The Mubadala World Tennis Championship will now have a very Spanish feel to it, as organisers announced on Thursday the French pair of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gael Monfils had withdrawn and were being replaced by Spaniards Nicolas Almagro and Feliciano Lopez.
Tsonga, the world No 12, has an arm injury and Monfils, the world No 18, tore his hamstring earlier this week, according to the press release.
Almagro and Lopez are added to a field that already includes compatriot Rafael Nadal, as well as world No 1 Novak Djokovic, Stan Wawrinka and Andy Murray.
Almagro reached the 2012 final of the event, where he lost to Djokovic in three sets.
“The tournament will give me a great opportunity to play against the top players in the world and of course I’ll be hoping to repeat the success I had two years ago, although I know it will be tough,” said Almagro, the world No 71, said in a press release.
Lopez, the world No 14, won the fourth ATP title of his career this season, at the Nottingham Open in the run-up to Wimbledon. He also appeared at the Queen’s Club final and reached the semi-finals of the Canada Masters tournament. His best showing at a grand slam came at Wimbledon, where he rached the last 16.
Almagro was 14-9 across a 2014 season that saw him deal with injury issues, missing the Australian and US Opens as well as Wimbledon. He lost in the first round at Roland Garros to Jack Sock.
Tsonga, meanwhile, said, “unfortunately my team have advised me that I need to rest my arm ... I am very disappointed that I will not be able to compete this year in Abu Dhabi”.
Monfils also said he was “hugely saddened” not to be able to play in the tournament.
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Roll of honour 2019-2020
Dubai Rugby Sevens
Winners: Dubai Hurricanes
Runners up: Bahrain
West Asia Premiership
Winners: Bahrain
Runners up: UAE Premiership
UAE Premiership
Winners: Dubai Exiles
Runners up: Dubai Hurricanes
UAE Division One
Winners: Abu Dhabi Saracens
Runners up: Dubai Hurricanes II
UAE Division Two
Winners: Barrelhouse
Runners up: RAK Rugby
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Company%C2%A0profile
What can you do?
Document everything immediately; including dates, times, locations and witnesses
Seek professional advice from a legal expert
You can report an incident to HR or an immediate supervisor
You can use the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation’s dedicated hotline
In criminal cases, you can contact the police for additional support
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Sukuk explained
Sukuk are Sharia-compliant financial certificates issued by governments, corporates and other entities. While as an asset class they resemble conventional bonds, there are some significant differences. As interest is prohibited under Sharia, sukuk must contain an underlying transaction, for example a leaseback agreement, and the income that is paid to investors is generated by the underlying asset. Investors must also be prepared to share in both the profits and losses of an enterprise. Nevertheless, sukuk are similar to conventional bonds in that they provide regular payments, and are considered less risky than equities. Most investors would not buy sukuk directly due to high minimum subscriptions, but invest via funds.
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Started: 2018
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Sector: Transport
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Investment: $1,275,000
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Company: Verity
Date started: May 2021
Founders: Kamal Al-Samarrai, Dina Shoman and Omar Al Sharif
Based: Dubai
Sector: FinTech
Size: four team members
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Date Started: September 2018
Founders: Walid and Karim Dib
Based: Abu Dhabi
Employees: Nine
Amount raised: $1.2 million
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More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
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Although they still do, they discovered in 1955 that the Netherlands had a lot of natural gas. “We still had the idea that, by 2000, it would all be nuclear,” said Harm Jeeninga, director of business and programme development at the centre.
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