Saudi Arabia continues its advance in the sports business, within the framework of Vision 2030, a strategic plan to expand the global influence of its nation and diversify its economy, freeing it from its “addiction to oil.” And this week he took another step to become the new actor in the world of tennis. Because he announced that in October of this year he will hold an exhibition with two racket legends and four other huge stars of the men’s circuit.
He “6 Kings Slam” (Slam of 6 Kings, in Spanish), will call no less than Novak Djokovic y Rafael Nadal, two of the best players of all time and winners, winners between them of 46 Grand Slam titles. The Serbian, owner of 24 “big ones” and number one in the world, and the Spaniard, who has 22 trophies in the most important category in his cabinets (14 of them from Roland Garros), will be the main attractions of the event, which will also have Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev, Jannik Sinner y Holger Runethe only one in that group who has not yet won a Major.
Carlitossecond in the ranking, was crowned in the US Open 2022 and is the current champion of Wimbledon. The Russian, third and who already played an exhibition on Saudi soil in 2019, celebrated in New York in 2021. The Italian, fourth, won his first crown in that category just a few weeks ago in Australia, by beating Medvedev in the final. Meanwhile, the Dane, seventh, has the best performance at that level of tournaments in the quarterfinals he played twice in Paris (2022 and 2023) and in London last season, but he is one of the great figures of the Next Gen led by the Murcian.
How did that country manage to convince those top tennis players to interrupt their busy seasons and take a few days to play an event that does not award ranking points? With the petrodollars from the sale of that hydrocarbon abroad, which represents 85 percent of export income and 40 percent of the country’s GDP. How juicy is the prize pool that Nadal, Djokovic and company will compete for? Although no official numbers were released, according to the British newspaper The Telegraph there is talk of fees just over 1.5 million dollars for each participant and a reward of more than six million for the champion.
“Get ready for the definitive fight of the titans. This October 2024, the Riyadh Season will host the 6 Kings Slam, a spectacular tournament where six titans of world tennis will face each other,” he stated on his Twitter account. Turkish Al-Sheikhpresident of the Saudi General Entertainment Authority and owner of the Spanish football club Almeria.
Saudi Arabia wants to become a regular stop on the circuits ATP y WTAas part of that strategic plan that the prince devised Mohammed bin Salman when he was named heir to the throne and took control of the country in mid-2017. Last year he took a couple of important steps toward that goal.
Between the end of November and the beginning of December he received for the first time an edition of the Next Gen Finalsthe competition that brings together the eight best under 21s of the season and which was held in the King Abdullah Sports City from Jeddah.
In the last days of the year, he held a massive exhibition with Djokovic, Alcaraz, the Tunisian Our Jabeur and the Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka as protagonists, within the framework of the Riyadh Seasonan annual state-funded sports and entertainment festival that has been held since 2019, but for the first time it included this sport.
In the first weeks of January it was also announced that Nadal had become the new ambassador of the Tennis Federation of that country, where the Spaniard plans to install a new headquarters for his academy.
This new and attractive contest – which will bring “first-class entertainment to Saudi residents and tourists from around the world” – does not yet have a confirmed date.
Although it is known that it will be played weeks after the US Open (August 26 to September 8) and Making Cup (September 20 to 22), the exhibition tournament organized by Roger Federer and that usually also brings together big names on the tour. Most likely, the week of October 14, in which three ATP 250s are held, Almaty, Stockholm and Antwerp. This would avoid conflicts with the ATP regulations, which prohibit the top 30 from participating in exhibitions in the same weeks as Masters 1000 or 500 category tournaments.
“I am excited to return to Riyadh and compete in front of my Saudi fans,” Djokovic declared, according to the official statement released by Al-Sheikh on his social networks. Nadal, meanwhile, commented: “After other players did it, I really want to play for the first time in Riyadh.”
While he continues to add exhibitions with great racket stars, seducing them with important prize pools, Arabia continues working to officially enter the professional circuits, his ultimate goal.
At the ATP level, it wants to host an important tournament and, skipping the 250 and 500, it aims for a Masters 1000. There are versions that claim that he has already begun negotiating to take over the license for the Madrid or Miami event, which would mean a huge blow to the calendar.
In addition, the Saudi “empire” would also be very close to signing an agreement with the WTA to receive the WTA Finalsthe season-ending tournament of the women’s tour, which still has no confirmed venue for 2024. A possibility that many important names in tennis – such as Martina Navratilova y Chris Evert– they do not see favorably, especially due to the culture of gender inequality installed in that country and the rejection of homosexuality.
Beyond the criticisms – which are not few -, Arabia continues to conquer more and more ground in the world of racquets, as it has also been doing for some time in football, golf, motorsports and many other sports, with the petrodollars as a guarantee.
Between 2022 and 2023, it allocated 10 percent of its GDP to sports projects, just over 4 billion euros. And it has another 6.6 billion to invest by 2030, in order to increasingly consolidate itself as a power in the global sports business.
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