The world's top male tennis players are in Saudi Arabia for the second staging of the Six Kings Slam – the mega-money exhibition tournament launched last year as part of Riyadh Season, the kingdom's annual culture and entertainment programme.
Jannik Sinner won the inaugural title 12 months ago with a three-set triumph (6-7, 6-3, 6-3) over his fierce rival Carlos Alcaraz, and the two are on course to meet in the final once again – should they get past four other players with their eyes on the prize.
Although it was Sinner who was holding the trophy at the end of last year's event, the Riyadh-hosted tournament garnered more attention for being the setting for the last match between great rivals Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal.
Djokovic claimed a 6-2, 7-6 win over the Spaniard, who retired the following month after one last Davis Cup appearance.
Speaking on court in Riyadh, Djokovic credited Nadal with making him a better player, as he said: “It has been an amazing rivalry. In a personal way, I have to say that you helped me to go over my limits during almost 15 years. So thank you for that because without that, probably I will not be the player that I am today.”
For the second year in a row, the event has attracted six elite players, including all of the current top five in the ATP rankings. World No 1 Alcaraz and defending champion Sinner headline the field at the lucrative exhibition, alongside 24-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic.
Although there are no confirmed numbers, reports suggest that the prize money on offer for the winner is more than any of the four Grand Slams.
The Six Kings Slam will consist of two quarter-finals, two semi-finals, a third-place match and a final. Alcaraz and Djokovic received byes into the last four, with the other four men competing to join them in the semi-finals.
The matches will take place at the ANB Arena, formerly known as The Venue, an 8,000-seater stadium and a familiar choice for Riyadh Season events.
Who is playing in the Six Kings Slam?
Whereas last year there was room for some sentimentality through Nadal's involvement and his last match against Djokovic, this year the line-up looks exactly like the business end of a major.
The world's top two players – Alcaraz and Sinner – are in town, alongside world No 3 Alexander Zverev, 24-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic, world No 4 Taylor Fritz, and two-time major finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas. Britain's Jack Draper was due to play but ended his season early because of an arm injury, with Greece's Tsitsipas stepping up.
What is the Six Kings Slam schedule?
Wednesday, October 15, quarter-finals (all times UAE)
8.30pm: A Zverev (Ger) v T Fritz (USA)
Not before 10.30pm: J Sinner (Ita) v S Tsitsipas (Gre)
C Alcaraz (Esp) – bye
N Djokovic (Srb) – bye
Thursday, October 16, semi-finals
8.30pm: Alcaraz v Zverev/Fritz
Not before 10.30pm: Djokovic v Sinner/Tsitsipas
Saturday, October 18
8.30pm: Third-place match: TBC
Not before 10.30pm: The final: TBC
How much prize money is at stake?
Reports suggest the winner of the tournament will receive $6 million, and that will consist of $4.5m in prize money on top of a $1.5m participation fee. That's more than the US Open men's singles champion ($5m), the most financially rewarding of the four traditional majors.
How to watch the Six Kings Slam
The entire tournament is being shown live and exclusively on Netflix to over 300 million subscribers at no additional cost. The streaming giant says that the broadcast will feature “over 20 cutting-edge cameras, including wirecam, drone, robotic technology, augmented reality graphics, expert commentary, and creative storytelling around the sport’s biggest stars”.
EA Sports FC 25
Developer: EA Vancouver, EA Romania
Publisher: EA Sports
Consoles: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4&5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S
Rating: 3.5/5
Pad Man
Dir: R Balki
Starring: Akshay Kumar, Sonam Kapoor, Radhika Apte
Three-and-a-half stars
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Revibe%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202022%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Hamza%20Iraqui%20and%20Abdessamad%20Ben%20Zakour%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20UAE%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Refurbished%20electronics%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunds%20raised%20so%20far%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%2410m%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFlat6Labs%2C%20Resonance%20and%20various%20others%0D%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Day 2, stumps
Pakistan 482
Australia 30/0 (13 ov)
Australia trail by 452 runs with 10 wickets remaining in the innings
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.”
Company%20profile
%3Cp%3EName%3A%20Cashew%0D%3Cbr%3EStarted%3A%202020%0D%3Cbr%3EFounders%3A%20Ibtissam%20Ouassif%20and%20Ammar%20Afif%0D%3Cbr%3EBased%3A%20Dubai%2C%20UAE%0D%3Cbr%3EIndustry%3A%20FinTech%0D%3Cbr%3EFunding%20size%3A%20%2410m%0D%3Cbr%3EInvestors%3A%20Mashreq%2C%20others%0D%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Vault%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EJune%202023%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECo-founders%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EBilal%20Abou-Diab%20and%20Sami%20Abdul%20Hadi%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EAbu%20Dhabi%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ELicensed%20by%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Abu%20Dhabi%20Global%20Market%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EInvestment%20and%20wealth%20advisory%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunding%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E%241%20million%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EOutliers%20VC%20and%20angel%20investors%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20employees%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E14%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
THE SPECS
Engine: 4.4-litre V8
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 523hp
Torque: 750Nm
Price: Dh469,000
White hydrogen: Naturally occurring hydrogen
Chromite: Hard, metallic mineral containing iron oxide and chromium oxide
Ultramafic rocks: Dark-coloured rocks rich in magnesium or iron with very low silica content
Ophiolite: A section of the earth’s crust, which is oceanic in nature that has since been uplifted and exposed on land
Olivine: A commonly occurring magnesium iron silicate mineral that derives its name for its olive-green yellow-green colour
Match info
Deccan Gladiators 87-8
Asif Khan 25, Dwayne Bravo 2-16
Maratha Arabians 89-2
Chadwick Walton 51 not out
Arabians won the final by eight wickets
