The star power for the seventh staging of the Mubadala World Tennis Championship has already been cemented with the news that Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal will be back in Abu Dhabi for the 2015 event.
The two best players in the world, who have claimed 14 of the past 18 majors and have won the past five tournaments at Zayed Sports City, should ensure the event continues to be one of the best attended in the UAE sports calendar.
The interesting thing to watch for now is who will be the four men to join Djokovic and Nadal for the action on January 1-3.
Traditionally, organisers have looked for players from the top 10, but this is proving to be a tumultuous year on the ATP circuit. The big four, who had dominated the rankings for the past five years, has been infiltrated by Stan Wawrinka, while Milos Raonic and Grigor Dimitrov have both made breakthroughs into the top 10 this year.
Andy Murray, a top-four mainstay in recent years, is now down in 10th. Injury and poor form have dropped him to his worst ranking in six years. There is no guarantee, given he has not beaten a top-10 player in more than 12 months, that the Briton is going to bounce back.
Murray was the winner of the inaugural, 2008/09 event, but he lost in the first round in the past two appearances in Abu Dhabi, to Janko Tipsarevic and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. While he is still a big name, organisers should look carefully at his form before approaching him to compete.
Wawrinka, the world No 4, competed for the first time in the 2013 event, and it would be a surprise if the Australian Open champion were not invited back.
The one player who would be a coup for the event would be Dimitrov. The Bulgarian has long been thought of as the next big thing in tennis, being labelled “Baby Fed”, due to his similarities to Roger Federer.
This year, Dimitrov, 23, has made his breakthrough. His run to the semi-finals at Wimbledon was full of great tennis, and the way he demolished defending champion Murray in the quarter-finals was particularly impressive.
The talent has been clear to see for some time, but now it is being turned into results, too, and his star is clearly on the rise. He would be a major addition to the tournament as a star of the future to go with the current greats on show.
Without knowing the availability and schedule of the players, and whether they would accept an invitation if they were asked, a strong six for the tournament now, in this writer’s mind, would be Djokovic, Nadal, Wawrinka, Tomas Berdych, Raonic and Dimitrov.
This is presuming that Federer, who has not played the past two Mubadala tournaments, will not be available again.
gcaygill@thenational.ae
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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.”
The President's Cake
Director: Hasan Hadi
Starring: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Sajad Mohamad Qasem
Rating: 4/5
Jawan
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Everton (Rooney 45 1')
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Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor Cricket World Cup - Sept 16-20, Insportz, Dubai
16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side
8 There are eight players per team
9 There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.
5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls
4 Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership
Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.
Zones
A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs
B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run
C Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs
D Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full
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What are NFTs?
Are non-fungible tokens a currency, asset, or a licensing instrument? Arnab Das, global market strategist EMEA at Invesco, says they are mix of all of three.
You can buy, hold and use NFTs just like US dollars and Bitcoins. “They can appreciate in value and even produce cash flows.”
However, while money is fungible, NFTs are not. “One Bitcoin, dollar, euro or dirham is largely indistinguishable from the next. Nothing ties a dollar bill to a particular owner, for example. Nor does it tie you to to any goods, services or assets you bought with that currency. In contrast, NFTs confer specific ownership,” Mr Das says.
This makes NFTs closer to a piece of intellectual property such as a work of art or licence, as you can claim royalties or profit by exchanging it at a higher value later, Mr Das says. “They could provide a sustainable income stream.”
This income will depend on future demand and use, which makes NFTs difficult to value. “However, there is a credible use case for many forms of intellectual property, notably art, songs, videos,” Mr Das says.
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Profile of MoneyFellows
Founder: Ahmed Wadi
Launched: 2016
Employees: 76
Financing stage: Series A ($4 million)
Investors: Partech, Sawari Ventures, 500 Startups, Dubai Angel Investors, Phoenician Fund
