Ahmed Rizvi
It is not yet two-and-a-half months into the season and already Petra Kvitova has pulled out of a tournament, at Indian Wells, because of exhaustion.
The news must come as a surprise to most people since the Czech, ranked No 4 in the world, has played a mere four matches since losing to Madison Keys in the third round of the Australian Open on January 24. Overall, she has played 15 matches this year.
“Unfortunately, I have been feeling exhausted on the court in recent weeks and unable to compete at 100 per cent,” Kvitova wrote on her Facebook page last week.
“I will therefore be taking some time out in order to rest and restore my energy levels for the rest of the season.”
Two weeks ago, she was saying something different. “I was disappointed after Melbourne, but it was good for me to have time to recover afterwards,” she wrote in her tour diary for the BBC.
“I feel well, I’m lucky that I don’t have any problems on or off the court.”
So what has happened over the past two weeks to leave her feeling so exhausted? What has consumed so much energy that it has forced the Sydney champion to pull out of a Premier event?
The loss to Keys is probably still bothering the reigning Wimbledon champion, or perhaps she is showing early symptoms of burnout.
Loss of confidence, confusion, anxiety and fatigue are some of the symptoms associated with burnout, but hopefully the Czech, who celebrated her 25th birthday on Sunday, will bounce back after proper rest.
arizvi@thenational.ae
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Gender pay parity on track in the UAE
The UAE has a good record on gender pay parity, according to Mercer's Total Remuneration Study.
"In some of the lower levels of jobs women tend to be paid more than men, primarily because men are employed in blue collar jobs and women tend to be employed in white collar jobs which pay better," said Ted Raffoul, career products leader, Mena at Mercer. "I am yet to see a company in the UAE – particularly when you are looking at a blue chip multinationals or some of the bigger local companies – that actively discriminates when it comes to gender on pay."
Mr Raffoul said most gender issues are actually due to the cultural class, as the population is dominated by Asian and Arab cultures where men are generally expected to work and earn whereas women are meant to start a family.
"For that reason, we see a different gender gap. There are less women in senior roles because women tend to focus less on this but that’s not due to any companies having a policy penalising women for any reasons – it’s a cultural thing," he said.
As a result, Mr Raffoul said many companies in the UAE are coming up with benefit package programmes to help working mothers and the career development of women in general.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
MATCH INFO
Manchester United 1 (Greenwood 77')
Everton 1 (Lindelof 36' og)
History's medical milestones
1799 - First small pox vaccine administered
1846 - First public demonstration of anaesthesia in surgery
1861 - Louis Pasteur published his germ theory which proved that bacteria caused diseases
1895 - Discovery of x-rays
1923 - Heart valve surgery performed successfully for first time
1928 - Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin
1953 - Structure of DNA discovered
1952 - First organ transplant - a kidney - takes place
1954 - Clinical trials of birth control pill
1979 - MRI, or magnetic resonance imaging, scanned used to diagnose illness and injury.
1998 - The first adult live-donor liver transplant is carried out
Brief scores
Barcelona 2
Pique 36', Alena 87'
Villarreal 0
COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: 3S Money
Started: 2018
Based: London
Founders: Ivan Zhiznevsky, Eugene Dugaev and Andrei Dikouchine
Sector: FinTech
Investment stage: $5.6 million raised in total
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
