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

alofoke
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Some tennis fanatics are wondering why the top players, who often complain about the sport’s packed schedule, decide to participate in exhibitions like the Six Kings Slam, which begins on Wednesday in Saudi Arabia. Taylor Fritz is clear about the reasons, and they come down to one figure: $6 million.

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.

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 last year in Saudi Arabia, a sum greater than that offered by official tournaments to their champions. The US Open, for example, recently awarded 5 million dollars to the individual winners, setting a record in the Grand Slam. 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 tours’ rankings. For the Six Kings Slam, each player is guaranteed an appearance fee of $1.5 million; the winner takes a bonus that raises their total to four times that amount, with the matches broadcast live on Netflix.

Money is not something we are trying to hide. We know how much is at stake here, and it would be a lie to say that it is not a motivation. Every player here will try to win as many matches as possible. It’s like any other exhibition, only here there is a little more motivation.

Jannik Sinner
Sinner, who won the Australian Open and Wimbledon this year, and was runner-up at the French Open and the US Open, retired 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%. Sinner will face Stefanos Tsitsipas on the first day, while Fritz will play against Alexander Zverev. The winner of the Fritz-Zverev match will face Carlos Alcaraz on Thursday, and the winner of the Sinner-Tsitsipas match will face Novak Djokovic. After a day of rest on Friday, the winners of the semifinals will play each other on Saturday to close the tournament. Djokovic holds the men’s record of 24 Grand Slam titles, Alcaraz has six and Sinner has four; each has also been number 1 in the world. Fritz was runner-up to Sinner at the 2024 US Open. 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 to Djokovic in Grand Slam tournaments.
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