Carlos Alcaraz is competing at the lucrative Six Kings Slam exhibition event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia this week. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
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World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz said he understands the criticism aimed at him for competing in the Six Kings Slam amid a hectic schedule, but believes those concerns overlook the lighter, less demanding nature of exhibition matches.
Alcaraz is among the six players featuring in the four-day Six Kings Slam exhibition event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia this week, where the winner takes home a reported $6 million while all participants are guaranteed a $1.5 million appearance fee.
During the recent Asian swing, players’ health and wellbeing became a talking point as high temperatures and extreme humidity led to players withdrawing or picking up injuries.
But Alcaraz – who previously said he would consider skipping ATP Tour events to prioritize his health – believes short exhibition events are less demanding than the ATP Tour tournaments, which typically last two weeks.
“It’s a different format, different situation playing exhibitions than the official tournaments, 15, 16 days in row, having such a high focus and demanding physically,” Alcaraz said.
“We’re just having fun for one or two days and playing some tennis, and that’s great, and why we choose the exhibitions.
“I understand [the criticism], but sometimes people don’t understand us, our opinions. It’s not really demanding mentally [compared with] when we’re having such long events like two weeks or two and a half weeks,” he added.
The top seed at the Six Kings Slam 2025, Alcaraz received a bye to the semifinals, where he will face Taylor Fritz on Thursday. American Fritz defeated Alexander Zverev 6-3, 6-4 on the opening day of the event, which is being streamed on Netflix.
Novak Djokovic, the 24-time major champion, is also playing in the big-money exhibition and has a semifinal face-off with world No. 2 Jannik Sinner, who defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-2, 6-3.
Six-time Grand Slam winner Alcaraz turned up at the lucrative exhibition in Riyadh after skipping the Masters 1000 event in Shanghai due to an ankle injury he suffered during his Japan Open title run in Tokyo.
“Everything’s OK. “I’ve been recovering the ankle as much as I can,” he said.
“I don’t feel 100% – the doubts are there when I’m moving on court, but it improved a lot and I’m going to compete and perform well in the Six Kings Slam,” Alcaraz added.
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