Carlos Alcaraz has accepted a late wildcard for the Vienna Open later this month, a day after the Six Kings Slam was postponed.
Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic, Alexander Zverev, Taylor Fritz, Alex de Minaur and Learner Tien were scheduled to take part in the Saudi Arabian exhibition between 21 and 24 October.
But after Riyadh airport was bombed again this week, the money-spinning event – where players can pocket £1.2million for competing, and the winner gets an extra £3.5m – has been postponed to 27-30 December.
Hot on the heels of that news, the Spaniard is now set to play at the Austrian tournament, which runs from 26 October to 1 November, for the first time since 2021.
The former world No 1 was reportedly interested in playing at the Erste Bank Open in 2023, only to opt for Basel instead. In the end, neither became possible as the then 20-year-old withdrew due to a left foot injury and muscle fatigue in his lower back.
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Moreover, reports suggested his requested appearance fee made him “too expensive” for the ATP Tour event. According to Der Standard, Alcaraz wanted €750,000 (£633,858), but tournament director Herwig Straka stood firm.
He opted for a top-10-heavy field of Daniil Medvedev, Jannik Sinner, Andrey Rublev, Stefanos Tsitsipas, and Zverev, where the pot was spread amongst many.
Now, tennis fans are wondering how much Alcaraz will be paid this time round. Back then, he was a two-time major winner. These days, the 23-year-old is arguably the biggest star of the sport and is a seven-time Grand Slam champion.
One person wrote on X, “For 750k, he wouldn’t even play in the living room at home,” and another tweeted, “€750,000 just to come to a tournament. We give way too much gas to top-level athletes; it’s mind-blowing.”
One commented, “Carlos was only a two-time slam winner then, so I can only imagine what he charges now.” On the flip side, another person pointed out that Alcaraz is such a big draw card; ergo, he deserves a big fee.
They wrote, “Alcaraz today, that’s a minimum of €1m in appearance fee for an ATP 500. Nothing shocking about it – his participation brings in big bucks for the tournaments, and the directors are thrilled about it. In Rotterdam, the director was saying that the announcement of his arrival in 2025 had set records for ticket sales.”
Whatever Alcaraz gets, he is likely to generate the most interest and excitement in Vienna.
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