The Six Kings Slam has been postponed from October to December due to unrest in Saudi Arabia.
Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic, Alexander Zverev, Taylor Fritz, Alex de Minaur and Learner Tien were set to compete in the money-spinning exhibition between 21-24 October.
However, organisers have now moved the tournament – which sees competitors earn £1.2million for taking part and an extra £3.5m for the winner – in Riyadh to 27-30 December following the recent bombing of the Saudi capital’s airport.
The organisers’ statement reads, “The decision reflects Riyadh Season’s commitment to delivering sporting events to the highest standards, following an assessment of the organisational and logistical challenges associated with hosting the tournament and their potential impact on the quality of the audience experience.”
The big question now is, who will play in this event? Jannik Sinner is a two-time defending champion but ended his season early with a knee injury. Will he make his comeback in Riyadh? Considering he played no warm-up tournaments before this year’s Australian Open, that is up in the air ahead of the 2027 edition.
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Elsewhere, will Alcaraz follow through on his commitment to taking longer breaks to stave off injury and aid recovery? The Spaniard missed more than four months out with a wrist injury this season, and right at the start of his comeback at the US Open, the 23-year-old made a solemn vow.
He said in early September, “I took more [time out] than I wanted. Seeing how tight the calendar is, obviously I don’t want to have this break because of an injury. But in the future, I’m going to take some breaks… some long breaks.
“Maybe not four months, but one month, two months… start missing some tournaments because it’s impossible to play them all. They’re adding more important tournaments… There are some massive 1000s, Grand Slams, and we have been out playing 40 weeks if we play every mandatory tournament the ATP requires us to play.
“It’s impossible. We’re seeing a lot of players getting injured, a lot of players getting tired. If they don’t do anything about it, we’re going to see it even more in the future.”
Moreover, last week, the former world No 1 said the ATP calendar is going in the “wrong direction” after Sinner ended his season prematurely.
However, a year ago, Alcaraz argued that players are misunderstood when they choose to play in exhibitions alongside the gruelling tennis schedule.
The seven-time major winner stressed that the shorter formats, such as the Six Kings Slam, are less tiring than ATP Tour tournaments, and therefore make fewer demands on the players.
He said last October, “It’s a different format, different situation playing exhibitions than the official tournaments, 15, 16 days in row, having such a high focus and demanding physically. We’re just having fun for one or two days and playing some tennis, and that’s great, and why we choose the exhibitions.
“I understand [the criticism], but sometimes people don’t understand us, our opinions. It’s not really demanding mentally [compared with] when we’re having such long events like two weeks or two and a half weeks.”
So, what will it be for Alcaraz? Will he argue that the Six Kings Slam is just another carefree exhibition, or will he stick to his guns and give himself more time to prepare for the 2027 Australian Open?
At the end of December, most players are either heading to a tournament ahead of the new season or finishing up their off-season training blocks. Either way, if Alcaraz continues to speak up about the tough tennis schedule, his detractors may grow if he plays in Riyadh at the end of the year.
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