It’s been almost four months since Tunisian star Ons Jabeur shared a heartfelt message on social media announcing she was taking an indefinite break from professional tennis.
She revealed she had been struggling physically and mentally for the past two years, and wasn’t feeling happy on the tennis court.
“I feel it's time to take a step back and finally put myself first: to breathe, to heal, and to rediscover the joy of simply living,” wrote the former world No 2.
This week Jabeur is back at a tennis tournament, not as a competing player, but as an ambassador for the WTA Finals in Riyadh. It is her first appearance on tour since she retired with breathing difficulties from her Wimbledon first round in July, and the smile is already back on the face of Tunisia’s Minister of Happiness.
“My break is going well. I'm discovering life a little bit outside tennis,” Jabeur told The National at the practice courts in Riyadh, where many of her peers were busy training for their matches. “I've been busy with different things, the foundation, the academy. I'm trying to maybe launch new projects as well, so it's been fun.”
The 31-year-old admits her first few weeks off were “a little bit weird”, as she suddenly found herself waking up to no specific schedule. “When your body is used to like six hours, seven hours of training a day and then you just suddenly don't do anything and mostly just eat and go to the beach and relax, I was like, ‘What am I doing? What is this?’
“But then after I got more creative, more active, doing more stuff and definitely my favourite part was spending a lot of time with my family.”
Besides spending quality time with her family, Jabeur took the opportunity to work on projects dear to her heart, like launching her own foundation, and working on creating her new academy, which will officially open its doors in Dubai later this month.
But before delving deeper into her current endeavours, it was important to discuss how Jabeur reached the point of needing to take a break from the sport that she loves.
Was it difficult finding “the joy of simply living” while competing on the tennis tour?
“For me personally, yes,” responds Jabeur. “My life since I was six years old was always focused on my training, my tournaments, tennis, and I didn't feel like I, even though I did things outside tennis, it was always either tennis related or if I want to go on vacation, you always need to count the days because you don't want to miss training. You want to go back on time.
“I wasn't ever free from tennis. Trying to find something that makes me happy outside tennis was difficult and given the very tough two years that I had, it wasn't easy.
“The happy place, the place where I find my joy suddenly became my sadness and basically became the place that gave me depression. And I was kind of scared, and I was thinking like, ‘What if I never find joy on the tennis court ever again?’
“But I don't think that will be the case. And I'm not retiring like most of the people think, I'll be coming back someday.”
Someday – Jabeur doesn’t want to put a timeline on her return to competitive tennis, but she knows she will be back. She hasn’t picked up a racquet since she announced her break – except for once during a kids’ clinic – and says she misses it, but not enough to go and actually have a proper hit.
“I just want to enjoy and when my mind and body tell me you're ready, you want to come back, then I will come back,” she declared.
Jabeur is a popular figure on the tennis circuit, which was evident from the scores of players, coaches, physios, tournament staff, WTA personnel, photographers and journalists, who all clamoured to greet her when she showed up at King Saud University Indoor Arena in Riyadh on Monday.
It is that same community that reached out to her when she announced her hiatus four months ago. “I feel like there were two reactions [to my message]. The supportive one, which I honestly never expected that people would send so much love to me, from different players, to my sponsors, to my family, to people that know me and understood,” she said.
“Always, when you skip something [a tournament] and decide to put yourself first, people would think you're selfish and you don't deserve that. But I got so much love and a lot of members also from the mental health [community] that they reached out to tell me that was a great decision and because they can see I was suffering.”
The second type of reaction she got was from players who felt that her words describing her mental state truly resonated with them.
“Basically, other players seeing themselves in what I was feeling,” she added. “And I felt like I was not only helping myself in this, but I was helping them as well. For me, someone that basically smiles all the time, to take a decision like that and feel broken and sad was kind of like, ‘Oh, wow. We didn't think Ons would feel that way’. I was like, ‘Yeah, basically I'm a human being’.
“I can feel that way, but maybe I'm the least person that would go in and feel that. So that was also a bonus that I had to just talk about it and help other people, you know?”
Burnout is becoming more and more prevalent in professional sport, particularly in tennis, which has a grueling 11-month season with limited opportunities for rest. Jabeur doesn’t have a clear answer when she’s asked if burnout is inevitable in tennis’ current structure but she acknowledges the pressure to keep playing can be incredibly high from sponsors, entourage, and other sources.
She vows that when she returns to the tour, she will not compromise her own well-being for the sake of competing.
“I feel I want to choose my tournaments. I want to make the schedule adapt to me, not me adapting to the schedule,” she said. “I will honestly try to speak up more and get the tennis community to treat us better as players, to treat us more as human beings than robots that play tennis, tennis, tennis all the time.
“This is a very beautiful sport and we need to be smart about it. And I just want to be myself on the court. I don't want to feel the stress. I felt so good for the last two, three months that I'm not stressed.”
Instead of living the stress of the tennis tour, Jabeur shifted her focus to launching her foundation and her academy.
One of the first projects she is tackling through her foundation is rebuilding the tennis court at her old primary school, which has been destroyed, and creating a space for kids to do different sports, not just tennis.
“I want to live a meaningful life, not just breathe and eat and just do nothing on the side. I want to give the chance to the kids to dream big, to only worry about working and not worry about the money or the facilities or whatever,” she says.
“I want to do more. I want to sign a contract with different ministries in Tunisia to try to help the community as much as we can.”
The Ons Jabeur Academy is another way the three-time grand slam finalist hopes to affect change and make a difference.
Set to open at HCT – Academy City Campus in Dubai before the end of the month, Jabeur’s tennis academy has been a dream of hers since she was a little girl, before she even fully understood what the word ‘academy’ meant.
Jabeur wants to create a place with a family-like atmosphere, and wants to build a system that values individuality, one that can be tailored for each kid, based on their own set of skills, without imposing a specific playing style on them. She plans on being present as much as she can at the academy.
“Maybe it's a way for me to find the joy again on the court, because seeing the innocence of the kids, there's nothing better than that,” she said. “Maybe it will make me remember when I was younger, how I was having fun. I want to share this with the kids. I want to be there. I want to train there with them and see how it goes.”
While she hasn’t set a return date yet, Jabeur believes when she does eventually come back to the tennis tour, she can recapture the form that helped her reach two Wimbledon finals and become the highest-ranked African woman in tennis history.
“I think the belief is there, but I think what changed is, even if I don't [get back to where I was], I won't put that much pressure on myself,” she explained.
“For me, the most important thing is that I'm gonna go there, I'm gonna try, I'm gonna be happier on the court, and if it happens, then I know I have tried everything in my power to achieve that. I took a break, I took care of myself, I trained hard to come back, and then I'm playing tournaments. If after that it doesn't happen, then I guess it's not meant to be.”
UFC%20FIGHT%20NIGHT%3A%20SAUDI%20ARABIA%20RESULTS
%3Cp%3E%0D%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EMain%20card%3Cbr%3EMiddleweight%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%0D%3Cbr%3ERobert%20Whittaker%20defeated%20Ikram%20Aliskerov%20via%20knockout%20(Round%201)%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EHeavyweight%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%0D%3Cbr%3EAlexander%20Volkov%20def%20Sergei%20Pavlovich%20via%20unanimous%20decision%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EMiddleweight%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%0D%3Cbr%3EKelvin%20Gastelum%20def%20Daniel%20Rodriguez%20via%20unanimous%20decision%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EMiddleweight%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%0D%3Cbr%3EShara%20Magomedov%20def%20Antonio%20Trocoli%20via%20knockout%20(Round%203)%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ELight%20heavyweight%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%0D%3Cbr%3EVolkan%20Oezdemir%20def%20Johnny%20Walker%20via%20knockout%20(Round%201)%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPreliminary%20Card%0D%3Cbr%3ELightweight%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%0D%3Cbr%3ENasrat%20Haqparast%20def%20Jared%20Gordon%20via%20split%20decision%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFeatherweight%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%0D%3Cbr%3EFelipe%20Lima%20def%20Muhammad%20Naimov%20via%20submission%20(Round%203)%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EWelterweight%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%0D%3Cbr%3ERinat%20Fakhretdinov%20defeats%20Nicolas%20Dalby%20via%20split%20decision%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBantamweight%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%0D%3Cbr%3EMuin%20Gafurov%20def%20Kang%20Kyung-ho%20via%20unanimous%20decision%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ELight%20heavyweight%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%0D%3Cbr%3EMagomed%20Gadzhiyasulov%20def%20Brendson%20Ribeiro%20via%20majority%20decision%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBantamweight%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%0D%3Cbr%3EChang%20Ho%20Lee%20def%20Xiao%20Long%20via%20split%20decision%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Key figures in the life of the fort
Sheikh Dhiyab bin Isa (ruled 1761-1793) Built Qasr Al Hosn as a watchtower to guard over the only freshwater well on Abu Dhabi island.
Sheikh Shakhbut bin Dhiyab (ruled 1793-1816) Expanded the tower into a small fort and transferred his ruling place of residence from Liwa Oasis to the fort on the island.
Sheikh Tahnoon bin Shakhbut (ruled 1818-1833) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further as Abu Dhabi grew from a small village of palm huts to a town of more than 5,000 inhabitants.
Sheikh Khalifa bin Shakhbut (ruled 1833-1845) Repaired and fortified the fort.
Sheikh Saeed bin Tahnoon (ruled 1845-1855) Turned Qasr Al Hosn into a strong two-storied structure.
Sheikh Zayed bin Khalifa (ruled 1855-1909) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further to reflect the emirate's increasing prominence.
Sheikh Shakhbut bin Sultan (ruled 1928-1966) Renovated and enlarged Qasr Al Hosn, adding a decorative arch and two new villas.
Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan (ruled 1966-2004) Moved the royal residence to Al Manhal palace and kept his diwan at Qasr Al Hosn.
Sources: Jayanti Maitra, www.adach.ae
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.”
pakistan Test squad
Azhar Ali (capt), Shan Masood, Abid Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Asad Shafiq, Babar Azam, Fawad Alam, Haris Sohail, Imran Khan, Kashif Bhatti, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mohammad Abbas, Yasir Shah, Usman Shinwari
Volunteers offer workers a lifeline
Community volunteers have swung into action delivering food packages and toiletries to the men.
When provisions are distributed, the men line up in long queues for packets of rice, flour, sugar, salt, pulses, milk, biscuits, shaving kits, soap and telecom cards.
Volunteers from St Mary’s Catholic Church said some workers came to the church to pray for their families and ask for assistance.
Boxes packed with essential food items were distributed to workers in the Dubai Investments Park and Ras Al Khaimah camps last week. Workers at the Sonapur camp asked for Dh1,600 towards their gas bill.
“Especially in this year of tolerance we consider ourselves privileged to be able to lend a helping hand to our needy brothers in the Actco camp," Father Lennie Connully, parish priest of St Mary’s.
Workers spoke of their helplessness, seeing children’s marriages cancelled because of lack of money going home. Others told of their misery of being unable to return home when a parent died.
“More than daily food, they are worried about not sending money home for their family,” said Kusum Dutta, a volunteer who works with the Indian consulate.
Honeymoonish
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Elie%20El%20Samaan%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ENour%20Al%20Ghandour%2C%20Mahmoud%20Boushahri%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%203%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Tips to keep your car cool
- Place a sun reflector in your windshield when not driving
- Park in shaded or covered areas
- Add tint to windows
- Wrap your car to change the exterior colour
- Pick light interiors - choose colours such as beige and cream for seats and dashboard furniture
- Avoid leather interiors as these absorb more heat
Results
5pm: Wathba Stallions Cup Maiden (PA) Dh 70,000 (Dirt) 1,000m, Winner: Hazeem Al Raed, Antonio Fresu (jockey), Ahmed Al Shemaili (trainer)
5.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh 85,000 (D) 1,000m, Winner: Ghazwan Al Khalediah, Hugo Lebouc, Helal Al Alawi
6pm: Maiden (PA) Dh 70,000 (D) 1,400m, Winner: Dinar Al Khalediah, Patrick Cosgrave, Helal Al Alawi.
6.30pm: Handicap (TB) Dh 70,000 (D) 1,600m, Winner: Faith And Fortune, Sandro Paiva, Ali Rashid Al Raihe.
7pm: Maiden (PA) Dh 70,000 (D) 1,600m, Winner: Only Smoke, Bernardo Pinheiro, Abdallah Al Hammadi.
7.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh 70,000 (D) 1,600m, Winner: AF Ramz, Saif Al Balushi, Khalifa Al Neyadi.
8pm: Maiden (PA) Dh 70,000 (D) 2,000m, Winner: AF Mass, Tadhg O’Shea, Ernst Oertel.
The specs: 2018 Mercedes-Benz E 300 Cabriolet
Price, base / as tested: Dh275,250 / Dh328,465
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder
Power: 245hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque: 370Nm @ 1,300rpm
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Fuel consumption, combined: 7.0L / 100km
Groom and Two Brides
Director: Elie Samaan
Starring: Abdullah Boushehri, Laila Abdallah, Lulwa Almulla
Rating: 3/5
Top tips to avoid cyber fraud
Microsoft’s ‘hacker-in-chief’ David Weston, creator of the tech company’s Windows Red Team, advises simple steps to help people avoid falling victim to cyber fraud:
1. Always get the latest operating system on your smartphone or desktop, as it will have the latest innovations. An outdated OS can erode away all investments made in securing your device or system.
2. After installing the latest OS version, keep it patched; this means repairing system vulnerabilities which are discovered after the infrastructure components are released in the market. The vast majority of attacks are based on out of date components – there are missing patches.
3. Multi-factor authentication is required. Move away from passwords as fast as possible, particularly for anything financial. Cybercriminals are targeting money through compromising the users’ identity – his username and password. So, get on the next level of security using fingertips or facial recognition.
4. Move your personal as well as professional data to the cloud, which has advanced threat detection mechanisms and analytics to spot any attempt. Even if you are hit by some ransomware, the chances of restoring the stolen data are higher because everything is backed up.
5. Make the right hardware selection and always refresh it. We are in a time where a number of security improvement processes are reliant on new processors and chip sets that come with embedded security features. Buy a new personal computer with a trusted computing module that has fingerprint or biometric cameras as additional measures of protection.
Countries recognising Palestine
France, UK, Canada, Australia, Portugal, Belgium, Malta, Luxembourg, San Marino and Andorra
Jetour T1 specs
Engine: 2-litre turbocharged
Power: 254hp
Torque: 390Nm
Price: From Dh126,000
Available: Now
The%20specs%20
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2.0-litre%204cyl%20turbo%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E261hp%20at%205%2C500rpm%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E400Nm%20at%201%2C750-4%2C000rpm%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E7-speed%20dual-clutch%20auto%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFuel%20consumption%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E10.5L%2F100km%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ENow%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFrom%20Dh129%2C999%20(VX%20Luxury)%3B%20from%20Dh149%2C999%20(VX%20Black%20Gold)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Profile
Company name: Jaib
Started: January 2018
Co-founders: Fouad Jeryes and Sinan Taifour
Based: Jordan
Sector: FinTech
Total transactions: over $800,000 since January, 2018
Investors in Jaib's mother company Alpha Apps: Aramex and 500 Startups
