The exhibition tournament held in Riyadh, where the winner takes home six million (more than double the US Open), will be the penultimate for the Balearic player before his retirement in the Davis Cup
Rafa Nadal, alongside Holger Rune, among others, during yesterday's training session in Riyadh.@holgerrune2003WORLD
Tennis turned into a luxury product. Starting this Wednesday in Riyadh, an event is taking place that breaks all known economic parameters. An exhibition tournament where the winner, on Sunday, will pocket double the money than the highest-paid Grand Slam, the US Open.
Six million euros is the amount that Rafa Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, Daniil Medvedev, and Holger Rune will compete for, almost one and a half million each just for participating in Saudi Arabia, as specified by the organizers. Criticisms about the tight schedule are set aside for a few days.
The rain of millions in Riyadh is part of the main activities of the Riyadh Season, the city's festivities. Although the planned date was not October. Everything was ready for February, upon the return of the players from the Australian Open, but Nadal's muscle injury in Brisbane changed all plans.
Not in vain, the Balearic player attracts all the spotlight not only for being the sports ambassador of the Arab country, following the agreement announced in January by the Saudi Tennis Federation (STF). He, who has not competed since the Paris Games over two months ago, is directly qualified for the semifinals. Today, the quarterfinals are played, Sinner-Medvedev and Rune-Alcaraz (from 6:30 p.m., on Dazn). On Thursday, at the same time, the winner of the first match will face Djokovic and the winner of the second will face Nadal. Friday will be a rest day, following the ATP rule that prevents its players from playing exhibitions three days in a row. And on Sunday (5:30 p.m.), the third and fourth place match will be played, followed by the final. It will be, barring a surprise, the penultimate tennis event of Nadal's career, who will conclude in Malaga next November with the Davis Cup.
The Saudi show encompasses all imaginable luxuries, not only due to the unprecedented amount distributed among its participants, the largest prize purse in tennis history. For example, it will take place in a huge venue with a capacity for 8,000 spectators (The Venue) built for the occasion. The exhibition tournament, which does not award points for the world ranking and coincides with other ATP events like Almaty, Antwerp, and Stockholm, is organized by the millionaire Turki Al Sheikh, owner of Almería, advisor to the Royal Court of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and president of the General Entertainment Authority.
Both Nadal's signing and this ostentatious tournament (last December, Alcaraz and Djokovic played an exhibition in Riyadh) are part of Saudi Arabia's strategy to turn sports into a geopolitical tool. Tennis is the latest spearhead, but before that, it was football, golf, or Formula 1. In the world of tennis, the Saudi government, through its Public Investment Fund (PIF), has already invested in the official sponsorship of the ATP ranking and organizes the Next Gen ATP Finals - the Masters Cup for players under 20 - at least until 2027. Additionally, they are seeking a place in the Masters 1000 level tournament calendar.
Next month, it will host the WTA Finals (November 2-9). A choice criticized by many tennis players, including legendary figures Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert. Both penned an article in The Washington Post titled 'We didn't help build women's tennis to be exploited by Saudi Arabia.' "Not only is this a country where women are not seen as equals, it is a country where the current landscape includes a male guardianship law that essentially turns women into men's property. A country that criminalizes the LGBTQ community to the point of possible death. A country whose track record on human rights and basic freedoms has concerned the international community for decades," they criticized.