Wimbledon is fast approaching and there are plenty of burning questions that will be answered when the draw is conducted on Friday morning at the All England Club.
Will a sixth-seeded Novak Djokovic avoid landing in Carlos Alcaraz’s or Jannik Sinner’s quarters of the draw? Will the tennis gods be kind to an eighth-seeded Iga Swiatek as she attempts to find her game on grass? Will two-time champion Petra Kvitova get the farewell she deserves on her farewell appearance at SW19?
The Czech lefty came back from a 17-month maternity leave in February and recently announced she will be retiring from tennis after the US Open.
Ranked 573 in the world and playing Wimbledon as a wildcard, Kvitova is a name no one will want to draw in the first round, irrespective of her 1-6 record this season.
In anticipation of the draw, here are other unseeded threats that could cause some serious damage and an upset or two at the Championships this upcoming fortnight.
Marketa Vondrousova
As one Czech lefty gets ready to bid farewell to her happiest hunting ground, another one is finding her form at just the right time.
The 2023 Wimbledon champion won her first title in two years last week in Berlin by navigating a brutal draw that saw her defeat Australian Open winner Madison Keys, world No 12 Diana Shnaider, two-time Wimbledon finalist Ons Jabeur, and world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka before overcoming Chinese qualifier Wang Xinyu in the final.
Vondrousova has spent half of the past 18 months sidelined with injuries and has also had shoulder surgery. She entered Berlin ranked 164 in the world. The 500 points she racked up there have sent her flying 91 spots up the charts, but that’s still not high enough to snag her a seeded position at Wimbledon – much to the dismay of the 32 seeds who could end up drawing Vondrousova in the opening round.
Her plans between Berlin and Wimbledon?
“I’ll just try to enjoy a few days off now and back to hard work. Stay grounded, stay in your lane, focus on tennis and play these matches as if nothing happened,” she told wtatennis.com.
Tatjana Maria
Another fairytale that unfolded this grass-court season came courtesy of Tatjana Maria, a 37-year-old mother of two, who reminded us all just how lethal she can be on this surface.
A Wimbledon semi-finalist in 2022, Maria claimed the fourth tour-level title of her career, and second on grass, by blasting her way through the main draw at Queen's Club, where women’s tennis returned this year for the first time since 1973.
After beating Canada’s Leylah Fernandez in her opener, Maria knocked out four top-15 players, including Grand Slam champions Keys and Elena Rybakina.
No one will want to see the German’s name next to theirs when the draw is revealed on Friday.
Emma Raducanu
Before she stunned the world by winning the US Open as a qualifier back in 2021, Emma Raducanu’s first tour-level breakthrough came at Wimbledon two months earlier.
Ranked 338 at the time, the then 18-year-old claimed three main-draw wins to become the youngest British woman in the Open Era to reach the last 16 at Wimbledon.
Raducanu has made the fourth round at the Championships twice in three appearances, and her warm-up for this year’s edition included a quarter-final run at Queen's earlier this month.
The 22-year-old is up to 38 in the world rankings, making her one of the highest-ranked non-seeds in the draw.
With the home crowd behind her and her confidence rising, Raducanu will be a tricky first-round opponent.
Marin Cilic
This time last year, Marin Cilic was ranked outside the top 1,000 and in the midst of a six-month injury layoff that included surgery on his right knee.
The 2014 US Open champion returned to action in late August and was crowned champion in just his third tournament back, clinching the ATP 250 event in Hangzhou, China last September.
Cilic, a former world No 3, arrives at this year’s Wimbledon ranked 85 in the world and is coming off a grass-court title run at the Challenger Tour event in Nottingham.
The 36-year-old Croatian has historically been one of the tour’s best grass-court players. He won three tour-level titles on the surface – twice at Queen’s and once in Stuttgart – and reached the final at Wimbledon in 2017, where he suffered from a painful foot blister during a straight-sets defeat to Roger Federer.
He has a 80-32 win-loss record at tour-level on grass; his 71.4% success rate on the surface is the fourth-best among active ATP players.
Injuries have kept Cilic away from the All England Club since 2021, and he will no doubt want to make the most of his return to SW19.
Cilic’s final warm-up for Wimbledon will be the Giorgio Armani Tennis Classic exhibition event at London’s Hurlingham Club alongside the likes of Novak Djokovic and Lorenzo Musetti.
Roberto Bautista Agut
The Spaniard has made it into the second week of Wimbledon in five of his 10 Wimbledon appearances, amassing an impressive 71% win percentage at the All England Club.
His reached the semi-finals in 2019, his best performance at a Grand Slam to date, losing to Djokovic in four sets.
At 37, the former world No 9 is still a tough nut to crack on grass – his semi-final run at Queen's is testament to that – securing wins over world No 9 Holger Rune and No 17 Jakub Mensik before falling to eventual champion Alcaraz.
He’s back up to 43 in the rankings and will be high on confidence when Wimbledon kicks off on Monday.
Gabriel Diallo
Canada’s big-serving Gabriel Diallo is enjoying a breakthrough 2025, highlighted by a maiden ATP title on the lawns of ‘s-Hertogenbosch earlier this month.
Diallo was competing for the first time at tour-level on grass that week but was unfazed by the challenge as he utilised his powerful game to full effect on the surface to lift his first ATP trophy.
A march to the quarter-finals at the Masters 1000 tournament in Madrid in May – as a lucky loser – showed how dangerous Diallo can be in fast conditions.
The 23-year-old is among the top 20 on the tour’s aces leaderboard for this season and has more than halved his ranking this campaign, reaching a current career-high of 41.
He’ll be making his first Wimbledon main draw appearance next week and is a potential banana skin for many top players.
How Beautiful this world is!
Cricket World Cup League Two
Oman, UAE, Namibia
Al Amerat, Muscat
Results
Oman beat UAE by five wickets
UAE beat Namibia by eight runs
Fixtures
Wednesday January 8 –Oman v Namibia
Thursday January 9 – Oman v UAE
Saturday January 11 – UAE v Namibia
Sunday January 12 – Oman v Namibia
Company profile
Name: Infinite8
Based: Dubai
Launch year: 2017
Number of employees: 90
Sector: Online gaming industry
Funding: $1.2m from a UAE angel investor
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What is dialysis?
Dialysis is a way of cleaning your blood when your kidneys fail and can no longer do the job.
It gets rid of your body's wastes, extra salt and water, and helps to control your blood pressure. The main cause of kidney failure is diabetes and hypertension.
There are two kinds of dialysis — haemodialysis and peritoneal.
In haemodialysis, blood is pumped out of your body to an artificial kidney machine that filter your blood and returns it to your body by tubes.
In peritoneal dialysis, the inside lining of your own belly acts as a natural filter. Wastes are taken out by means of a cleansing fluid which is washed in and out of your belly in cycles.
It isn’t an option for everyone but if eligible, can be done at home by the patient or caregiver. This, as opposed to home haemodialysis, is covered by insurance in the UAE.
In-demand jobs and monthly salaries
- Technology expert in robotics and automation: Dh20,000 to Dh40,000
- Energy engineer: Dh25,000 to Dh30,000
- Production engineer: Dh30,000 to Dh40,000
- Data-driven supply chain management professional: Dh30,000 to Dh50,000
- HR leader: Dh40,000 to Dh60,000
- Engineering leader: Dh30,000 to Dh55,000
- Project manager: Dh55,000 to Dh65,000
- Senior reservoir engineer: Dh40,000 to Dh55,000
- Senior drilling engineer: Dh38,000 to Dh46,000
- Senior process engineer: Dh28,000 to Dh38,000
- Senior maintenance engineer: Dh22,000 to Dh34,000
- Field engineer: Dh6,500 to Dh7,500
- Field supervisor: Dh9,000 to Dh12,000
- Field operator: Dh5,000 to Dh7,000
The specs: 2019 Audi A7 Sportback
Price, base: Dh315,000
Engine: 3.0-litre V6
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 335hp @ 5,000rpm
Torque: 500Nm @ 1,370rpm
Fuel economy 5.9L / 100km
UAE v Gibraltar
What: International friendly
When: 7pm kick off
Where: Rugby Park, Dubai Sports City
Admission: Free
Online: The match will be broadcast live on Dubai Exiles’ Facebook page
UAE squad: Lucas Waddington (Dubai Exiles), Gio Fourie (Exiles), Craig Nutt (Abu Dhabi Harlequins), Phil Brady (Harlequins), Daniel Perry (Dubai Hurricanes), Esekaia Dranibota (Harlequins), Matt Mills (Exiles), Jaen Botes (Exiles), Kristian Stinson (Exiles), Murray Reason (Abu Dhabi Saracens), Dave Knight (Hurricanes), Ross Samson (Jebel Ali Dragons), DuRandt Gerber (Exiles), Saki Naisau (Dragons), Andrew Powell (Hurricanes), Emosi Vacanau (Harlequins), Niko Volavola (Dragons), Matt Richards (Dragons), Luke Stevenson (Harlequins), Josh Ives (Dubai Sports City Eagles), Sean Stevens (Saracens), Thinus Steyn (Exiles)
Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week
Company%20profile
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Dolittle
Director: Stephen Gaghan
Stars: Robert Downey Jr, Michael Sheen
One-and-a-half out of five stars
Who was Alfred Nobel?
The Nobel Prize was created by wealthy Swedish chemist and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel.
- In his will he dictated that the bulk of his estate should be used to fund "prizes to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind".
- Nobel is best known as the inventor of dynamite, but also wrote poetry and drama and could speak Russian, French, English and German by the age of 17. The five original prize categories reflect the interests closest to his heart.
- Nobel died in 1896 but it took until 1901, following a legal battle over his will, before the first prizes were awarded.
Generation Start-up: Awok company profile
Started: 2013
Founder: Ulugbek Yuldashev
Sector: e-commerce
Size: 600 plus
Stage: still in talks with VCs
Principal Investors: self-financed by founder
Islamophobia definition
A widely accepted definition was made by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in 2019: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” It further defines it as “inciting hatred or violence against Muslims”.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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ABU DHABI ORDER OF PLAY
Starting at 10am:
Daria Kasatkina v Qiang Wang
Veronika Kudermetova v Annet Kontaveit (10)
Maria Sakkari (9) v Anastasia Potapova
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova v Ons Jabeur (15)
Donna Vekic (16) v Bernarda Pera
Ekaterina Alexandrova v Zarina Diyas
The Voice of Hind Rajab
Starring: Saja Kilani, Clara Khoury, Motaz Malhees
Director: Kaouther Ben Hania
Rating: 4/5
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