Roger Federer is the in-form player going into next week’s US Open but Novak Djokovic is favourite to win the title for a second time, according to former champion John McEnroe.
Federer, who reigned supreme at Flushing Meadows with five consecutive titles from 2004, won the Cincinnati title last week on the back of reaching the final in Toronto and with world No 2 Rafael Nadal injured, many believe the 33-year-old Swiss maestro can claim an 18th grand slam title.
“Obviously not having to deal with (Nadal) is a huge positive for him potentially down the road if he’s at a stage at the end of the event,” McEnroe said in a conference call with TV channel ESPN for whom he will be working as a commentator during the year’s final grand slam.
“I would give a slight, slight favourite to Djokovic based on it being best-of-five. He’s younger and he can go the distance perhaps a little bit more easily than Roger at this stage. A little bit.
“Depending on what happens leading up to it if they were to play in the final, some of it would have to do with how much was left in the tank from previous matches.”
Djokovic beat Federer in an epic Wimbledon final but the 27-year-old Serb, who has just married long-time girlfriend Jelena Ristic, lost early in Toronto and Cincinnati and McEnroe believes he has lost focus.
“I don’t think Novak’s mind has been into it since – it was one of the greatest matches I ever saw at Wimbledon,” he said. “He got married. I didn’t see a lot of his matches since, but I saw a few. I think it was difficult for him to get back into the swing of things. I believe he’ll be ready here.”
It is no foregone conclusion that Djokovic and Federer will contest the final, though.
McEnroe believes Briton Andy Murray, the 2012 champion, can use the US Open to spark a long-awaited return to form, while he also tips Canada’s Milos Raonic and Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov to make strong runs on the New York cement.
Murray has not won a title since Wimbledon last year and has slipped to ninth in the world rankings, although he will be seeded eight in New York because of Nadal’s wrist injury.
“I think that if you look at it, he’s not that far away,” McEnroe, a four-times US Open champion, said.
“It depends if you only look at the glass half empty or half full, and people do both. But given the fact that he had a surgery on his back, which is pretty serious, if you look at his results at the majors, he wasn’t that far off.
“He’s putting himself in the position slowly but surely. To me, he’s the third favourite to win this tournament. Depending on how the draw pans out, you would absolutely anticipate that he’s going to be a factor in this event.”
However, Australian Open champion Stan Wawrinka is struggling to back up his breakthrough moment and despite being seeded three, McEnroe is not expecting the Swiss to win a second grand slam of the year.
“He hasn’t been the same since,” McEnroe said. “He doesn’t seem to be able to handle the attention in a way.”
Federer will be playing his 60th consecutive grand slam at the US Open – a feat McEnroe labels heroic.
“It’s obviously remarkable and unbelievable that he’s been able to do this consistently well for this long,” said the American. “To do that, 60 majors in a row, is heroic in a way. It should not be underestimated or under-appreciated by tennis fans.”
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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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