Dominic Thiem believes there is nothing wrong with players signing up for the Six Kings Slam simply because it's their job to play tennis and such events pay very nice money.
Last week, the Six Kings Slam returned for its second edition in Riyadh and featured an incredibly strong player field – Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, Novak Djokovic, Alexander Zverev, Taylor Fritz and Stefanos Tsitsipas. Jack Draper was also due to play but had to withdraw injured before being replaced by Tsitsipas.
For just participating, a player received $1.5 million. The winner, who ended up being Sinner, went home with a stunning $6 million prize money – which is way more than any Grand Slam paid its winner this year.
Since players have been very vocal about the schedule being too demanding lately, the Six Kings Slam participants also drew criticism and backlash.
Thiem: Very few people would turn down such sums… You have to take such opportunities
“I don't think you can really blame the players. I think very few people would turn down such sums. It's a common phrase, but: as an athlete, you only have a limited time to earn money. You've usually only learned one thing: to play tennis. You start at nine or ten years old and bet everything on one card," Thiem told Der Standard.
"Of the top 100, probably 99 don't have a high school diploma. You have to take every opportunity to get by financially to build up a margin of maneuver. It also takes time to learn something else afterward. As children and teenagers, we didn't have time for that.”
When addressing the criticism, Sinner bluntly stated that, "It is not a secret why we play these events."
Alcaraz also said that he didn't see anything wrong in playing the Six Kings Slams because it was far less demanding than an ATP-level tournament.
