Sinner and Fritz motivated by the $6M Six Kings Slam in Arabia

Some tennis fans are questioning why the top players, who often complain about the sport’s packed schedule, choose to participate in exhibition events like the Six Kings Slam, which begins this Wednesday in Saudi Arabia. For Taylor Fritz, the answer is clear and worth millions. Specifically, six million dollars.

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 dollars. I would love to hear it from them.

Taylor Fritz

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, a sum higher than that offered by most regular tournaments. The US Open, for example, recently awarded $5 million to the individual winners, setting a record in the Grand Slams. This event is part of Saudi Arabia’s growing investment in tennis and vice versa, including the WTA Finals in Riyadh, the ATP Next Gen Finals in Jeddah, and the Public Investment Fund’s sponsorship of the circuit rankings. 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.

Money is not something we try to hide. We know what’s at stake here, and it would be a lie if I said it’s not a motivation.

Jannik Sinner

Sinner, who won the Australian Open and Wimbledon this year, and was runner-up to Carlos Alcaraz at the French Open and the US Open, added: “All the players here will try to win as many matches as possible. It’s like any other exhibition, only here there is a little more motivation.” Sinner withdrew from his last match, a week and a half ago at the Shanghai Masters, due to severe leg cramps. However, he assured that he is fine. I recovered. We took a few days off to rest and now we are ready for the rest of the season. Mentally I am in good shape and I will give 100%. In the first match, Sinner will face Stefanos Tsitsipas, while Fritz will play against Alexander Zverev. The winner of the Fritz-Zverev match will face Alcaraz on Thursday, and the winner of the Sinner-Tsitsipas match will play against Novak Djokovic. After a day of rest on Friday, the winners of the semifinals will face each other on Saturday to close the event. Djokovic holds the record of 24 Grand Slam trophies, Alcaraz has six, and Sinner has four; all have been number one in the world. Fritz was runner-up against Sinner at the US Open 2024. Zverev is a three-time major finalist, including losses to Sinner at this year’s Australian Open and Alcaraz at last year’s French Open. Tsitsipas was twice runner-up against Djokovic in Grand Slam tournaments.