Saudis’ trick to get round ATP rules
The 6 Kings Slam, the latest Saudi Arabian venture into tennis, is likely to follow a “two days on, one day off ” pattern in order to save Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and the rest of the field from being punished by the official tour.
This awkward compromise typifies the arcane nature of tennis politics. Only a few weeks ago, the ATP Tour brought in rules that would strip elite players of their “Platinum Status” if they participated in unofficial events lasting “three or more consecutive days”.
But the Saudis were already well advanced with planning for the 6 Kings Slam: a Riyadh-based exhibition which is understood to offer its winner £4.8million, and each player a guaranteed £1.2million just for taking part.
So what are the organisers expected to do? The answer is simple but ingenious. They will probably split the event up so that it never runs for more than two days at a time.
Those organisers – who go by the name of the General Entertainment Authority – have already had to make a last-minute date shift because of the hip injury that Nadal suffered in the first week of the new season.
Originally, they were planning to run the 6 Kings Slam this month. But urgent meetings with player agents during the Australian Open delivered a late postponement until the week starting Oct 14.
Again, this was a case of working around Association of Tennis Professionals regulations, because top30 players are banned from appearing in exhibitions in the same week as Masters 1000 or ATP 500 events. The advantage of the week starting Oct 14 is that it hosts only two ATP 250s, the smallest category, which are afforded no such protection.
You can see here how the Saudis, for now, are not launching a frontal assault on tennis in the manner of LIV Golf. This event feels more like a cattle raid. And sources suggest that it is not motivated by any great desire to challenge the establishment; more a straightforward interest in running big events in Riyadh.
Furthermore, the announcement of the 6 Kings Slam – which also involves Wimbledon champions Carlos Alcaraz, Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner, 2021 US Open champion Daniil Medvedev and rising Danish star Holger Rune – is moving in parallel with official negotiations with the two tours.
The Women’s Tennis Association is still expected to announce a three-year deal to stage its finals event in Saudi Arabia in the coming days, even though the outspoken opposition voiced by Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert has added uncertainty to the process.
Meanwhile, negotiations are progressing with the ATP to add Public Investment Fund branding to four events, plus TV coverage of the Masters 1000 events. The same asyet-unsigned deal is now thought to also include naming rights for the rankings charts for both the ATP and WTA tours.
Sources say that more Saudi exhibition events will soon be popping up, probably this year, but the next one is expected to be less controversial as it will be scheduled at the end of the official season. At the moment, Saudi Arabia’s level of interest in tennis still looks manageable for the established authorities. But the unstated threat of a LIV Golf-style takeover has definitely stirred the pot as far as tennis’s chaotic governance is concerned.
We are seeing plenty of urgent activity from the seven stakeholders who have spent decades wrestling for influence.
The most high-profile recent development involved plans for a possible new “Premium Tour”, combining the four slams with between 11 and 14 other big events – each of them to run across a 10-day period, offering equal prize money, and involving 96 singles players of either gender.