airways or Virgin Atlantic from about Dh2,500 return including taxes.

The hotel

Rooms at the convenient and art-conscious Andaz London Liverpool Street cost from £167 (Dh800) per night including taxes.

The tour

The Shoreditch Street Art Tour costs from £15 (Dh73) per person for approximately three hours.

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.”

MATCH INFO

Uefa Champions League semi-final, first leg

Tottenham 0-1 Ajax, Tuesday

Second leg

Ajax v Tottenham, Wednesday, May 8, 11pm

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Serena Williams, Iga Swiatek and Emma Raducanu train at Wimbledon - in pictures

World No 1 admits feeling 'overwhelmed' after seeing 23-time Slam champion on Friday

If you go

MATCH INFO