ABU DHABI // Inside the short tunnel, a team of six ball boys and girls waited patiently to enter the sold-out stadium at Zayed Sports City.
As they entered in their blue uniforms, waving and smiling, the crowd replied with camera flashes and loud cheers. It was a clear signal to yesterday's 5,000-strong crowd that the three-day Mubadala World Tennis Championship was about to begin.
For some of the 30 youths participating, it was their first time on the court with many of the world's best players. Andy Murray, the Olympic gold medallist, US Open champion and world No 3, opened the event, but suffered a shock first-round rain-affected 3-6, 4-6 defeat against world No 9 Janko Tipsarevic.
Ben Scholz, a 16-year-old from the US, admitted to having butterflies in his stomach before going out.
"For the past few weeks we have been practising and fixing our mistakes," he said. "For a such a big tournament like this, it is nerve-wracking."
Over the past few nights Ben had played out events in his head. "I play tennis on the Wii and try to imagine if the ball goes out, I wonder what I have to do," he said.
Roberto Rubio, who is charge of the ball boys and girls, said getting chosen as a ball boy or girl was not an easy task. Trials were held at the PSS Tennis Academy in Zayed Sports City over four weeks and hopefuls were whittled down from 45 to 30. Not only were organisers looking for good ball coordination, they needed boys and girls to be confident and possess a certain sparkle for the centre court.
"There's more to it than picking up balls," Mr Rubio said. "There are a series of hand signals from the players for when they want water, a towel or a ball."
There are different rules to be aware of: only six balls are allowed on the court at one time and during a tie-breaker, the youngsters must get the balls around as quickly as possible without disrupting the flow of the game. Players can also have different signals for the same thing, according to Jeff Vanden Auweele, a ball boy for the second consecutive year.
The 13-year-old Belgian said some players might put their palm out for a ball and backwards for a towel. Others will pretend to wipe their face for a towel. Others will point their racket at the ball boy for a ball.
Liana Rais, 16, said she was nervous, despite this being her fourth time as a ball girl. But "you are really focused once it starts", the British-Indonesian said.
The five teams of six ball boys and girls are rotated after 30 minutes on court. There is one in each corner and one at each end of the net. Balls are collected at the net and elsewhere and then rolled back to the corners when there is a break in the play.
"It can be really tiring because you are out in the heat and when they are practising their serves at the start, you have to dodge the balls," she said.
Liana was not so lucky two years ago when she got hit on the shoulder by a ball moving at more than 100kph. Last year she was in charge of holding the sun umbrella for the players.
"I couldn't open the umbrella, and it was right in front of the camera," she said. "It was so embarrassing." She came back, however, "because it is fun".
Novak Djokovic, the No 1 player in the world, was their favourite.
Jeff, who got lucky last year, said he was hoping for another photo opportunity.
"I was serving Rafa Nadal [a bottle of water] and my mother took a photo of me smiling at him and him smiling back at me," he said.
It is now his Facebook profile photo and this year he hopes to replace it with Djokovic.
eharnan@thenational.ae
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Engine: 77.4kW all-wheel-drive dual motor
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Anxiety and work stress major factors
Anxiety, work stress and social isolation are all factors in the recogised rise in mental health problems.
A study UAE Ministry of Health researchers published in the summer also cited struggles with weight and illnesses as major contributors.
Its authors analysed a dozen separate UAE studies between 2007 and 2017. Prevalence was often higher in university students, women and in people on low incomes.
One showed 28 per cent of female students at a Dubai university reported symptoms linked to depression. Another in Al Ain found 22.2 per cent of students had depressive symptoms - five times the global average.
It said the country has made strides to address mental health problems but said: “Our review highlights the overall prevalence of depressive symptoms and depression, which may long have been overlooked."
Prof Samir Al Adawi, of the department of behavioural medicine at Sultan Qaboos University in Oman, who was not involved in the study but is a recognised expert in the Gulf, said how mental health is discussed varies significantly between cultures and nationalities.
“The problem we have in the Gulf is the cross-cultural differences and how people articulate emotional distress," said Prof Al Adawi.
“Someone will say that I have physical complaints rather than emotional complaints. This is the major problem with any discussion around depression."
Daniel Bardsley
If you go
Where to stay: Courtyard by Marriott Titusville Kennedy Space Centre has unparalleled views of the Indian River. Alligators can be spotted from hotel room balconies, as can several rocket launch sites. The hotel also boasts cool space-themed decor.
When to go: Florida is best experienced during the winter months, from November to May, before the humidity kicks in.
How to get there: Emirates currently flies from Dubai to Orlando five times a week.
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Results
6.30pm: Maiden (TB) Dh82,500 (Dirt) 1,200m; Winner: Major Cinnamon, Fernando Jara, Mujeeb Rahman
7.05pm: Maiden (TB) Dh82,500 (D) 1,900m; Winner: Al Mureib, Fernando Jara, Ahmad bin Harmash
7.40pm: Handicap (TB) Dh102,500 (D) 2,000m; Winner: Remorse, Tadhg O’Shea, Satish Seemar
8.15pm: Conditions (TB) Dh120,000 (D) 1,600m; Winner: Meshakel, Xavier Ziani, Salem bin Ghadayer
8.50pm: Handicap (TB) Dh95,000 (D) 1,600m; Winner: Desert Peace, William Buick, Charlie Appleby
9.25pm: Handicap (TB) Dh87,500 (D) 1,400m; Winner: Sharamm, Ryan Curatlo, Satish Seemar
RACECARD
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U19 WORLD CUP, WEST INDIES
UAE group fixtures (all in St Kitts)
Saturday 15 January: v Canada
Thursday 20 January: v England
Saturday 22 January: v Bangladesh
UAE squad
Alishan Sharafu (captain), Shival Bawa, Jash Giyanani, Sailles Jaishankar, Nilansh Keswani, Aayan Khan, Punya Mehra, Ali Naseer, Ronak Panoly, Dhruv Parashar, Vinayak Raghavan, Soorya Sathish, Aryansh Sharma, Adithya Shetty, Kai Smith
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Singham Again
Director: Rohit Shetty
Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone
Rating: 3/5
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Engine: 1.5-litre turbo
Power: 181hp
Torque: 230Nm
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Starting price: Dh79,000
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SPECS
Engine: 4-litre V8 twin-turbo
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'Gehraiyaan'
Director:Shakun Batra
Stars:Deepika Padukone, Siddhant Chaturvedi, Ananya Panday, Dhairya Karwa
Rating: 4/5
Race card for Super Saturday
4pm: Al Bastakiya Listed US$250,000 (Dh918,125) (Dirt) 1,900m.
4.35pm: Mahab Al Shimaal Group 3 $200,000 (D) 1,200m.
5.10pm: Nad Al Sheba Conditions $200,000 (Turf) 1,200m.
5.45pm: Burj Nahaar Group 3 $200,000 (D) 1,600m.
6.20pm: Jebel Hatta Group 1 $300,000 (T) 1,800m.
6.55pm: Al Maktoum Challenge Round 3 Group 1 $400,000 (D) 2,000m.
7.30pm: Dubai City of Gold Group 2 $250,000 (T) 2,410m.
FA Cup fifth round draw
Sheffield Wednesday v Manchester City
Reading/Cardiff City v Sheffield United
Chelsea v Shrewsbury Town/Liverpool
West Bromwich Albion v Newcastle United/Oxford United
Leicester City v Coventry City/Birmingham City
Northampton Town/Derby County v Manchester United
Southampton/Tottenham Hotspur v Norwich City
Portsmouth v Arsenal
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APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)
Display: 21cm Liquid Retina Display, 2266 x 1488, 326ppi, 500 nits
Chip: Apple A17 Pro, 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
Storage: 128/256/512GB
Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4
Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4, Smart HDR 4, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps
Biometrics: Touch ID, Face ID
Colours: Blue, purple, space grey, starlight
In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter
Price: From Dh2,099
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The specs
Engine: Direct injection 4-cylinder 1.4-litre
Power: 150hp
Torque: 250Nm
Price: From Dh139,000
On sale: Now