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The second edition of the Six Kings Slam begins Wednesday, another sign of the growing presence of Saudi Arabia in global sports. The exhibition men’s tennis tournament was created as a part of Riyadh Season and is produced by IMG.
The tournament, which runs Oct. 15–18, features six of the top stars: Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, Taylor Fritz, Novak Djokovic, Alexander Zverev, and Stefanos Tsitsipas. Former world No. 4 Jack Draper was supposed to participate, but he withdrew in August following a season-ending injury and was replaced by Tsitsipas (world No. 24).
However, the tournament does not necessarily take into account the current ATP rankings to determine its format.
The tournament rewards automatic first-round byes to two players. Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, the top two players all year, would be the easy bye candidates, especially after facing off in three of four Grand Slam finals this year. However, only Alcaraz has an automatic semifinals slot, with the other going to world No. 5 and 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic.
In last year’s inaugural tournament, Djokovic and Rafael Nadal received byes despite neither holding a top-two ranking. However, Nadal is second to Djokovic in Grand Slam victories with 22.
Money, Money, Money
Saudi-backed sporting events in recent years have been associated with exorbitant prizes, and the Six Kings Slam is no exception. The purse for the six-player tournament is $13.5 million, with each participant guaranteed $1.5 million. That is more than the first prize for any ATP 1000 event.
Despite playing a maximum of three matches, the winner will take home an additional $4.5 million for a total prize of $6 million. That’s more than any Grand Slam, including the record-setting 2025 US Open, where Alcaraz won $5 million.
“If I say I went there just for fun or to play and forget the money, I’m gonna lie,” Alcaraz said last year. He lost last year’s final to Sinner.
Considering several players, including Alcaraz, have complained about the tennis schedule, it’s difficult to consider another reason why tennis’s biggest names would participate in an event with little historical significance.
Another Netflix Sports Splash
This year’s Six Kings Slam is also the first that will be on Netflix, the streamer announced last month. DAZN owned the international rights to last year’s event, while T2 streamed it in the U.S.
Netflix has made a significant push into live sports in recent years with NFL Christmas Gameday, but tennis was one of the streamer’s original focuses. The Netflix Slam, an exhibition match between Nadal and Alcaraz, aired in March 2024, one of the first live sporting events streamed on the platform.
It also aired two seasons of the docuseries Break Point, which was produced by the same team as the highly acclaimed Formula 1: Drive to Survive. However, Break Point was canceled after just two seasons due to reportedly poor viewership and an inability to secure access to some of the sport’s most popular players.
Netflix’s partnership with Six Kings Slam is also an indication of the growing relationship among the streamer, Riyadh Season, and TKO Group, the parent company of IMG, which also owns UFC and WWE.
WWE began airing its flagship show Raw on Netflix in January and has held several premium live events in Saudi Arabia over the past decade. It was announced last month that WrestleMania 43 will be held in Riyadh, the first WrestleMania outside North America.
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