The kings of tennis in Arabia: six million reasons for Sinner and Alcaraz

There was the Australian season which ended with the Melbourne final won by Sinner, followed by that of South American soil and US cement. The red clay had its two months of fire which preceded, as always, not only the British grass, but then came back into fashion for the Paris Olympics. The hot American concrete ended the summer before the Eastern tour (Sinner still grabs all), and in this which is more than a marathon we are preparing for the grand finale of the ATP Finals and Davis. You could rest, dedicate yourself to mild muscular and psychophysical recovery sessions. But no: we fly to Arabia. Because the richest tennis tournament in history is about to take place. In the promised land of the Saudi kingdom, if you can call it that a nation that even in a very rich circuit wants to leave its mark in its own way. Investing the maximum, demanding the best. And the Six Kings Slam tournament had it: in addition to Sinner, Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev, Holger Rune e Rafa Nadal. All, except Rafa, returning from the Chinese tour that just ended with Jannik’s seizure of power over Djokovic. But there is also a quite fascinating power that convinces you to leave for Riyadh: the prize money. $1.5 million appearance fee, $4.5 million to the winner. Total 6 million for whoever gets through to the final, double that of Wimbledon, more than what Sinner earned for the titles at the Australian Open and the US Open combined.

We start with Medvedev-Sinner

It was really difficult to say no: without tradition it is the budget that creates the event, and now it is clear that in Arabia you have to be there, even for those who have earned a lot. Starting with Sinner which has already exceeded the 2023 seasonal prize pool ($8,298,379). It is much more than a performance, the one scheduled from 16 to 19 October. We will start tomorrow at 6.30 pm with a classic of this season: Medvedev-Sinner. It’s okay that Jannik has always won except at Wimbledon, but now comes the richest match and it wouldn’t be appropriate to lower the pace right now (among other things, Djokovic is in the semi-final). Even Nadal (opposite the winner of Rune-Alcaraz) set his farewell in an evocative final phase of the Davis Cup, but first succumbed to the Saudi recall. Launched by the Riad Season brand which organised, among other things, the Ibf world championship in which Joshua was beaten by Dubois at Wembley, and the next WBC, WBA and WBO world championships between Usyk e Fury on December 21st in Riyadh. The entry into the world of tennis was combined with a sumptuous commercial, a bit tech and a bit baroque, which plunged the “6 Kings” into a videogame atmosphere: Sinner became an elegant Renaissance knight, Rune became transformed into captain of a Viking ship, Djokovic became leader of the wolf pack.

The back and forth between Sinner and Alcaraz

All beautiful, all disturbing, due to the rhythms that this new reality will impose on already exhausted champions. The back and forth on this topic between Sinner and Alcaraz is very fresh, with the Spaniard ready to venture “in some way they will kill us”, and the Italian to reply “we can choose which tournaments to play and which not”. In this case, they both said yes. But if the two were to face each other in Riyadh too, it will not just be petrodollars that will set the final on fire but an even more powerful fuel: rivalry.