My UAE: Ahead of the game with rising teen tennis player Ali Al Marzooqi

Ten years ago, when Ali Al Marzooqi was 7 years old, he recalls watching the television screen with bated breath, as Roger Federer knocked out Rafael Nadal in the Dubai Tennis Championships. His curiosity for the game was piqued. "I was really interested in Nadal's technique and how he plays. I kept telling my mum I want to play tennis like Nadal."

While his friends were all more interested in playing football, young Al Marzooqi signed up for tennis lessons at the Abu Dhabi Country Club, with a Tunisian coach. Now, 10 years later, Al Marzooqi is one of the UAE’s rising tennis stars.

“Right from the start, I wanted to be the best,” the 17-year-old explains. “I started really dedicating myself to this game when I was 10. I wanted to reach junior level and play tournaments, and I got the best ranking three years ago for the under-18 and under-16 categories – I was ranked fourth in the UAE.”

Al Marzooqi recently started studying for a degree in business administration and management at the American University of Dubai, and tennis is taking a back seat so he can focus on academic success. But Al Marzooqi still manages to cram in practice sessions at Zayed Sports City’s Tennis Academy at least three times a week, as well as daily 45-minute workouts at the gym near his family home, near Al Shahama.

Often, when Al Marzooqi is fielding volleys from coach Vasja Gorjup, he’s being cheered on from the sidelines by his 22-year-old sister Reem – the youngest of his seven sisters – who is a student at the American University of Sharjah and a tennis player herself. “She is the one who is always encouraging me to play,” says Al Marzooqi.

He admits that his friends were initially shocked when they came along to watch him play tennis. “Although I kept telling them I was a tennis player, until recently, they had only ever seen me playing video games,” he explains. “But they’ve come to watch me play a few times now, and they say that they think it’s impressive.”

Although tennis is not the most popular game among young Emiratis, Al Marzooqi isn’t the first Emirati tennis player with lofty ambitions to make it to the big time. Omar Behroozian, an Emirati from Dubai who is the captain of the national tennis team, has made it as high as number 805 in the Association of Tennis Professionals rankings. “Omar has an academy in Dubai, so I’ve played him a couple of times – he is following me to see my level and how I’m improving,” Al Marzooqi says.

Although Al Marzooqi is pleased with his serve and forehand techniques, he’s still working on perfecting his backhand. He also admits he’s had moments when his nerves have got the better of him on the court. “I struggled last year – I was so nervous playing matches, my mental game was not on point at all,” he says. “But I took advice from my mum. She said: ‘You have nothing to lose, just play. Even if you lose, at least you know you tried.’ I was building on that advice and I reached a couple of semi-finals and finals. I felt a huge difference when I got my nerves sorted. If you are tense and there’s a feeling of fear in the match, you won’t reach a higher level. But if you have confidence in your shots, you’ll reach your goals and play better tennis.”

Al Marzooqi still takes inspiration from the “King of Clay”, Nadal. Thanks to the Mubadala World Tennis Championships, which are held every December in Abu Dhabi, Al Marzooqi has had the chance to meet his idol “more than 10 times”. Every time he comes here, I go along to his meet and greets,” he says. “The first year [in 2009] my sister and I made a funny video of him, and he remembered me the following year.”

Al Marzooqi won the Mubadala Community Cup in 2014 and landed a place in a clinic with Nadal. He also met him once at Doha airport and at a tournament in Madrid. “He is a very humble guy, very down to earth and very interactive with his fans,” he says.

How do you celebrate a win?

I don’t show any emotions most of the time. If I reach a semi-final, I jump up and down, but there are no emotions in my first couple of rounds.

What’s your favourite sport, apart from tennis?

Football. I support AC Milan and FC Barcelona, too.

Which is your favourite cuisine or restaurant in the UAE?

I like to go to Zuma in Dubai, when I have time.

Where do you see yourself after 10 years?

Playing for the International Tennis Federation and slowly building up to playing at a professional level.

What music do you listen to?

Hip-hop and rock. I like Drake, and when it comes to rock, I’m a big fan of AC/DC.

Who is your favourite actor?

Tom Hanks. He stars in two of my favourite films: The Terminal, where he is stranded in an airport, and Cast Away, where he's stuck on a desert island.

If you were marooned on an island like Tom Hanks in Cast Away, what possessions would you like to have with you?

My phone, for sure, but actually personal items don’t mean that much, as long as I’ve got food and family with me.

What do you do to unwind after a game of tennis?

I like to play Fifa football video games. But I only have time to play video games at weekends, now that I’m at university.

Who inspires you?

Rafael Nadal, but also I like Roger Federer because he is the greatest tennis player of all time. I take on board advice from coaches as to how Nadal and Federer win their matches, using their mental strength.

weekend@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.”

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In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe

Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010

Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille

Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm

Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year

Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”

Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners

TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013

NO OTHER LAND

Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal

Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham

Rating: 3.5/5

A MINECRAFT MOVIE

Director: Jared Hess

Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa

Rating: 3/5

The rules on fostering in the UAE

A foster couple or family must:

be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
not be younger than 25 years old
not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially

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WITHIN%20SAND

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Where to apply

Applicants should send their completed applications - CV, covering letter, sample(s) of your work, letter of recommendation - to Nick March, Assistant Editor in Chief at The National and UAE programme administrator for the Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism, by 5pm on April 30, 2020.

Please send applications to nmarch@thenational.ae and please mark the subject line as “Rosalynn Carter Fellowship for Mental Health Journalism (UAE programme application)”.

The local advisory board will consider all applications and will interview a short list of candidates in Abu Dhabi in June 2020. Successful candidates will be informed before July 30, 2020.