Some tennis fans are questioning why the top players, who often complain about the sport’s packed schedule, decide to participate in exhibitions like the Six Kings Slam, which kicks off this Wednesday in Saudi Arabia. For Taylor Fritz, the answer is clear and worth several million dollars.
Fritz is one of the six tennis players who will participate in the second edition of the Six Kings Slam. Among them is Jannik Sinner, who returns after taking the top prize in the previous edition held in Saudi Arabia. This event is part of the kingdom’s growing investment in tennis, which includes the WTA Finals in Riyadh and the ATP Next Gen Finals in Jeddah. The tournament offers a considerably attractive prize pool. For the Six Kings Slam, each player is guaranteed an appearance fee of $1.5 million, and the winner takes home a bonus that raises their total to four times that amount. The matches will be streamed live on Netflix.I would love for them to show me a tournament where you can play three matches, or two for the top two seeds, and potentially win $6 million. I would love to hear it.
Taylor Fritz
Sinner, who withdrew from his last match due to cramps, assured that he is in perfect physical condition to compete. “I recovered. We took a few days off and now we are ready for the rest of the season,” said Sinner, who has not yet decided whether to participate in the Davis Cup next month. In the first match, Sinner will face Stefanos Tsitsipas, while Fritz will play against Alexander Zverev. The winner of the match between Fritz and Zverev will play against Carlos Alcaraz on Thursday, and the winner of the match between Sinner and Tsitsipas will face Novak Djokovic. The semifinals will be played on Saturday. Djokovic holds the record of 24 Grand Slam titles, Alcaraz has six, and Sinner has four. All have been number one in the world. Fritz was runner-up to Sinner at the 2024 US Open. Zverev has been a Grand Slam finalist on three occasions, including defeats to Sinner at this year’s Australian Open and to Alcaraz at last year’s Roland Garros. Tsitsipas was twice runner-up to Djokovic in Grand Slam tournaments.Money is not something we try to hide. We know how much is at stake here, and it would be a lie if I said it’s not a motivation. Every player here will try to win as many matches as possible. It’s like any other exhibition, except there’s a little more motivation here.
Jannik Sinner
