Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal Among Stars Competing For $6 ...
PARIS, FRANCE - JULY 29: Novak Djokovic of Team Serbia (L) and Rafael Nadal of Team Spain pose for a ... [+] photo ahead of the Men's Singles second round match on day three of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at Roland Garros on July 29, 2024 in Paris, France. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
Getty ImagesNovak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, who own 46 Grand Slam singles titles between them, will be among the tennis stars competing for the largest purse in sports history at the upcoming “6 Kings Slam” in Saudi Arabia.
Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, Daniil Medvedev and Holger Rune will also play at the event, which is giving $6 million to the winner — about double the prize money of the Grand Slams — and a guarantee of $1.5 million to all six players for appearing.
The event runs Oct. 16-19 at the Riyadh International Convention and Exhibition Center.
“Six Kings Slam is happening next week, so I'm playing that, then I'll see where I play next,” Djokovic said last week after losing to Sinner in the final of the Rolex Shanghai Masters.
Nadal, who signed up as an ambassador for the Saudi Arabian Tennis Federation, also said he was looking forward to the event. It will be among the last in his career as he is set to retire at the Davis Cup finals next month.
"After some other tennis players have done so, I am very excited to play for the first time in Riyadh," the 22-time major champion said.
All matches will be aired on T2—go to tennis.com/T2 to see where you can stream it—as well as TennisChannel.com and the Tennis Channel.
Here is the schedule via SportStar:
October 16: Quarterfinal - Daniil Medvedev vs Jannik Sinner - 10PM IST
October 16: Quarterfinal - Carlos Alcaraz vs Holger Rune - Not before 11:30PM IST
October 17: Semifinal - Novak Djokovic vs. Daniil Medvedev/Jannik Sinner - 10PM IST
October 17: Semifinal - Rafael Nadal vs Carlos Alcaraz/Holger Rune - Not before 11:30PM IST
October 19: Third-place match - 10PM IST
October 19: Final - Not before 11:30PM IST
The move marks the latest stride into tennis for Saudi Arabia, which is hosting the men's tour's Next Gen ATP Finals for top 21-and-under players in Jeddah through 2027.
The women's tour has been in talks to place its season-ending WTA Finals in Saudi Arabia, with tennis greats Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova objecting to the move because of the country’s history of human rights violations and treatment of women.
Saudi Arabia has also made inroads in football, boxing and golf, and former world No. 1 John McEnroe has called it a slippery slope for tennis.
“Personally, I disagree with it completely, with the golf and the tennis,” he said on a recent ESPN conference call. “The ladies are going to play the WTA Finals there? Are you kidding me? Because they treat women so well? That part is to me laughable.
“At the same time, which is also laughable, is the people that can criticize tennis players or golfers for doing something that virtually every business and the government do, which is deal with Saudi Arabia.”
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