Deborah Curtis-Setchell
Rarely will an exhibition match upstage the Paris Masters, or pending ATP Finals, especially with the Race to Turin in full swing and the last of the Top Eight qualifiers not yet cast in stone. However the “Six Kings Slam”, which unfurled recently in Riyadh, did exactly that, given five of the elite cast were either former, or current No 1s and Major winners, namely Novak Djokovic, Rafa Nadal, Daniil Medvedev, Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, with the exception of Danish No 1, Holger Rune and that the stakes were obscenely high, $42 million, to be precise.
Nadal and Djokovic received byes into the Semis, while Sinner beat Medvedev 6-0,6-3 and Alcaraz beat Rune, equally comfortably 6-4,6-2, to face off in the Finals. As anticipated, Djokovic felled his old nemesis Nadal for 3rd position, followed by Sinner taking down Alcaraz 6-7(5),6-3,6-3 to walk off with the red hot ‘kitty’.
Nadal, on the verge of retirement and as the ambassador for Saudi Tennis, was presented with a solid gold tennis racket for his contribution to the game, bearing in mind he’s never broken a racket on court, during his lengthy career. As much as the Saudis want these ridiculously lavish gifts to be seen, as a sign of commitment to enhancing their profile through sport, it appears as if they are turning sport into a commodity, like oil & water, that can be bought and sold to the highest bidder. Lest we forget Saudi Arabia has no history of tennis, rather it has a history of human rights violations and the fact that the prestigious WTA Finals are going to be played in Rijadh for the next three years, is disconcerting, as GOATS Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert loudly protested. One would hope Nadal will donate his golden trophy to the Guggenheim museum in Bilboa,rather than keep it on his mantlepiece, where he’ll need sky high insurance and a security guard to keep it intact. Sinner too should conjure up a philanthropic cause for his superfluous millions. That said, Nadal’s post match comments pertained to opponents, rather than his eye popping prize: Djokovic is “the best” player ever, because of his consistency and ability to improve every year, but Roger Federer was my greatest rival”.
Meanwhile Djokovic dropped a bomb, in announcing his withdrawal from the Paris Masters, at which he is a seven-time defending champion and upon which he would have been dependent, to secure his no six position, in the Race to Turin: “Torino is not my goal to be honest, I’m not chasing ATP Finals and I’m not chasing rankings. As far as Im concerned Im done with those tournaments in my career. My main priorities are playing for the National team and Slams, everything else is less important..” Good news for Casper Ruud, Andrey Rublev and Grigor Dimitrov all currently sitting behind Djokovic in the Race and all catching up fast, as they hurl themselves into European Masters 500s to garner points.
Despite losing the Stockholm Final to American Tommy Paul 6-4, 6-3, Dimitrov has leapfrogged over Alex De Minaur to nineth spot in Turin , pushing the Australian No 1, back to 10th. The Bulgarian then pushed through Zhang Zhishen, to advance to the second round in Vienna, as Paul, faltered in his first match, losing to countryman, Brandon Nakashima. Alexander Zverev has also moved through to the Vienna Quarters with a personal best 61st season win over Marcus Giron 6-2, 7-5 .Vienna and Basel are still important for ATP Final qualifiers, but Paris will be key to unlocking arrival in Turin and make no mistake, “Torino”, without the Olympic champion, would be sorely diminished.