Milos Raonic is, if not quite anonymous, then certainly nothing approaching a household name in the mind of the general public.
The 23-year-old Canadian has only five minor ATP titles to his name in the last three years and only started making deeper runs at the grand slams this year, reaching the French Open quarter-finals and then the Wimbledon semis.
So when he comes out saying stuff like, ”There’s a lot of people hungry in this sport. It’s unfortunate to see him go but there are too many ... licking their chops,” in reference to Rafael Nadal, as he did at the Washington Open on Wednesday, there’s at least a tinge of presumptuousness to it.
Nonetheless, Raonic is the seventh-ranked player in the world, part of a mostly imperceptible rising tide – for now – along the still-impenetrable shores of the Big Four. And he’s not wrong – Nadal is indeed vulnerable, and he’s not the only one.
While Novak Djokovic looks back on the rise, the rest of his brethren at the top of tennis appear increasingly assailable.
His victory at the French Open victory masks an otherwise spotty season for Nadal. First fitness issues probably cost him the Australian Open to Stan Wawrinka. Then he was beaten on clay in both Monte Carlo (by David Ferrer) and Barcelona (by Nicolas Almagro) in the run up to Roland Garros, and was on the ropes in Madrid until Kei Nishikori had to retire.
Now Nadal, coming off a fourth-round Wimbledon loss to Aussie teenager Nick Kyrgios, is injured again ahead of the US Open, with a wrist ailment expected to keep him out of both the Toronto and Cincinnati Masters tournaments.
And if it's still a little premature to say Andy Murray has peaked and Roger Federer is past the point of no return, then it's only a little bit so.
Meanwhile, Raonic and his pack of “hungry” challengers are gaining ground by the tournament. There are four (five if you count the perpetually injured Juan Martin del Potro) players in the top 15 of the ATP rankings aged 25 or younger – Raonic (No 7), Grigor Dimitrov (9), Nishikori (11) and Ernests Gulbis (13), and between them this year they’ve had a few close calls with the Big Four and even taken a few back their way.
Djokovic, the undisputed top dog of the moment himself, needed two tie-breaks in a four-set win over Dimitrov in the Wimbledon semis, four sets to finish off Gulbis in the French Open semis and two tie-breaks to beat Raonic in the semis at Rome. Nadal lost the first set to Raonic in the Miami quarters before recovering and twice needed a pair of tie-breaks to beat Nishikori (round of 16) and then Dimitrov (quarters) at the Australian Open.
He also, of course, lost to Kyrgios, and was felled by 25-year-old Alexandr Dolgopolov (now world No 17) in the Indian Wells round of 32.
Federer lost to Gulbis in a memorable round of 16 match at Roland Garros and lost to Nishikori in the Miami quarters. And Murray has been beaten by Dimitrov twice this year – in the Wimbledon quarters and Acapulco semis – and lost to Raonic in the Indian Wells round of 16.
That’s not to say the ground has totally shifted yet – the Big Four have won most of their meetings with the Precocious Quartet and, as just one point of example, Federer notched a dominant victory over an erratic Raonic at the Wimbledon semi-finals.
But the levee is looking leaky.
It’s not that Murray, 27, Djokovic, 27, Nadal, 28, or even Federer, 32 (well, maybe Federer) are old. It’s just that the gap they enjoyed with more contemporary challengers like Wawrinka, Ferrer, Tomas Berdych and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, among others, looks smaller with the currently maturing set.
There's no need to pronounce the death of the Big Four. But if you're looking for their eventual successors, there's a decent chance you'll be able to catch them giving a Nadal or Federer fits in Flushing Meadows in a few weeks.
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Electoral College Victory
Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate.
Popular Vote Tally
The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.
Business Insights
- Canada and Mexico are significant energy suppliers to the US, providing the majority of oil and natural gas imports
- The introduction of tariffs could hinder the US's clean energy initiatives by raising input costs for materials like nickel
- US domestic suppliers might benefit from higher prices, but overall oil consumption is expected to decrease due to elevated costs
Know your camel milk:
Flavour: Similar to goat’s milk, although less pungent. Vaguely sweet with a subtle, salty aftertaste.
Texture: Smooth and creamy, with a slightly thinner consistency than cow’s milk.
Use it: In your morning coffee, to add flavour to homemade ice cream and milk-heavy desserts, smoothies, spiced camel-milk hot chocolate.
Goes well with: chocolate and caramel, saffron, cardamom and cloves. Also works well with honey and dates.
Company%20Profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Cargoz%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EDate%20started%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20January%202022%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Premlal%20Pullisserry%20and%20Lijo%20Antony%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20staff%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2030%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Seed%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EAlmouneer%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202017%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dr%20Noha%20Khater%20and%20Rania%20Kadry%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EEgypt%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20staff%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E120%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EBootstrapped%2C%20with%20support%20from%20Insead%20and%20Egyptian%20government%2C%20seed%20round%20of%20%3Cbr%3E%243.6%20million%20led%20by%20Global%20Ventures%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Kanguva
Director: Siva
Stars: Suriya, Bobby Deol, Disha Patani, Yogi Babu, Redin Kingsley
Cinco in numbers
Dh3.7 million
The estimated cost of Victoria Swarovski’s gem-encrusted Michael Cinco wedding gown
46
The number, in kilograms, that Swarovski’s wedding gown weighed.
1,000
The hours it took to create Cinco’s vermillion petal gown, as seen in his atelier [note, is the one he’s playing with in the corner of a room]
50
How many looks Cinco has created in a new collection to celebrate Ballet Philippines’ 50th birthday
3,000
The hours needed to create the butterfly gown worn by Aishwarya Rai to the 2018 Cannes Film Festival.
1.1 million
The number of followers that Michael Cinco’s Instagram account has garnered.
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.”
UAE SQUAD
Khalid Essa (Al Ain), Ali Khaseif (Al Jazira), Adel Al Hosani (Sharjah), Mahmoud Khamis (Al Nasr), Yousef Jaber (Shabab Al Ahli Dubai), Khalifa Al Hammadi (Jazira), Salem Rashid (Jazira), Shaheen Abdelrahman (Sharjah), Faris Juma (Al Wahda), Mohammed Shaker (Al Ain), Mohammed Barghash (Wahda), Abdulaziz Haikal (Shabab Al Ahli), Ahmed Barman (Al Ain), Khamis Esmail (Wahda), Khaled Bawazir (Sharjah), Majed Surour (Sharjah), Abdullah Ramadan (Jazira), Mohammed Al Attas (Jazira), Fabio De Lima (Al Wasl), Bandar Al Ahbabi (Al Ain), Khalfan Mubarak (Jazira), Habib Fardan (Nasr), Khalil Ibrahim (Wahda), Ali Mabkhout (Jazira), Ali Saleh (Wasl), Caio (Al Ain), Sebastian Tagliabue (Nasr).
