Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz are among six players who will be battling it out for a huge payday at the Six Kings Slam. The new Saudi Arabia exhibition tournament will take place in October, with Grand Slam champions Jannik Sinner and Daniil Medvedev also competing, as well as world No. 7 Holger Rune. With the prize money and appearance fees combined, the winner of the tournament will walk away with more than double the amount of the winner’s cheque at Wimbledon.
Djokovic and Nadal will headline an exclusive six-player tournament during Riyadh Season later this year. It’s unusual for such a high-profile unofficial event to take place in the middle of the tennis calendar. But the players will be well compensated for choosing to forgo an ATP competition in favour of the Saudi exhibition.
According to The Telegraph, all six men will be guaranteed £1.2 million ($1.5 million) as an appearance fee for simply coming to play. And the winner will receive a staggering £4.8m ($6m) prize money pot. It means that the eventual champion could walk away with a combined £6m, almost three times what last year’s Wimbledon champion received.
Alcaraz – who will be playing in the Six Kings Slam – pocketed £2.35m when he defeated Djokovic in the final at the All England Club in 2023 to lift his second career Grand Slam title. At the most recent Major tournament, Sinner took home £1.6m (AUD$3.15m) when he won his first Slam at the Australian Open.
The money on offer at the Six Kings Slam is so significant that it almost equates to Rune’s entire career prize earnings. The only member of the six-player field without a Grand Slam title to his name, the 20-year-old has so far pocketed £6.5m ($8.2m) across the singles and doubles courts at tour-level events.
If he goes on to win in Riyadh, that one week alone would almost match Rune’s three-year career prize money as a pro, which has seen him win four titles including the Paris Masters. However, the Dane would likely have to miss a European indoor hard court event to compete at the exhibition, and he has a strong record at some of the October tournaments.
The Six Kings Slam has not yet been given an official date but the ATP Tour calendar is packed in the same month, bookended by two Masters 1000 events in Shanghai and Paris. In between those two tournaments, there are also two ATP 500s and three ATP 250s taking place in October.
It seems most likely that the disruptive Saudi Arabia tournament will take place on the week of October 14, as there are only the smaller 250-point events happening at the same time. 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 the cultural and entertainment festival Riyadh Season.
