Jannik Sinner emerged victorious over Carlos Alcaraz in the inaugural Saudi Six Kings Slam final on Saturday in Riyadh, although arguably a bigger talking point was the $6m prize cheque he took home, alongside the accompanying allegations of Saudi sportswashing.
The tournament which ran from Wednesday 16th to Saturday 19th of October involved two legends of the game in Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, two future superstars in Sinner and Alcaraz, former World Number One Daniil Medvedev and former top ten player Holger Rune.
Nadal and Djokovic, on account of their legendary status, received a bye to the second round, whilst Sinner annihilated Medvedev 6-0, 6-3. Alcaraz was similarly dominant in his 6-4, 6-2 victory over Rune.
In the semi-final, the more youthful Spaniard comfortably prevailed over his older compatriot, 6-3, 6-3, whilst Sinner narrowly defeated Djokovic in a titanic three set semi-final.
Djokovic and Nadal competed in the 3rd place playoff, which the Serb won in straight sets. Following the King of Clay’s announcement of his retirement earlier this month, it was fitting that the final singles match of his illustrious career was against his greatest rival.
In the Grand Final, although Alcaraz took the first set in a tiebreak, Sinner ultimately prevailed 6-7, 6-3, 6-3. In addition to the $6m prize he claimed, Sinner’s victory meant that he is unbeaten since early August, having reeled off tournament victories in Cincinnati, New York and Shanghai. This is especially impressive given the cloud that hangs over his future competition in ATP events, as a result of the ongoing investigation into his positive test for performance enhancing drugs.
Despite Sinner’s sublime form and ongoing doping furore, an even greater talking point is how the Saudi Six Kings Slam represented the latest blatant example of attempted Saudi sportswashing. Cynical viewers could see the eye-wateringly high prize money, and the conspicuous lack of a women’s event, as yet another example of the Saudi Arabian government spending extortionate sums of money to cleanse its image internationally, with the event consequently drawing criticism from human rights groups.
Tennis wise, after the Swiss Indoors and the Erste Bank Open, four of the Six Kings will likely be in action at the Paris Masters at the beginning of November, whilst Nadal will play the final match of his career in the Davis Cup Finals, in Malaga, later that month.
“File:Novak Djokovic Eastbourne tennis 2017-12-2 (35456277672) (cropped).jpg” by James Boyes from UK is licensed under CC BY 2.0.