Saudi Arabia’s oil money is flooding into a new sport: tennis
Criticisms of “sportswashing” are only likely to intensify as Saudi Arabia pumps millions into the Six Kings Slam, the country’s latest big budget sporting event
Saudi Arabia’s oil boom has transformed deserts into glistening cities, reshaped the geopolitics of the region, upended the world of golf, turned Manchester City into a soccer superpower, and produced the foundation for one of the most ambitious — and expensive — development projects in history (Vision 2030). Now, that flood of capital is finding its way into the world of tennis with the Six Kings Slam, an exhibition tennis tournament featuring some of the biggest names in the sport, set to be held on October 16-19th in Riyadh.
The trailer for the event looks more like the promotion for a Marvel movie than a tennis tournament — at one point in the video world number 3 Carlos Alcaraz hits a backhand with such venom that it carves a tennis ball-shaped hole in his cyborg opponent. His rival — the world’s top-ranked player, Jannik Sinner — is seen carving a statue of himself out of stone with vicious serves, Rafael Nadal is depicted as a kind of clay warrior god... and the rest is frankly hard to describe.
So how did Saudi Arabia convince some of the biggest names in tennis to travel to Riyadh, in the middle of an increasingly gruelling tennis season, to play a tournament that offers no ranking points? The $1.5 million reported appearance fee, which each participant will receive even if they lose every match, certainly helps.
Indeed, the prize money that’s been reported is unheard of in tennis, with the winner set to take home $6 million. That’s ~60% more than the winners of the US Open or Wimbledon got over the summer, an achievement which required 7 match wins over two weeks.
