“I’m going back to the business, back to my office.”
Novak Djokovic would have had a twinkle in his eyes as he announced his return to tennis with those words at Toronto.
In the locker room, many faces must have been cloaked in despair.
Over the past month, with Djokovic and the rest of the Big Four taking a break, the lesser lights of the men’s tour have had an opportunity to grab a few headlines and add some dollars to their bank accounts.
Names such as Lleyton Hewitt, Roberto Bautista Agut, Pablo Cuevas, Leonardo Mayer, Bernard Tomic, John Isner, Pablo Andujar and David Goffin graced the winners’ list, but not many among them would be looking forward with much optimism towards the coming month.
Djokovic is back. So are Roger Federer and Andy Murray for the Rogers Cup. Rafael Nadal should have been in Toronto as well, but an injury to his right wrist has ruled him out of action for three weeks.
The Spaniard still hopes to defend his US Open title.
With a crocked wrist and given his court rust, Nadal is unlikely to be at the top of anyone’s list as favourite for the title at Flushing Meadows.
Even if he had not been injured, that honour would have belonged to Djokovic.
The Serbian is the man to beat on hard courts. He has the best win-loss record on the surface among current players – 366-77 for a winning percentage of .826, which is the third on the list of the best hard court players of all time, behind Jimmy Connors (. 827) and Ivan Lendl (. 826).
Djokovic has won 34 of his 45 titles on hard courts, including the past four Masters and, mentally, the world No 1 has probably never been in a better space, having just been married and won Wimbledon last month.
Federer, like Djokovic, will be in a good mental space as well after his first grand slam tournament final since his 2012 Wimbledon triumph.
The Swiss turns 33 on Friday, though, and only two men have won a major past 33: Ken Rosewall and Andres Gimeno.
The same goes for Murray.
The Scot has not reached a tournament final since back surgery last autumn, but he is the owner of nine hard court Masters titles.
It all points to the Big Four dominating the next month, but if there is one man who could gatecrash it is Milos Raonic.
Last week, the Canadian confirmed his position as a dark horse with success in Washington.
He has been a consistent performer at the Masters and grand slam tournaments this year, and could be ready to make his leap into the big league.
arizvi@thenational.ae
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NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
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Sri Lanka squad for tri-nation series
Angelo Mathews (c), Upul Tharanga, Danushka Gunathilaka, Kusal Mendis, Dinesh Chandimal, Kusal Janith Perera, Thisara Perera, Asela Gunaratne, Niroshan Dickwella, Suranga Lakmal, Nuwan Pradeep, Dushmantha Chameera, Shehan Madushanka, Akila Dananjaya, Lakshan Sandakan and Wanidu Hasaranga
The biog
Name: Salem Alkarbi
Age: 32
Favourite Al Wasl player: Alexandre Oliveira
First started supporting Al Wasl: 7
Biggest rival: Al Nasr
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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