The Mubadala World Tennis Championship will now have a very Spanish feel to it, as organisers announced on Thursday the French pair of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gael Monfils had withdrawn and were being replaced by Spaniards Nicolas Almagro and Feliciano Lopez.
Tsonga, the world No 12, has an arm injury and Monfils, the world No 18, tore his hamstring earlier this week, according to the press release.
Almagro and Lopez are added to a field that already includes compatriot Rafael Nadal, as well as world No 1 Novak Djokovic, Stan Wawrinka and Andy Murray.
Almagro reached the 2012 final of the event, where he lost to Djokovic in three sets.
“The tournament will give me a great opportunity to play against the top players in the world and of course I’ll be hoping to repeat the success I had two years ago, although I know it will be tough,” said Almagro, the world No 71, said in a press release.
Lopez, the world No 14, won the fourth ATP title of his career this season, at the Nottingham Open in the run-up to Wimbledon. He also appeared at the Queen’s Club final and reached the semi-finals of the Canada Masters tournament. His best showing at a grand slam came at Wimbledon, where he rached the last 16.
Almagro was 14-9 across a 2014 season that saw him deal with injury issues, missing the Australian and US Opens as well as Wimbledon. He lost in the first round at Roland Garros to Jack Sock.
Tsonga, meanwhile, said, “unfortunately my team have advised me that I need to rest my arm ... I am very disappointed that I will not be able to compete this year in Abu Dhabi”.
Monfils also said he was “hugely saddened” not to be able to play in the tournament.
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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.
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
