World number one Carlos Alcaraz has defended his participation in exhibition tournaments, insisting players are often misunderstood when they choose to play alongside a demanding professional tennis calendar.
Alcaraz, 22, is currently in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for this year’s Six Kings Slam, a lucrative exhibition event that starts in 2024. The Spaniard has previously expressed concern about the intense workload in Asia, where several players have struggled physically, and said he would consider skipping the mandatory events to prioritize his health.
Six Kings Slam, which is scheduled for October 15-18features the top six players: Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, Novak Djokovic, Alexander Zverev, Taylor Fritz and Stefanos Tsitsipas. The event offers $4.5m (£3.4m) in prize money, with some players reportedly being paid seven figures just to turn up. Reports suggest the winner could take home up to $6m (£4.5m).
Despite the high stakes, Alcaraz believes shorter-format exhibitions like the Six Kings Slam are much less demanding than official tournament competitions.
He said: “A lot of players talk about the calendar, how tight it is with a lot of tournaments, two-week tournaments, and then they make excuses for exhibitions. It’s a different format, a different situation playing exhibitions than official tournaments, 15, 16 days in a row, with such high concentration and physical demands. We just have fun for one or two days and choose great tennis, exhibition. I understand (criticism), but sometimes people don’t understand us, our opinions. It’s not really mentally demanding (compared to) doing long events like two weeks or two and a half weeks.
Alcaraz won his eighth title of the season in Tokyo last month despite an ankle injury in the opening match that forced him to withdraw from the Shanghai Masters. He will compete in Saudi Arabia despite his not fully healed injury. “Everything is fine,” he said. “I’ve been rehabbing the ankle as much as I can. I’m not feeling 100% – there are doubts when I’m moving around on the court, but it’s improved a lot and I’ll compete and perform well at the Six Kings Slam.”
Alcaraz has a bye to the semi-finals, which will be broadcast on Netflix, and will face Fritz on Thursday after the American beat Zverev 6-3, 6-4 in the quarter-finals. In the second quarter-final, the world number two beat Sinner Tsitsipas 6:2, 6:3 and will face Djokovic in the semi-finals.
– The end
Issued by:
Saurabh Kumar
Published on:
October 16, 2025
