Huge prize money and clever evasion of ATP rules: Saudi trick during mega show event

class=”sc-cffd1e67-0 iQNQmc”>

A tournament name couldn’t be much more powerful. And in terms of attractiveness, the field of participants cannot currently be surpassed. Saudi Arabia has announced the ‘Six Kings Slam’, an exhibition in Riyadh involving Novak Djokovic (36), Rafael Nadal (37), Carlos Alcaraz (20), Jannik Sinner (22), Daniil Medvedev (27) and Holger Rune ( 20) will fight for victory. The tournament will take place in October and will earn the winner more than six million francs in the coffers. More than twice as much as Alcaraz received last year after his victory at Wimbledon.

Since last November and the organization of the NextGen Finals in Jeddah – the first official tennis tournament in the extremely rich desert state – Saudi Arabia has had one foot in the door. Given the investments in other sports, it would no longer surprise anyone if they were soon opened to the public. Criticism of the human rights situation in the country or not.

Nevertheless, the start of the Saudi tennis offensive has been relatively slow so far. Last year there was long speculation about the awarding of the WTA Finals before the tournament was awarded to Mexico. Recently, legends Martina Navratilova (67) and Chris Evert (69) once again spoke out against Saudi Arabia – even though this ultimately does not alter the fact that the WTA finals will actually be held in the desert from this year onwards.

Directly for Basel – to avoid a player fine

In men’s tennis, the “Six Kings Slam” represents the next level of convergence after smaller show events. The announcement of the tournament comes just a few weeks after news that Nadal would serve as ambassador for the Saudi Tennis Association in the future.

According to a report in the Telegraaf, Nadal is also the reason that the exhibition will not take place until October. The event was originally scheduled for January before Nadal’s injury forced organizers to reschedule at extremely short notice.

The English daily also shows how difficult the Saudis are in their rise to the tennis scene. The event is expected to take place between October 14 and 20, just before the Swiss Indoors. This is because the players can avoid a penalty from the ATP. The rules of the Association of Tennis Professionals state that top 30 players are not allowed to participate in a so-called ‘special event’ if an ATP tournament in the 1000 or 500 category is taking place at the same time. October is already very full with Shanghai (1000), Basel and Vienna (500 each) and Paris-Bercy (1000) – only the week in question from the 14th contains only 250 tournaments, which are not protected by the rule. proven.

Money rules

But the organizers of the “Six Kings Slam” have to be much more creative in another area. ATP guidelines state that players are not allowed to participate in unofficial events taking place on “three or more consecutive days” during the current season. Anyone who violates this will lose their ‘Plantinum’ status. In other words: access to the bonus pool, which pays out a nice amount at the end of the year. In 2023, the profit sharing for the players amounted to a record amount of 29.33 million francs.

To ensure that the professionals do not have to break this rule, an additional rest day must be taken in Riyadh after two days. The players will of course welcome this. So why not stop in Saudi Arabia on the way home from Shanghai to Europe, when participation alone is worth R1.3 million?

None of this comes as a surprise: Djokovic and Alcaraz have long shown at previous show events, as has Nadal through his ambassadorial role, that they are not only for sale, but can also ignore criticism of human rights quite well.

Source : Blick