Ons Jabeur's Wimbledon dreams are over after the 10th seed was beaten in straight-sets by Elina Svitolina on Saturday, while world No 1 Iga Swiatek is also heading for the All England Club exit.
Jabeur, runner-up the last two years at the London Grand Slam, had not dropped a set in the opening two rounds but was brushed aside in 80 minutes as the Ukrainian 21st seed sealed at 6-1, 7-6 victory on Centre Court.
The popular Tunisian could have been 2-0 up right at the start as she had a break point in Svitolina's opening service game and a game point in the next.
Instead it was Ukrainian 21st seed Svitolina who struck the killer blows early to open up a 2-0 lead and she never moved her eye off the ball as she romped through to bag the first set after Jabeur tamely netted a service return on set point.
The 10th seed managed to put up more of a fight in the second set and even had set point at 6-5 up on Svitolina's serve.
But the nightmare memories Jabeur is starting to collect from Centre Court will have another addition as her forehand down the line fell millilitres wide and Svitolina grabbed that reprieve to get out of trouble.
Jabeur remains on a mission to become the first African and Arab woman to win a major – and Centre Court fans wanted to wrap their arms around her in a giant collective hug when she was left sobbing after her game fell apart in the final against Marketa Vondrousova.
All year long, the popular Jabeur lives and breathes for playing on tennis's most fabled arena. Even when she competing on red clay or blue hard-courts, she has found herself fantasising that she is playing on the green, green grass of Centre Court.
But that stage is now turning into her own personal torture chamber as the gut-wrenching losses are starting to pile up and her lifelong goal to become an All England Club member remains unfulfilled.
“I'm not going to lie to you. I was remembering a bit about last year. Especially not playing so good, not serving the way I wanted in the first set did bring a bit of sad memories,” said Jabeur, who still appears to be haunted by “the most painful loss” of her career.
“But yeah, I would still love the Centre Court. Will still hope to come back and win on it again.”
A backhand error on match point condemned Jabeur to her earliest defeat in the English capital for five years, leaving Svitolina to lap up the applause from the crowd which included her husband Gael Monfils. She will next face China's Wang Xinyu.
“Today was a bit of a different story for our family. Disappointed that Gael lost,” Svitolina said in her on-court interview following her triumph. “With Gael’s support today, it’s amazing to have him support me and be there for me. It’s very special.
“Not easy to play against such a champion like Ons, she's had two great finals here and always very tricky to play her on the grass. I played great tennis. Really happy with the way I handled some tough moments today and with my performance.”
Five-time Grand Slam winner Swiatek admitted she had nothing left in the tank after she suffered more Wimbledon woe by crashing out in Round 3 to Yulia Putintseva.
Swiatek was on a 21-match winning streak and looked on course to cruise into the last-16 when she claimed the opener, but the Kazakhstan player hit back with a brilliant second set where she broke twice.
Four-time French Open champion Swiatek raced off court before the decider and when she eventually returned faced boos from an impatient crowd.
It seemed to knock the top seed off her stride and Putintseva roared to a 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 victory on her third match point.
“My tank of really pushing myself to the limits became suddenly, like, empty. I was kind of surprised, but I know what I did wrong after Roland Garros,” Swiatek said.
“I didn’t really rest properly. I’m not going to make this mistake again. After such a tough clay court season, I really must have my recovery. Maybe next year I’m going to take a vacation [after French Open] and literally just do nothing.”
In the men's draw, 24-time Grand Slam winner Novak Djokovic overcame a brilliant performance from Alexei Popyrin to reach the last-16.
Djokovic stayed on course for an eighth title at SW19 after beating Australia's Alexei Popyrin 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 despite the fact that the Serbian underwent surgery on a torn medial meniscus just a month ago.
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Monday, September 18 – 2pm, v England; 7.15pm, v India
Tuesday, September 19 – 12.15pm, v Singapore; 5.30pm, v Sri Lanka
Thursday, September 21 – 2pm v Malaysia
Friday, September 22 – 3.30pm, semi-final
Saturday, September 23 – 3pm, grand final
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Saturday, September 16 – 5.15pm, v Australia
Sunday, September 17 – 2pm, v South Africa; 7.15pm, v New Zealand
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Tuesday, September 19 – 10.30am, v New Zealand; 3.45pm, v South Africa
Thursday, September 21 – 12.15pm, v Australia
Friday, September 22 – 1.30pm, semi-final
Saturday, September 23 – 1pm, grand final
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Gender equality in the workplace still 200 years away
It will take centuries to achieve gender parity in workplaces around the globe, according to a December report from the World Economic Forum.
The WEF study said there had been some improvements in wage equality in 2018 compared to 2017, when the global gender gap widened for the first time in a decade.
But it warned that these were offset by declining representation of women in politics, coupled with greater inequality in their access to health and education.
At current rates, the global gender gap across a range of areas will not close for another 108 years, while it is expected to take 202 years to close the workplace gap, WEF found.
The Geneva-based organisation's annual report tracked disparities between the sexes in 149 countries across four areas: education, health, economic opportunity and political empowerment.
After years of advances in education, health and political representation, women registered setbacks in all three areas this year, WEF said.
Only in the area of economic opportunity did the gender gap narrow somewhat, although there is not much to celebrate, with the global wage gap narrowing to nearly 51 per cent.
And the number of women in leadership roles has risen to 34 per cent globally, WEF said.
At the same time, the report showed there are now proportionately fewer women than men participating in the workforce, suggesting that automation is having a disproportionate impact on jobs traditionally performed by women.
And women are significantly under-represented in growing areas of employment that require science, technology, engineering and mathematics skills, WEF said.
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Up in the air
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Fight card
Preliminaries:
Nouredine Samir (UAE) v Sheroz Kholmirzav (UZB); Lucas Porst (SWE) v Ellis Barboza (GBR); Mouhmad Amine Alharar (MAR) v Mohammed Mardi (UAE); Ibrahim Bilal (UAE) v Spyro Besiri (GRE); Aslamjan Ortikov (UZB) v Joshua Ridgwell (GBR)
Main card:
Carlos Prates (BRA) v Dmitry Valent (BLR); Bobirjon Tagiev (UZB) v Valentin Thibaut (FRA); Arthur Meyer (FRA) v Hicham Moujtahid (BEL); Ines Es Salehy (BEL) v Myriame Djedidi (FRA); Craig Coakley (IRE) v Deniz Demirkapu (TUR); Artem Avanesov (ARM) v Badreddine Attif (MAR); Abdulvosid Buranov (RUS) v Akram Hamidi (FRA)
Title card:
Intercontinental Lightweight: Ilyass Habibali (UAE) v Angel Marquez (ESP)
Intercontinental Middleweight: Amine El Moatassime (UAE) v Francesco Iadanza (ITA)
Asian Featherweight: Zakaria El Jamari (UAE) v Phillip Delarmino (PHI)
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The Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index
The Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index
Mazen Abukhater, principal and actuary at global consultancy Mercer, Middle East, says the company’s Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index - which benchmarks 34 pension schemes across the globe to assess their adequacy, sustainability and integrity - included Saudi Arabia for the first time this year to offer a glimpse into the region.
The index highlighted fundamental issues for all 34 countries, such as a rapid ageing population and a low growth / low interest environment putting pressure on expected returns. It also highlighted the increasing popularity around the world of defined contribution schemes.
“Average life expectancy has been increasing by about three years every 10 years. Someone born in 1947 is expected to live until 85 whereas someone born in 2007 is expected to live to 103,” Mr Abukhater told the Mena Pensions Conference.
“Are our systems equipped to handle these kind of life expectancies in the future? If so many people retire at 60, they are going to be in retirement for 43 years – so we need to adapt our retirement age to our changing life expectancy.”
Saudi Arabia came in the middle of Mercer’s ranking with a score of 58.9. The report said the country's index could be raised by improving the minimum level of support for the poorest aged individuals and increasing the labour force participation rate at older ages as life expectancies rise.
Mr Abukhater said the challenges of an ageing population, increased life expectancy and some individuals relying solely on their government for financial support in their retirement years will put the system under strain.
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German intelligence warnings
- 2002: "Hezbollah supporters feared becoming a target of security services because of the effects of [9/11] ... discussions on Hezbollah policy moved from mosques into smaller circles in private homes." Supporters in Germany: 800
- 2013: "Financial and logistical support from Germany for Hezbollah in Lebanon supports the armed struggle against Israel ... Hezbollah supporters in Germany hold back from actions that would gain publicity." Supporters in Germany: 950
- 2023: "It must be reckoned with that Hezbollah will continue to plan terrorist actions outside the Middle East against Israel or Israeli interests." Supporters in Germany: 1,250
Source: Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution
