Saudi Arabia has launched another tennis tournament after signing a deal for the Next Gen Finals and staging multiple exhibition events over the last two years. The Six Kings Slam is set to take place on an undetermined date in October, featuring five Grand Slam champions and top 10 star Rune.
The country’s General Entertainment Authority announced the launch of the tournament on Monday, branding it a “major new tennis tournament” which will be part of Saudi Arabia’s cultural and entertainment festival Riyadh Season. While previous exhibition events have been staged during the off-season, the Six Kings Slam will take place in the middle of the tennis calendar.
There are already multiple tournaments in the ATP schedule in October, including two Masters 1000 events in Shanghai and Paris, and two ATP 500s in Vienna and Basel. It means that Djokovic, Nadal and co would have to skip a regular tournament to compete in the Saudi exhibition.
According to the communications manager for the Saudi Tennis Federation, the tournament was meant to take place after the Australian Open but was postponed due to Nadal’s muscle injury. Nadal was recently announced as the ambassador for the STF and he is set to open an academy in the country.
“After some other tennis players have done so, I am very excited to play for the first time in Riyadh,” the 22-time Grand Slam champion said ahead of the Six Kings Slam. Djokovic and Alcaraz contested an exhibition match in Riyadh at the end of December and will both be back in the city for the six-player event.
Addressing his participation in the new October tournament, Djokovic said: “I am excited to return to Riyadh and play in front of all my Saudi fans,” Alcaraz, who won their recent exhibition match, added: “I’m very happy to come back to Riyadh to show the best of my game.”
Saudi Arabia is looking to make moves in tennis after signing a five-year deal to stage the Next Gen Finals in Jeddah. Hamad Medjedovic won the 21-and-under tournament in December when it was played outside of Milan for the first time.
There is increasing belief that the WTA Finals will also be staged in Riyadh at the end of the season, with the potential for a multi-year deal. The tournament sees the top eight players of the year fight off in a round-robin format to make it to the semi-finals and finals. The WTA Finals has jumped between host cities for the last three years.
In 2023, it was reported that the tournament would be staged in Saudi Arabia but the women’s tour decided on Cancun with less than two months’ notice. It was believed that the WTA was trying to buy time to announce a Saudi deal following backlash over initial speculation. And they look set to announce Riyadh as the host city for 2024.
