Two appetising extra ingredients will be adding greater flavour to this year's women's singles.
Kim Clijsters and Maria Sharapova, champions in 2005 and 2006 respectively, are both aiming to make up for lost time after their respective voluntary and enforced absence from the WTA Tour.
Both former world No 1s have shown during their recent comebacks that they still possess the talents to embarrass those who have followed them up the world rankings ladder. The return of Clijsters has been marginally the more impressive.
The charming Belgian decided two years ago that domestic bliss of marriage and motherhood should replace the relentless desire to make improvements to her forehands and backhand.
An invitation to play an exhibition match on Wimbledon's hallowed Centre Court in the spring, however, relit her fire and proved the catalyst for a determined resumption of full-time business.
Unseeded Clijsters is regarded as one of the most dangerous floaters in a quarter of the draw occupied by world No 3 Venus Williams.
Clijsters, still only 26, may not yet have regained sufficient sharpness to derail the two-time Flushing Meadows champion in a possible fourth-round encounter but her form in the early stages of what she describes as her "second career" suggests an upset is not out of the question.
Four of the world's top 20, notably French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, another former queen of New York, perished at the skilful hands of Clijsters in her first two comeback events and others are surely destined to follow.
Prevented from defending her only grand slam title here three years ago by a wrist injury, Clijsters is raring to go in one of her happier hunting grounds.
"I think the amount of time that I put into my tennis is shorter now, but the quality is a lot higher,'' represented an ominous warning to her rivals.
Sharapova, still a slip of a lass at 22, has been drawn uncomfortably close to fellow Russian Elena Dementieva who goes into this tournament as confident as any having recently avenged a narrow Wimbledon semi-final defeat by Serena Williams, the defending champion here.
The reluctance of Sharapova to put too much strain on her recovering shoulder may put a third-round conquest of world No 4 Dementieva beyond her but if she gets over that daunting hurdle, she could do as much damage in the top half of the draw as Clijsters is likely to do in the bottom half.
Serena, not for the first time, believes this is a grand slam that is hers for the taking.
If she wins it she will hold three of the four major titles and inflict further misery on Dinara Safina, the Russian who holds the world No 1 ranking without having won a slam.
@Email:wjohnson@thenational.ae
Normal People
Sally Rooney, Faber & Faber
Martin Sabbagh profile
Job: CEO JCDecaux Middle East
In the role: Since January 2015
Lives: In the UAE
Background: M&A, investment banking
Studied: Corporate finance
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
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A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Company Profile
Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million
Honeymoonish
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THE BIO
Favourite author - Paulo Coelho
Favourite holiday destination - Cuba
New York Times or Jordan Times? NYT is a school and JT was my practice field
Role model - My Grandfather
Dream interviewee - Che Guevara
More from Janine di Giovanni
The Breadwinner
Director: Nora Twomey
Starring: Saara Chaudry, Soma Chhaya, Laara Sadiq
Three stars
MIDWAY
Produced: Lionsgate Films, Shanghai Ryui Entertainment, Street Light Entertainment
Directed: Roland Emmerich
Cast: Ed Skrein, Woody Harrelson, Dennis Quaid, Aaron Eckhart, Luke Evans, Nick Jonas, Mandy Moore, Darren Criss
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
ICC Awards for 2021
MEN
Cricketer of the Year – Shaheen Afridi (Pakistan)
T20 Cricketer of the Year – Mohammad Rizwan (Pakistan)
ODI Cricketer of the Year – Babar Azam (Pakistan)
Test Cricketer of the Year – Joe Root (England)
WOMEN
Cricketer of the Year – Smriti Mandhana (India)
ODI Cricketer of the Year – Lizelle Lee (South Africa)
T20 Cricketer of the Year – Tammy Beaumont (England)
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
