The clay season is upon us, which for Rafael Nadal typically means trophy runs, new records and sheer dominance, and for Daniil Medvedev means “bad bounces, dirty clothes” and yet another surprise postponement of the French Open. Those were his words, not mine.
Nadal and Medvedev have recently swapped positions in the world rankings, with the latter becoming the first non-Big Four player to be ranked inside the top two since July 2005.
Seeded No 3 this week in Monte Carlo – the first Masters 1000 event of the clay season – Nadal is chasing a record-extending 12th title in the Principality, and has landed in the opposite side of the draw to world No 1 Novak Djokovic.
Here are some of the main talking points surrounding this European clay swing:
Grand Slam record on the line
As Nadal frequently says, clay is the most important part of his season and this year, success at Roland Garros would see him break the men’s all-time record of most Grand Slams won.
The Mallorcan currently shares the record with Roger Federer but a 14th French Open crown would see Nadal take sole possession of the mark with an unprecedented 21st slam victory.
If Djokovic manages to secure a second title on Parisian clay, the Serb would narrow his deficit to just one major behind Nadal and Federer’s tally.
This French Open could prove decisive in this battle for Grand Slam supremacy.
Djokovic and Nadal return to action
Neither Djokovic nor Nadal have competed since the Australian Open in February, both opting out of the trip to the US and deciding to ditch the Miami Open.
Monte Carlo will be Djokovic’s third event of the year and Nadal’s second, meaning they both enter the clay swing short on match play.
They’re not too concerned about that though, and made sure they were ready with some fighting talk when addressing the press on Sunday.
“I am confident,” stated Nadal. “It's true that I didn't play much. At the same time is true that I had good success in the past without playing much.”
Djokovic sounded equally optimistic, saying: “I have had some periods in my career where I didn't play a tournament for maybe couple months, then came back. So I don't think there is anything special I have to do in terms of preparation in order for me to feel my best on the court.
“I've been training quite a lot on clay. Actually ever since I pulled out from Miami, I was hitting on clay. Here in Monte Carlo actually where I reside with the family, it was convenient and feels great.
“I feel physically prepared. Mentally I missed tennis last couple months that I haven't been competing. I look forward to my first match.”
Fight for No 2 spot heats up
Medvedev sandwiched between Djokovic and Nadal at the top of the rankings means there is always a possibility the Spaniard might share a half of the draw with the world No 1, which would possibly pit them against each other in the semi-finals.
Nadal has a chance of reclaiming the No 2 spot before Roland Garros, with his first opportunity coming this week in Monte Carlo. The 20-time major champion needs to at least reach the final, while Medvedev must fall before the semi-finals for that to happen.
Lots of serious threats on clay
For several years now, Dominic Thiem and Djokovic have been considered the major threats to Nadal's reign on the red dirt. But with Thiem struggling for form and skipping Monte Carlo, there will be several question marks surrounding the Austrian, who plans to make a first appearance since his opening round defeat at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships in Belgrade next week.
Djokovic is undefeated so far in 2021 (9-0) and will once again put pressure on Nadal this upcoming stretch but several other names are expected to shine, including the likes of Stefanos Tsitsipas, Andrey Rublev, and recent Miami runner-up Jannik Sinner.
Tsitsipas has reached the semi-finals of the last two Grand Slams – in Melbourne and Paris – and has high hopes for this upcoming period.
“I'm fighting for the Race to Turin. I'm trying to make as many points as possible and get podiums, as well,” the 22-year-old Greek said on Sunday.
“It is important for me to be playing a lot of tournaments prior to the French Open. Clay is a surface that I love to play and explore my game.
“The French Open is a tournament that formed good memories last year. I truly enjoyed playing in the French capital, putting out such an incredible game, having such a long journey in the courts of the Roland Garros.”
Rublev owns the most match-wins so far this season (20-4) and recently reached his first semi-final at a Masters 1000 event in Miami. The Russian has won six titles within the last 16 months, and two of his eight career trophies have been captured on clay.
The world No 8 has also made the quarter-finals in his last three slam appearances.
Italian teenager Jannik Sinner is enjoying a meteoric rise and has picked up two titles since his impressive French Open debut last fall, where he fell in the quarter-finals to Nadal.
The 19-year-old was ranked 73 in the world this time last year and is now up to 22 and rising.
Toni Nadal and Felix to debut their partnership
It was a coaching announcement not many saw coming and one that has caught everyone’s attention. Toni Nadal is returning back to the tour as part of Felix Auger-Aliassime’s team, alongside the Canadian’s full-time coach Frederic Fontag.
Toni, who shaped Rafael Nadal’s career and helped guide him to 16 of his 20 majors, stopped travelling with his nephew at the end of 2017 to take over the reins of the Rafa Nadal Academy in Mallorca, and take a break from the grind of the tour. The Spaniard is now returning to the circuit and will be in Auger-Aliassime’s corner, starting from this week in Monte Carlo.
The 20-year-old started his year by reaching the final of the ATP 250 event in Melbourne before making the fourth round at the Australian Open.
Tsitsipas believes the 21st-ranked Auger-Aliassime has a real weapon in Toni Nadal, and expects the partnership to pay plenty of dividends.
“It's pretty cool having a coach that has helped Rafael Nadal win so many important titles and has shaped his career in a way,” said Tsitsipas.
“Well, it's really good for him. I feel like he has an advantage having a coach like this. But he's not going to do the playing for him.”
Tour continues to navigate tough circumstances mid-pandemic
Operating in Europe will no doubt prove challenging once again for the tennis tour, and the first of many surprises has come in the form of the one-week postponement of the French Open due to government restrictions in Paris.
The postponement will have a knock on effect on the grass-court season and tournaments are scrambling to figure out the best course of action in light of the recent news.
The WTA have taken initiative and have managed to secure vaccine doses for players in Charleston these two weeks, which will no doubt help the women’s tour operate in a safer environment. Will the ATP tour attempt to follow suit?
It might not be as simple acquiring vaccine doses in Europe compared to the US, but with many players voicing their concerns about bubble fatigue and the psychological impact of being locked up in hotel rooms every week, perhaps more of them will go out of their way to get the vaccine so they could benefit from more lax bubble conditions.
“I think being away from the normal everyday life that I was used to living, being kept away from human interactions and ease of travelling made it very difficult,” explained Tsitsipas.
“In the very beginning I did think it is going to be easy, relatively easy, and I wouldn't suffer as much. But it ended up being difficult and psychologically excruciating.”
Sheikh Zayed's poem
When it is unveiled at Abu Dhabi Art, the Standing Tall exhibition will appear as an interplay of poetry and art. The 100 scarves are 100 fragments surrounding five, figurative, female sculptures, and both sculptures and scarves are hand-embroidered by a group of refugee women artisans, who used the Palestinian cross-stitch embroidery art of tatreez. Fragments of Sheikh Zayed’s poem Your Love is Ruling My Heart, written in Arabic as a love poem to his nation, are embroidered onto both the sculptures and the scarves. Here is the English translation.
Your love is ruling over my heart
Your love is ruling over my heart, even a mountain can’t bear all of it
Woe for my heart of such a love, if it befell it and made it its home
You came on me like a gleaming sun, you are the cure for my soul of its sickness
Be lenient on me, oh tender one, and have mercy on who because of you is in ruins
You are like the Ajeed Al-reem [leader of the gazelle herd] for my country, the source of all of its knowledge
You waddle even when you stand still, with feet white like the blooming of the dates of the palm
Oh, who wishes to deprive me of sleep, the night has ended and I still have not seen you
You are the cure for my sickness and my support, you dried my throat up let me go and damp it
Help me, oh children of mine, for in his love my life will pass me by.
SPEC%20SHEET
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EProcessor%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Apple%20M2%2C%208-core%20CPU%2C%20up%20to%2010-core%20CPU%2C%2016-core%20Neural%20Engine%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDisplay%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2013.6-inch%20Liquid%20Retina%2C%202560%20x%201664%2C%20224ppi%2C%20500%20nits%2C%20True%20Tone%2C%20wide%20colour%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EMemory%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%208%2F16%2F24GB%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStorage%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20256%2F512GB%20%2F%201%2F2TB%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EI%2FO%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Thunderbolt%203%20(2)%2C%203.5mm%20audio%2C%20Touch%20ID%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EConnectivity%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Wi-Fi%206%2C%20Bluetooth%205.0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EBattery%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2052.6Wh%20lithium-polymer%2C%20up%20to%2018%20hours%2C%20MagSafe%20charging%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECamera%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%201080p%20FaceTime%20HD%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EVideo%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Support%20for%20Apple%20ProRes%2C%20HDR%20with%20Dolby%20Vision%2C%20HDR10%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EAudio%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%204-speaker%20system%2C%20wide%20stereo%2C%20support%20for%20Dolby%20Atmos%2C%20Spatial%20Audio%20and%20dynamic%20head%20tracking%20(with%20AirPods)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EColours%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Silver%2C%20space%20grey%2C%20starlight%2C%20midnight%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EIn%20the%20box%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20MacBook%20Air%2C%2030W%20or%2035W%20dual-port%20power%20adapter%2C%20USB-C-to-MagSafe%20cable%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20From%20Dh4%2C999%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
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MATCH INFO
FA Cup final
Chelsea 1
Hazard (22' pen)
Manchester United 0
Man of the match: Eden Hazard (Chelsea)
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
The%20specs
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Opening day UAE Premiership fixtures, Friday, September 22:
- Dubai Sports City Eagles v Dubai Exiles
- Dubai Hurricanes v Abu Dhabi Saracens
- Jebel Ali Dragons v Abu Dhabi Harlequins
The specs
Engine: 2.9-litre twin-turbo V6
Power: 540hp at 6,500rpm
Torque: 600Nm at 2,500rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Kerb weight: 1580kg
Price: From Dh750k
On sale: via special order
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh117,059
The Limehouse Golem
Director: Juan Carlos Medina
Cast: Olivia Cooke, Bill Nighy, Douglas Booth
Three stars
Shubh Mangal Saavdhan
Directed by: RS Prasanna
Starring: Ayushmann Khurrana, Bhumi Pednekar
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Profile of Foodics
Founders: Ahmad AlZaini and Mosab AlOthmani
Based: Riyadh
Sector: Software
Employees: 150
Amount raised: $8m through seed and Series A - Series B raise ongoing
Funders: Raed Advanced Investment Co, Al-Riyadh Al Walid Investment Co, 500 Falcons, SWM Investment, AlShoaibah SPV, Faith Capital, Technology Investments Co, Savour Holding, Future Resources, Derayah Custody Co.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Normcore explained
Something of a fashion anomaly, normcore is essentially a celebration of the unremarkable. The term was first popularised by an article in New York magazine in 2014 and has been dubbed “ugly”, “bland’ and "anti-style" by fashion writers. It’s hallmarks are comfort, a lack of pretentiousness and neutrality – it is a trend for those who would rather not stand out from the crowd. For the most part, the style is unisex, favouring loose silhouettes, thrift-shop threads, baseball caps and boyish trainers. It is important to note that normcore is not synonymous with cheapness or low quality; there are high-fashion brands, including Parisian label Vetements, that specialise in this style. Embraced by fashion-forward street-style stars around the globe, it’s uptake in the UAE has been relatively slow.
Hidden killer
Sepsis arises when the body tries to fight an infection but damages its own tissue and organs in the process.
The World Health Organisation estimates it affects about 30 million people each year and that about six million die.
Of those about three million are newborns and 1.2 are young children.
Patients with septic shock must often have limbs amputated if clots in their limbs prevent blood flow, causing the limbs to die.
Campaigners say the condition is often diagnosed far too late by medical professionals and that many patients wait too long to seek treatment, confusing the symptoms with flu.
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Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
The Year Earth Changed
Directed by:Tom Beard
Narrated by: Sir David Attenborough
Stars: 4
Farage on Muslim Brotherhood
Nigel Farage told Reform's annual conference that the party will proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood if he becomes Prime Minister.
"We will stop dangerous organisations with links to terrorism operating in our country," he said. "Quite why we've been so gutless about this – both Labour and Conservative – I don't know.
“All across the Middle East, countries have banned and proscribed the Muslim Brotherhood as a dangerous organisation. We will do the very same.”
It is 10 years since a ground-breaking report into the Muslim Brotherhood by Sir John Jenkins.
Among the former diplomat's findings was an assessment that “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” has “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
The prime minister at the time, David Cameron, who commissioned the report, said membership or association with the Muslim Brotherhood was a "possible indicator of extremism" but it would not be banned.
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
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From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Dust and sand storms compared
Sand storm
- Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
- Visibility: Often dramatic with thick "walls" of sand
- Duration: Short-lived, typically localised
- Travel distance: Limited
- Source: Open desert areas with strong winds
Dust storm
- Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
- Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
- Duration: Can linger for days
- Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
- Source: Can be carried from distant regions
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
US tops drug cost charts
The study of 13 essential drugs showed costs in the United States were about 300 per cent higher than the global average, followed by Germany at 126 per cent and 122 per cent in the UAE.
Thailand, Kenya and Malaysia were rated as nations with the lowest costs, about 90 per cent cheaper.
In the case of insulin, diabetic patients in the US paid five and a half times the global average, while in the UAE the costs are about 50 per cent higher than the median price of branded and generic drugs.
Some of the costliest drugs worldwide include Lipitor for high cholesterol.
The study’s price index placed the US at an exorbitant 2,170 per cent higher for Lipitor than the average global price and the UAE at the eighth spot globally with costs 252 per cent higher.
High blood pressure medication Zestril was also more than 2,680 per cent higher in the US and the UAE price was 187 per cent higher than the global price.
How to report a beggar
Abu Dhabi – Call 999 or 8002626 (Aman Service)
Dubai – Call 800243
Sharjah – Call 065632222
Ras Al Khaimah - Call 072053372
Ajman – Call 067401616
Umm Al Quwain – Call 999
Fujairah - Call 092051100 or 092224411
West Indies v England ODI series:
West Indies squad: Jason Holder (c), Fabian Allen, Devendra Bishoo, Darren Bravo, Chris Gayle, Shimron Hetmyer, Shai Hope, Evin Lewis, Ashley Nurse, Keemo Paul, Nicholas Pooran, Rovman Powell, Kemar Roach, Oshane Thomas.
Fixtures:
1st ODI - February 20, Bridgetown
2nd ODI - February 22, Bridgetown
3rd ODI - February 25, St George's
4th ODI - February 27, St George's
5th ODI - March 2, Gros Islet
Zayed Sustainability Prize
Wydad 2 Urawa 3
Wydad Nahiri 21’, Hajhouj 90'
Urawa Antonio 18’, 60’, Kashiwagi 26’
PROFILE OF HALAN
Started: November 2017
Founders: Mounir Nakhla, Ahmed Mohsen and Mohamed Aboulnaga
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport and logistics
Size: 150 employees
Investment: approximately $8 million
Investors include: Singapore’s Battery Road Digital Holdings, Egypt’s Algebra Ventures, Uber co-founder and former CTO Oscar Salazar
Tips for newlyweds to better manage finances
All couples are unique and have to create a financial blueprint that is most suitable for their relationship, says Vijay Valecha, chief investment officer at Century Financial. He offers his top five tips for couples to better manage their finances.
Discuss your assets and debts: When married, it’s important to understand each other’s personal financial situation. It’s necessary to know upfront what each party brings to the table, as debts and assets affect spending habits and joint loan qualifications. Discussing all aspects of their finances as a couple prevents anyone from being blindsided later.
Decide on the financial/saving goals: Spouses should independently list their top goals and share their lists with one another to shape a joint plan. Writing down clear goals will help them determine how much to save each month, how much to put aside for short-term goals, and how they will reach their long-term financial goals.
Set a budget: A budget can keep the couple be mindful of their income and expenses. With a monthly budget, couples will know exactly how much they can spend in a category each month, how much they have to work with and what spending areas need to be evaluated.
Decide who manages what: When it comes to handling finances, it’s a good idea to decide who manages what. For example, one person might take on the day-to-day bills, while the other tackles long-term investments and retirement plans.
Money date nights: Talking about money should be a healthy, ongoing conversation and couples should not wait for something to go wrong. They should set time aside every month to talk about future financial decisions and see the progress they’ve made together towards accomplishing their goals.
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The specs
Engine: Direct injection 4-cylinder 1.4-litre
Power: 150hp
Torque: 250Nm
Price: From Dh139,000
On sale: Now
