Fatherhood seems to have done little for Andy Murray’s temper tantrums.
In Miami, he kept smashing his racquet against his bag after letting slip a 3-1 advantage in the third set against Grigor Dimitrov as he went on to lose.
In Monte Carlo last week, the Scot was at it again, accusing the chair umpire of ignoring Rafael Nadal’s repeated time violations.
“It’s fascinating what you let some of these guys get away with,” Murray, who became a father in February, told the chair umpire, in the third set again, with the match slipping away from him.
Now, to be fair, Nadal, as he usually does, was indeed taking more than the 25 seconds allowed by the ATP between points (the majors and the WTA allow 20 seconds). According to the stats shown by the broadcasters on the TV screens, the Spaniard was taking an average 31 seconds between points.
The irony, however, is that Murray himself was exceeding the 25-second limit. His average time between service points was 27 seconds.
Yes, only two seconds over the limit, but still over the limit under the letter of the law.
Again, in the balance of fairness, there is no way for Murray to know he is going over the time limit and he had said as much in 2013, a year during which Roger Federer and Nadal openly sparred over the time violations.
“I think it’s the only way to go, to be honest, because how are you supposed to know as a player how long 20 seconds is, or 25 seconds, between a point?” Murray had said when asked if tennis needed a basketball-style “shot clock”.
The presence of a shot clock would certainly address those concerns and tell the players, and indeed the fans, how much time is being taken between points. It would be good TV, but enforcing the shot clock could be a nightmare.
The idea has been discussed by the ATP Player Council. It has been tried as well, at a men’s tournament in Sydney in the early 1980s, but the experiment was quickly shelved after a couple of matches because it created more problems than it solved.
It is not hard to imagine the complications a “shot clock” could cause.
The time between service points could go beyond the permissible limits for so many different reasons.
The fans could be slow to take their seats. At times, they could be celebrating a point for 30 seconds. What do you do then? The ball-boys could cause disruptions, or even the opponent could cause delays.
Who decides on the time violations then? The clock? No, the chair umpire, of course.
He is the best person to decide. So let him continue doing his job, without accusing him of prejudice.
arizvi@thenational.ae
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Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south
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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.”
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