The Six Kings Slam is set to be one of the most lucrative tennis events of 2024 and the starting gun has been fired on the Six Kings Slam with a stunning promotional video featuring the star names taking part.
Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal head a high-profile field for a new tennis event in Saudi Arabia, with Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz, US Open champion Jannik Sinner and former world No 1 Daniil Medvedev as well as young Danish star Holger Rune all on the cast list.
The prize money on offer is truly staggering, with reports suggesting each player taking part will be paid £1.2million appearance fee, with the tournament winner set to pocket a stunning £4.8million.
If those figures are accurate, this will be the most lucrative tournament of the year by some distance, with Alacraz taking home £2.35million from his Wimbledon win last summer.
The Telegraph previously reported that the players taking part in the Six Kings Slam were in danger of breaching the rules of their agreement to play on the ATP Tour, which states they will breach agreements if they play in exhibition events that run for more than two days, but that issue has been resolved by having a one-day break mid-way through this event.
What is clear is that Saudi sporting chiefs are keen to have more influence in tennis, with the announcement of this tournament evidence that they have the game’s top players on board with their plans.
Nadal, who was named as an ambassador for the Saudi Tennis Federation earlier this year, said: “After some other tennis players have done so, I am very excited to play for the first time in Riyadh.”
The kingdom has hosted a December exhibition in recent years, while the Next Gen ATP Finals for the best players 21 and under was held in Jeddah for the first time last year.
Now the details of the Six Kings Slam have been confirmed, with Sinner set to play Medvedev in the opening match on October 16, with Rune taking on Alcaraz in the second match.
Djokovic will play the winner of the Sinner vs Medvedev match, with Nadal waiting for the winner of the Rune vs Alcaraz clash.
That opens the prospect of a Djokovic vs Nadal final, but that outcome may be unlikely as Nadal would not be favourite to win his semi-final given his lack of activity in recent months due to injury issues.
It is another indication that Saudi influence in the sport is growing, although talk of a 10th Masters event in the country for the moment remains just that.
There has also been plenty of talk of a breakaway tour being backed by Saudi money, but that doesn’t appear to be on the agenda at this moment as there appears to be a desire to work with the tennis authorities to influence the sport within the current set-up.
Yet ATP Tour and WTA Tour chiefs will look at their success in signing up six huge names to play in this event as evidence of what could happen unless they agree to allow the Saudi sporting machine to have some influence in tennis.
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