‘I rather not travel’: Defending champion Rafael Nadal pulls out of US Open

Matches will be played behind closed doors and New York governor Andrew Cuomo had assured that robust testing will be conducted so that the tournament goes ahead smoothly.

Defending champion Rafael Nadal has announced that he won’t be playing the US Open, citing concerns over the coronavirus.
The world number two men’s tennis star also criticised the revised calendar for tennis and labelled it as “barbaric”.

“After many thoughts I have decided not to play this year’s US Open. The situation is very complicated worldwide, the COVID-19 cases are increasing, it looks like we still don’t have control of it,” Nadal said in a tweet.

“We know that the reduced tennis calendar is barbaric this year after 4 months stopped with no play, I understand and thank for the efforts they are putting in to make it happen. We have just seen the announcement of Madrid not being played this year,” he added in another tweet.

The US Open in New York will be followed by the French Open a fortnight later, and maybe this is the reason, Nadal went on to criticise the revised tennis calendar.

“This is a decision I never wanted to take but I have decided to follow my heart this time and for the time being I rather not travel,” Nadal added.

Roger Federer will also not be a part of this year’s Grand Slams as he continues to recover from an injury.

As a result, this US Open will be the first since 1999, that neither player has featured in the main draw of a Grand Slam event.

Earlier, it was announced that US Open will be played from August 31-September 13 this year.

Connaught Place 9th most expensive office location; Hong Kong tops chart

In its annual Global Prime Office Occupancy Costs survey, CBRE tracks the cost of leasing prime office space globally.

New Delhi‘s Connaught Place (CP) is the ninth most expensive office location in the world with an annual rent of nearly $144 per sq ft, according to property consultant CBRE.

CP, located in the heart of the national capital, was at the ninth position even last year.

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In its annual Global Prime Office Occupancy Costs survey, CBRE tracks the cost of leasing prime office space globally.

For the second year, Hong Kong’s Central district retained the top spot as the world’s most expensive market for prime office rents, with the prime occupancy costs valued at $322 per sq.ft.

“New Delhi’s Connaught Place – central business district (CBD) retains its ninth position in the list as last year and the office occupancy cost is valued at $143.97 per sq ft,” the report said.

Mumbai’s Bandra Kurla Complex and Nariman Point CBD slipped to 27th and 40th positions, respectively.

Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) was ranked 26th and Nariman Point at 37th in 2018 ranking.

The current annual prime rent of BKC is valued at $90.67 per sq. ft and the Nariman Point CBD is valued at $68.38 per sq ft.

Indian markets continued to have greater investment grade space in the CBDs of the different cities as prominent domestic and global corporates continued to favour investment grade space for setting up front their front offices in these cities,” said Anshuman Magazine, Chairman and CEO, India, South East Asia, Middle East and Africa, CBRE.

The commercial office market remains a strong growth propeller for the real estate sector, he added.

“Delhi, being a prime market, continues to witness sustained activity and retains its position amongst the top 10 most expensive markets in the world,” Magazine said.

CBRE highlighted that six of the world’s 10 most expensive office markets are found in Asia.

Google to invest $1 bn to build new offices in New York; hire 7,000 workers

The announcement comes weeks after both Amazon and Apple made known their individual expansion projects in the Big Apple.

Google revealed that it would invest $1 billion in the construction of new offices in New York, an announcement that comes weeks after both Amazon and Apple made known their individual expansion projects in the Big Apple.

In a posting on the company’s blog, Google Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat said the name of the new campus, which will occupy 158,000 sq metres (1.7 million sq feet), will be Google Hudson Square and will be located between Soho and Greenwich Village neighbourhoods of Manhattan, EFE news reported on Tuesday.

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Google’s director of public policy and government relations, William Floyd, noted that his company’s talk about increasing its payroll in New York over the next 10 years by another 7,000 employees is a “conservative estimate.”

“New York City continues to be a great source of diverse, world-class talent – that’s what brought Google to the city in 2000 and that’s what keeps us here,” Porat said.

Google, with headquarters in Mountain View, California, joins two other tech giants from the West Coast, Amazon and Apple, which recently announced plans to further expand their presence in New York.

Business Standard