Andy Roddick sarcastically says Jannik Sinner doesn't make him sick to his stomach

The Six Kings Slam was a money grab. The players involved should not be blamed too much for choosing to try to make a lot of dollars, though. After all, they play tennis to earn a living, and the Saudi Arabian government was offering them millions to come play in their country and increase their bank accounts.

That doesn't make it right as far as human beings, maybe; people need to treat everyone with respect and understanding, and maybe the Saudi human rights record does not speak well about that. Still, this is not a judgment about politics. This is an article about tennis.

And in winning the Six Kings Slam, Jannik Sinner, who defeated Carlos Alcaraz in three sets in the final, won a reported $6 million. That is more than many players win in their entire careers, especially former players who might have reached No. 1 on the ATP tour. Such is the case with Andy Roddick.

Andy Roddick jokes about how much money Jannik Sinner made at the Six Kings Slam

Roddick won 32 titles in his career, and reached No. 1. He also won the US Open in 2003. When he played, though, the money was nowhere near the same as it is currently. The American won $20,640,030 in his career. This means that in winning the Six Kings Slam, Sinner won almost a third of what Roddick won in his entire career.

Roddick noted as much on his excellent podcast, Served with Andy Roddick, when he talked about the weirdness of the Six Kings Slam being held in Saudi Arabia and the money involved. He was both disappointed in such an event being held and envious of the amount of money Sinner won.

Roddick said, "In all seriousness, I never begrudge anyone their choices. Listen, someone’s going to pay you that amount of money and you have to go do awkward dancing. The whole thing looked completely unnatural. It just looked weird. I had no interest in it...(sarcastically) It definitely doesn’t make me sick to my stomach that he (Sinner) made more than 25 percent of my career prize money in three days of exhibition tennis."

Tennis has changed quite a bit since Roddick played. Oddly, in the 1970s, some players skipped Grand Slam events to play in the lucrative World Team Tennis tournaments. When Roddick played, there were still exhibitions, but not nearly as much money was involved. Sinner has already made north of $28 million in his career and is only 23. He will probably make millions of dollars more.

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