Rafael Nadal faces a tough task in the first round of the Australian Open after the 2009 champion was drawn against Russian Mikhail Youzhny.
Nadal, still recovering from appendix surgery he underwent in November, has spent little time on court in the early stages of the season.
Following his participation at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi - where he lost 6-2 6-0 to Andy Murray before defeating Stanislas Wawrinka 7-6 6-3 - the Spaniard was knocked out of the first round in Doha to Michael Berrer.
Nadal admitted that Youzhny, who is currently ranked No 47 in the world but is a former top-ten player, poses a major threat to his hopes in Melbourne.
“Youzhny is a tough rival who knows how to play good in important matches,” said Nadal, who has been drawn in the same half of the draw as world No 2 Roger Federer.
“It’s normal that every match is dangerous when you are in good shape. Imagine when you are not playing matches in a row, when you have only played four matches for the last 6-7 months. Every match is really dangerous, anything can happen.”
Elsewhere in the men’s draw, Djokovic drew a qualifier in the first round and Federer, who recently won his 1,000th career match when he beat Milos Raonic in the Brisbane International final, will play Lu Yen-hsun of Taiwan.
Djokovic and Raonic, who also will open against a qualifier, are in the same quarter of the draw.
Federer could meet sixth-seeded Andy Murray of Britain, who plays a qualifier in the first round, in the quarterfinals. The 17-time Grand Slam winner also has “Baby Fed,” No. 10-seeded Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria, in his quarter.
Nadal, still recovering from appendix surgery he underwent in November, has a tough first-round match against former top 10-player Mikhail Youzhny of Russia.
Defending champion Stanislas Wawrinka will begin his title defense against Marsel Ilhan of Turkey.
“Starting the year with a Grand Slam and finishing with the Davis Cup, it was an incredible 2014,” Wawrinka said as he and Li Na, the 2014 Australian Open women’s champion who retired in September, delivered the trophies to the draw location outside the newly refurbished Margaret Court Arena.
Wawrinka and Federer were part of the Swiss team that beat France in the Davis Cup final in November, the country’s first win in the competition.
U.S. Open finalist Kei Nishikori of Japan also will play a former top 10 player, Nicolas Almagro of Spain, in the opening round. Juan Martin del Potro, the 2009 U.S. Open champion on the comeback from a left wrist injury, will open against Jerzy Janowic, who helped Poland win the Hopman Cup last week.
Former No. 1-ranked Lleyton Hewitt, contesting his 19th consecutive Australian Open, will meet Chinese wild-card entry Zhang Ze.
Women’s draw
Top-seeded Serena Williams will play Alison Van Uytvanck of Belgium in the first round of the Australian Open as she begins her attempt to win a 19th Grand Slam singles title.
Williams could meet former No. 1-ranked Caroline Wozniacki in the quarterfinals and Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova in the semifinals following Friday’s draw. The season-opening major begins Monday at Melbourne Park.
In the other half, second-seeded Maria Sharapova, who plays a qualifier in the first round, could meet Eugenie Bouchard in the quarterfinals and Ana Ivanovic, whom she beat in the Brisbane International final last weekend, in the semis.
Two-time champion Victoria Azarenka, unseeded after an injury-hit 2014, will take on American Sloane Stephens in the first round in a rematch of their acrimonious semifinal two years ago when Azarenka left the court for a medical time out and Stephens questioned her reasons for doing so.
Stephens had beaten Williams in the quarterfinals the same year.
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SPECS
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Kill%20
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Tributes from the UAE's personal finance community
• Sebastien Aguilar, who heads SimplyFI.org, a non-profit community where people learn to invest Bogleheads’ style
“It is thanks to Jack Bogle’s work that this community exists and thanks to his work that many investors now get the full benefits of long term, buy and hold stock market investing.
Compared to the industry, investing using the common sense approach of a Boglehead saves a lot in costs and guarantees higher returns than the average actively managed fund over the long term.
From a personal perspective, learning how to invest using Bogle’s approach was a turning point in my life. I quickly realised there was no point chasing returns and paying expensive advisers or platforms. Once money is taken care off, you can work on what truly matters, such as family, relationships or other projects. I owe Jack Bogle for that.”
• Sam Instone, director of financial advisory firm AES International
"Thought to have saved investors over a trillion dollars, Jack Bogle’s ideas truly changed the way the world invests. Shaped by his own personal experiences, his philosophy and basic rules for investors challenged the status quo of a self-interested global industry and eventually prevailed. Loathed by many big companies and commission-driven salespeople, he has transformed the way well-informed investors and professional advisers make decisions."
• Demos Kyprianou, a board member of SimplyFI.org
"Jack Bogle for me was a rebel, a revolutionary who changed the industry and gave the little guy like me, a chance. He was also a mentor who inspired me to take the leap and take control of my own finances."
• Steve Cronin, founder of DeadSimpleSaving.com
"Obsessed with reducing fees, Jack Bogle structured Vanguard to be owned by its clients – that way the priority would be fee minimisation for clients rather than profit maximisation for the company.
His real gift to us has been the ability to invest in the stock market (buy and hold for the long term) rather than be forced to speculate (try to make profits in the shorter term) or even worse have others speculate on our behalf.
Bogle has given countless investors the ability to get on with their life while growing their wealth in the background as fast as possible. The Financial Independence movement would barely exist without this."
• Zach Holz, who blogs about financial independence at The Happiest Teacher
"Jack Bogle was one of the greatest forces for wealth democratisation the world has ever seen. He allowed people a way to be free from the parasitical "financial advisers" whose only real concern are the fat fees they get from selling you over-complicated "products" that have caused millions of people all around the world real harm.”
• Tuan Phan, a board member of SimplyFI.org
"In an industry that’s synonymous with greed, Jack Bogle was a lone wolf, swimming against the tide. When others were incentivised to enrich themselves, he stood by the ‘fiduciary’ standard – something that is badly needed in the financial industry of the UAE."
THE SPECS
Engine: 4.4-litre V8
Transmission: Automatic
Power: 530bhp
Torque: 750Nm
Price: Dh535,000
On sale: Now
What is a black hole?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
How Apple's credit card works
The Apple Card looks different from a traditional credit card — there's no number on the front and the users' name is etched in metal. The card expands the company's digital Apple Pay services, marrying the physical card to a virtual one and integrating both with the iPhone. Its attributes include quick sign-up, elimination of most fees, strong security protections and cash back.
What does it cost?
Apple says there are no fees associated with the card. That means no late fee, no annual fee, no international fee and no over-the-limit fees. It also said it aims to have among the lowest interest rates in the industry. Users must have an iPhone to use the card, which comes at a cost. But they will earn cash back on their purchases — 3 per cent on Apple purchases, 2 per cent on those with the virtual card and 1 per cent with the physical card. Apple says it is the only card to provide those rewards in real time, so that cash earned can be used immediately.
What will the interest rate be?
The card doesn't come out until summer but Apple has said that as of March, the variable annual percentage rate on the card could be anywhere from 13.24 per cent to 24.24 per cent based on creditworthiness. That's in line with the rest of the market, according to analysts
What about security?
The physical card has no numbers so purchases are made with the embedded chip and the digital version lives in your Apple Wallet on your phone, where it's protected by fingerprints or facial recognition. That means that even if someone steals your phone, they won't be able to use the card to buy things.
Is it easy to use?
Apple says users will be able to sign up for the card in the Wallet app on their iPhone and begin using it almost immediately. It also tracks spending on the phone in a more user-friendly format, eliminating some of the gibberish that fills a traditional credit card statement. Plus it includes some budgeting tools, such as tracking spending and providing estimates of how much interest could be charged on a purchase to help people make an informed decision.
* Associated Press
if you go
The flights
Emirates offer flights to Buenos Aires from Dubai, via Rio De Janeiro from around Dh6,300. emirates.com
Seeing the games
Tangol sell experiences across South America and generally have good access to tickets for most of the big teams in Buenos Aires: Boca Juniors, River Plate, and Independiente. Prices from Dh550 and include pick up and drop off from your hotel in the city. tangol.com
Staying there
Tangol will pick up tourists from any hotel in Buenos Aires, but after the intensity of the game, the Faena makes for tranquil, upmarket accommodation. Doubles from Dh1,110. faena.com
A general guide to how active you are:
Less than 5,000 steps - sedentary
5,000 - 9,999 steps - lightly active
10,000 - 12,500 steps - active
12,500 - highly active
The specs
Engine: 2.7-litre 4-cylinder Turbomax
Power: 310hp
Torque: 583Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh192,500
On sale: Now
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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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
