MUBADALA TENNIS

Yalla, Ons!

Some of the biggest names in tennis are in Abu Dhabi for the 14th edition of the Mubadala World Tennis Championship, including the pride of the Arab world

It’s not uncommon to hear words of encouragements from spectators on centre courts. Cheers in different languages from ‘come on’ to ‘vamos’ or ‘allez’. But this year, it’s been ‘yalla’ ringing across stadiums from the US to UK, all thanks to Tunisian and Arab star Ons Jabeur.

Fans from the North African nation have flocked across the world, ready to support their ‘Minister of Happiness’, as they affectionately call her, and will no doubt be in full force when the World No.2 appears at the upcoming Mubadala World Tennis Championship to defend her title.

Jabeur is already a popular figure in the Arab world, thanks to her long list of achievements in tennis. But her rise to the No.2 spot and her impressive run to both the Wimbledon and US Open finals have taken things to the next level this year.

The season certainly didn’t start on a promising note for Jabeur, who was ruled out of the Australian Open with a back injury. Once fully healed, she came on strong in the spring. After making her first final of 2022 in Charleston, Jabeur went on to win the biggest title of her career at the Mutua Madrid Open. From there, Jabeur continued her ascension. Off the back of Madrid, she made the final in Rome and then tore through the grass season, winning her second title of the year in Berlin and breaking through to her first major final at Wimbledon.

Despite falling just short to Elena Rybakina, she solidified her status as a major contender and two months later, in New York, Jabeur became the first Arab or African woman to make the US Open final, narrowly losing out to the current World No.1, Iga Swiatek.

After back-to-back Slam finals, her ability to speak English, Arabic and French, and the fact that she’s as much a players’ favourite across the circuits as she is the fans, it’s not hard to see why Jabeur could become the next household name of world tennis.

But, of course, in order to do that,

she must break through and win her first Grand Slam. In the meantime, she must continue building on her successes. Her return to Mubadala World Tennis

Championship sees the World No.2 face former Grand Slam champ, and current tennis darling, Emma

Raducanu who had to withdraw from last year’s Abu Dhabi tournament after testing positive for Covid-19.

John Lickrish, CEO of event organiser Flash Entertainment said the encounter features “two of the sport’s biggest names. Ons is a crowd favourite while I know Emma is also extremely popular and tremendously excited about making her debut here in the UAE. I’m sure there will be huge interest from the tennis community both in the UAE and the wider region.”

Ons Jabeur defends her title against

Emma Raducanu on Friday

December 16 at 8pm.

Ons Jabeur

MEET THE PLAYERS

WOMEN’S LINE-UP

Ons Jabeur

TUNISIA

Current World Ranking:

World No.2 Fast fact: First Arab tennis player to reach the top 10 in either ATP or WTA rankings history

Emma Raducanu

GREAT BRITAIN

Current World Ranking:

World No.74 Fast fact: Former US Open champion had to withdraw from last year’s Abu Dhabi tournament after testing positive for Covid-19

MEN’S LINE-UP

Carlos Alcaraz

SPAIN

Current World Ranking:

World No.1 Fast fact: The 19-yearold makes his Middle East debut at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship

Andrey Rublev

RUSSIA

Current World Ranking:

World No.7 Fast fact: Defending champion at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship

Casper Ruud

NORWAY Current World Ranking: World No.4 Fast fact: Former World No.1 junior was the first Norwegian to break into Top 35

Frances Tiafoe

USA

Current World Ranking:

World No.19 Fast fact: Defeated fourtime champ Rafael Nadal at 2022 US Open semi-finals

Cameron Norrie

Great Britain

Current World Ranking:

World No.14 Fast fact: Reached his first Grand Slam semifinal at Wimbledon this year

Stefanos Tsitsipas

Greece

Current World Ranking:

World No.3 Fast fact: His last appearance at the MWTC came in 2019 where he lost to Rafael Nadal after claiming the first set

December 16 to 18 International Tennis Centre, Zayed Sports City, Abu Dhabi, Fri to Sun, Dhs95 for adults and Dhs45 for children (Fri), Dhs195 for adults and Dhs95 for children (Sat) and Dhs295 for adults and Dhs195 for children (Sun). mubadalawtc.com

Long-time healer Jane Elizabeth runs the salt healing sessions – among a myriad of other holistic treatments from reiki to laughter yoga – at Miracles. We join in on a group session and sit on one of the five high-back floor chairs arranged in a tight semi-circle facing a ring of singing bowls. Over the next 45 minutes, Jane takes us through a guided breathing meditation, her soothing tones cradling us in warmth as we breathe deeply while burying our feet in the salt. Towards the end, Jane offers a touch of personal reiki healing and singing bowls therapy to complete the calming, contemplative experience.

As we left, we felt similar to how we do after a yoga class – a sort of

You might think you have it all down when it comes to relieving everyday wellness issues. Headache? Pop a painkiller. Breathing issues? Get yourself an inhaler. Seasonal allergies? There’s medicine for that, too. But what if you could feel better just by breathing different air – no medication required?

Salt room therapy claims to do all that and more. The treatment essentially involves sitting in a room (often also referred to as a salt cave or house) filled with rock salt and inhaling salty air. While the natural healing practice has a history rooted in Europe, with some of the earliest known salt caves in Poland, a salt-filled space has opened up inside the calming surrounds of new Miracles Wellness Center in Abu Dhabi’s Al Gaith Tower.

Salt room therapy claims to offer healing benefits such as curing the common cold, decreasing allergy symptoms, reducing anxiety, detoxifying the lymphatic systems, and improving sleep. dazed peacefulness – already a win for our How? Unlike table salt, which is stripped otherwise frenzied minds. As for curing of most of its natural minerals, the the ailments as suggested, well, a few Himalayan rock salt you’d find in these more regular sessions with Jane in the salt room caves is rich in minerals room, and only time will tell. such as calcium, potassium, Miracles Wellness Center, 302 Al Ghaith magnesium, sodium, Tower, Hamdan Street, Dhs150 (group salt iodine, bromine, and room meditation). miraclesworldwide.com copper. So, in theory, you absorb these minerals when you breathe.

To see if there was merit to the claims — and hopefully, leave feeling refreshed, breathing deeper, with our energy recharged — we headed to Miracles Wellness Center, which boasts its own salt room.

It’s certainly very cosy. The ground is made up of loose Himalayan salt rocks, while the back wall is stacked with glowing Himalayan salt bricks – turned to a light shade of blue to invoke a sense a hypnotic calm.

TRIED & TESTED A room well-seasoned Can breathing – and meditating – in salt make you healthier? What’s On heads into Miracles’ new salt room to find out

DESTINATIONS | STAYCATIONS

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