There has never been any doubt who has the best seat in the house at Wimbledon.
It has been the preserve of Tim Phillips for the past 10 years in his capacity as chairman of the All England Club.
And the man whose on-court claim to fame was reaching the semi-finals of the men's doubles at the US Open in 1964 certainly makes the most of his privileged position in the middle of the front row of the Royal Box.
Rarely is he absent from that padded chair as he sits stoically for all but the occasional set in the entire fortnight, either transfixed to the tennis or exchanging pleasantries with the various pillars of society who receive special invitations to sit alongside him.
On Thursday it was Queen Elizabeth, making her first visit to Wimbledon since 1977 ? the day Virginia Wade became the last British player to win a singles title here.
Yesterday was more of a guessing game as to who would be on the shoulder of Phillips because Middle Saturday, as the sixth day of the tournament is known, is the day when the world of sport invades the corridors of tennis power.
The honour fittingly went to another popular queen of Wimbledon ? Evonne Goolagong Cawley, the women's champion in 1971 and 1980.
She, like the array of past and present talent assembled with her in the exclusive, 74-seat enclosure, was given an enthusiastic welcome by the Centre Court spectators who traditionally take their places before play starts for this stage-managed episode of star-gazing.
Sue Barker, herself a grand slam champion, having enjoyed a lower-profile triumph at Roland Garros in 1976 than Wade experienced here in the Queen's Silver Jubilee year 12 months later, did the introductions in her presenter's role for the host broadcaster.
Other tennis luminaries such as Budge Patty, the 1950 champion, Ashley Cooper (1958), Neale Fraser (1960) Jan Kodes (1973) and Ilie Nastase (twice a beaten finalist) took their bows before there was a special cheer for the game's greatest women's player, Martina Navratilova, nine times the champion here. The Czech-born American, who holds the record for men and women of 167 career singles titles (18 of them in grand slams) recently celebrated her most important victory of all when she was diagnosed to have won her battle against breast cancer.
Just as big a reception came the way of Sir Bobby Charlton, the Manchester United football legend who had faced a difficult clash of interests on this busiest of sporting weekends.
Charlton, instrumental in England's only World Cup success, back in 1966, opted to watch Serena Williams, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray in their respective Centre Court encounters rather than travel to South Africa to see Steven Gerrard, John Terry and Wayne Rooney taking on old enemy Germany in Bloemfontein this afternoon.
Glenn Hoddle, who followed Charlton into the England team in 1979 and then became one of the forerunners to Fabio Capello as manager 17 years later, also preferred to sample the best of Wimbledonrather than get behind his nation's international footballers during their day of reckoning.
There were two cricketers in the top seats ? three if you count the double Oxbridge Blue Alastair Hignell, who made his name more as a rugby player. Hignell was bracketed first with the record-breaking batsmen Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar and then with his fellow England internationals Martin Bayfield, Jason Leonard and Lewis Moody.
Olympians were out in force: the most recent gold medallist being Amy Williams, who took skeleton gold at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver four months ago.
She was accompanied by the cycling champions Sir Chris Hoy and Victoria Pendleton, skiers Chemmy Alcott and Julia Mancuso, Tim Brabants, the 2008 canoeing champion, Mark Foster, the swimmer, and Dame Kelly Holmes, the dual athletics gold medallist at 800 and 1,500 metres.
Middle Saturday this year coincided with British Armed Forces Day and to mark the occasion Phillips asked their Chief of Staff to nominate a worthy band of 14 soldiers, sailors and airmen to attend.
Their collective introduction was left to the end and they received a moving and lengthy standing ovation from the Centre Court crowd.
All of the special guests remained seated until Serena had taken a fairly comfortable third step towards the defence of her women's title by accounting for the Slovakian challenge of Dominika Cibulkova 6-0, 7-5.
What treats lay in store during the first short break before the appearance of Nadal and Germany's Philipp Petzschner is something that only the lucky souls who have received those precious invitations can tell.
@Email:wjohnson@thenational.ae
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
PROFILE OF SWVL
Started: April 2017
Founders: Mostafa Kandil, Ahmed Sabbah and Mahmoud Nouh
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport
Size: 450 employees
Investment: approximately $80 million
Investors include: Dubai’s Beco Capital, US’s Endeavor Catalyst, China’s MSA, Egypt’s Sawari Ventures, Sweden’s Vostok New Ventures, Property Finder CEO Michael Lahyani
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
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
Company%20profile
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BMW%20M4%20Competition
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Greatest Royal Rumble match listing
50-man Royal Rumble - names entered so far include Braun Strowman, Daniel Bryan, Kurt Angle, Big Show, Kane, Chris Jericho, The New Day and Elias
Universal Championship Brock Lesnar (champion) v Roman Reigns in a steel cage match
WWE World Heavyweight ChampionshipAJ Styles (champion) v Shinsuke Nakamura
Intercontinental Championship Seth Rollins (champion) v The Miz v Finn Balor v Samoa Joe
United States Championship Jeff Hardy (champion) v Jinder Mahal
SmackDown Tag Team Championship The Bludgeon Brothers (champions) v The Usos
Raw Tag Team Championship (currently vacant) Cesaro and Sheamus v Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt
Casket match The Undertaker v Rusev
Singles match John Cena v Triple H
Cruiserweight Championship Cedric Alexander v Kalisto
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
Learn more about Qasr Al Hosn
In 2013, The National's History Project went beyond the walls to see what life was like living in Abu Dhabi's fabled fort:
UAE tour of the Netherlands
UAE squad: Rohan Mustafa (captain), Shaiman Anwar, Ghulam Shabber, Mohammed Qasim, Rameez Shahzad, Mohammed Usman, Adnan Mufti, Chirag Suri, Ahmed Raza, Imran Haider, Mohammed Naveed, Amjad Javed, Zahoor Khan, Qadeer Ahmed
Fixtures: Monday, first 50-over match; Wednesday, second 50-over match; Thursday, third 50-over match
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.
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
ASHES FIXTURES
1st Test: Brisbane, Nov 23-27
2nd Test: Adelaide, Dec 2-6
3rd Test: Perth, Dec 14-18
4th Test: Melbourne, Dec 26-30
5th Test: Sydney, Jan 4-8
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cylturbo
Transmission: seven-speed DSG automatic
Power: 242bhp
Torque: 370Nm
Price: Dh136,814
DUNE%3A%20PART%20TWO
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Chef Nobu's advice for eating sushi
“One mistake people always make is adding extra wasabi. There is no need for this, because it should already be there between the rice and the fish.
“When eating nigiri, you must dip the fish – not the rice – in soy sauce, otherwise the rice will collapse. Also, don’t use too much soy sauce or it will make you thirsty. For sushi rolls, dip a little of the rice-covered roll lightly in soy sauce and eat in one bite.
“Chopsticks are acceptable, but really, I recommend using your fingers for sushi. Do use chopsticks for sashimi, though.
“The ginger should be eaten separately as a palette cleanser and used to clear the mouth when switching between different pieces of fish.”
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
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
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
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
THREE
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Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
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