Sumit Nagal gets direct entry into singles main draw of US Open
New York: Young Indian tennis player Sumit Nagal has received a direct entry into the US Open singles main draw after several top players pulled out of the Grand Slam starting August 31.
The world no.127 was the last man to receive direct entry into the field of 128, which was determined using the latest ATP rankings, according to the tournament website.
Nagal is the only Indian in the men's field with Prajnesh Gunneswaran, ranked 132, missing out.
Last year, Nagal reached his maiden Grand Slam here, after winning all his qualifying round matches to set up a dream encounter with the legendary Roger Federer.
In the much-anticipated clash, the 22-year old from Jhajjar took a set off Federer before going down 6-4 1-6 2-6 4-6.
Three-time US Open champion and world no 1 Novak Djokovic headlines the field with the likes of Federer and Rafael Nadal giving the tournament a miss.
While Federer has withdrawn from all competitions this year owing to a knee injury, defending champion Nadal pulled out due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Former champion Stan Wawrinka, Nick Kyrgios, Fabio Fognini and Gael Monfils are the other top players missing from the men's field.
Professional tennis tours have been on a hiatus since March because of the coronavirus outbreak, with play resuming for women at Palermo Ladies Open this week in Italy.
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Los Angeles county wildfires could be costliest in US history, early estimates say
Los Angeles, Jan 11: The wildfires that erupted this week across Los Angeles County are still raging, but already are projected to be among the costliest natural disasters in US history.
The devastating blazes have killed at least 11 people and incinerated more than 12,000 structures since Tuesday, laying waste to entire neighbourhoods once home to multimillion-dollar properties.
While it's still too early for an accurate tally of the financial toll, the losses so far likely make the wildfires the costliest ever in the US, according to various estimates.
A preliminary estimate by AccuWeather put the damage and economic losses so far between USD 135 billion and USD 150 billion. By comparison, AccuWeather estimated the damage and economic losses caused by Hurricane Helene, which tore across six southeastern states last fall, at USD 225 billion to USD 250 billion.
“This will be the costliest wildfire in California modern history and also very likely the costliest wildfire in US modern history, because of the fires occurring in the densely populated areas around Los Angeles with some of the highest-valued real estate in the country,” said Jonathan Porter, the private firm's chief meteorologist.
AccuWeather factors in a multitude of variables in its estimates, including damage to homes, businesses, infrastructure and vehicles, as well as immediate and long-term health care costs, lost wages and supply chain interruptions.
The insurance broker Aon PLC also said Friday that the LA County wildfires will likely end up being the costliest in US history, although it did not issue an estimate. Aon ranks a wildfire known as the Camp Fire in Paradise, California, in 2018 as the costliest in US history up to now at USD 12.5 billion, adjusted for inflation. The Camp Fire killed 85 people and destroyed about 11,000 homes.
The LA County wildfires, which were fuelled by hurricane-force Santa Ana winds and an extreme drought, remained largely uncontained Saturday. That means the final tally of losses from the blazes is likely to increase, perhaps substantially.
“To put this into perspective, the total damage and economic loss from this wildfire disaster could reach nearly 4 per cent of the annual GDP of the state of California,” AccuWeather's Porter said.
In a report Friday, Moody's also concluded that the wildfires would prove to be the costliest in US history, specifically because they have ripped through densely populated areas with higher-end properties.
While the state is no stranger to major wildfires, they have generally been concentrated in inland areas that are not densely populated. That's led to less destruction per acre, and in damage to less expensive homes, Moody's noted.
That's far from the case this time, with one of the largest conflagrations destroying thousands of properties across the Pacific Palisades and Malibu, home to many Hollywood stars and executives with multimillion-dollar properties. Already, numerous celebrities have lost homes to the fires.
“The scale and intensity of the blazes, combined with their geographic footprint, suggest a staggering price tag, both in terms of the human cost and the economic toll,” Moody's analysts wrote. The report did not include a preliminary cost estimate of the wildfire damage.
It could be several months before a concrete tally of the financial losses from the wildfires will be possible.
“We're in the very early stages of this disaster,” Porter said.
