Sinner, King of Kings ahead of Alcaraz, pockets $6 million in Riyadh controversy

Jannik Sinner won the "Six Kings Slam" exhibition tournament in Riyadh on Saturday evening. In the final, he dominated Carlos Alcaraz after a fine battle lasting over two hours (6-7, 6-3, 6-3). The Italian thus pocketed the 6 million dollars promised to the winner of this competition. A competition that also caused a stir because of Saudi Arabia's controversial political stance.

On the court, tennis triumphed in the end. Sinner and Alcaraz played a top-level match in the final, much to the delight of the 8,000 spectators gathered in "The Venue", the stadium specially inaugurated for the event. Earlier in the day, the match for 3rd place between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal (6-2, 7-6) had been fun to watch.

Before that, on Thursday, the semi-final between Sinner and Djokovic (6-2, 6/7, 6-4) had also been of high quality. All of which made up for the very poor impression left by the opening match, or rather non-match, which saw the Italian outclass Daniil Medvedev in just over an hour (6-0, 6-3).

But all this was obviously not enough to extinguish the controversy generated by the event. A controversy generated not only by differing views on the political and geopolitical situation in the Saudi kingdom, but also by the financial aspect of the event. The sums involved are enormous, prompting reactions of indignation and fear among many observers.

Each of the six participants in the exhibition pocketed $1.5 million, regardless of their results. Medvedev, who only played 15 games, earned $100,000 per game played. Holger Rune, who played just 18 games against Alcaraz (4-6, 2-6), pocketed $83,333 per game. Finally, the winner, Sinner, picked up a cheque for $6 million for his victory. A sum to be set against the prizes won by the winners of the 4 Grand Slam tournaments (Australian Open: $2.2 million, French Open and Wimbledon: $2.7 million, US Open: $3.6 million).

Beyond the ethical issues involved, these colossal financial investments raise fears about the sustainability of the current business model for professional tennis. Fears that probably crystallize around one main question: how can we continue to motivate the world's best players in the long term, when they have the opportunity to earn more money by playing a few exhibition matches than by winning a Grand Slam tournament?

The answer probably has to take into account more than just financial considerations. But the question is nonetheless worth asking.

In the meantime, Sinner, Alcaraz, Djokovic, Nadal, Medvedev and Rune have made the most of the opportunity. Rightly or wrongly, everyone will make up their own minds. But they probably had a very good time in Riyadh, and they generally gave a good time to the spectators present in the stadium as well as to those who followed the matches from behind a screen. For the organizers, the objective seems to have been perfectly met.