Carlos Alcaraz dismisses Jannik Sinner's ridiculous Six Kings Slam claim

Jannik Sinner won a lot of money at the Six Kings Slam. In fact, he won a reported $6 million by winning the tournament. The key thing is that the event was an exhibition. Players chose to be there, in part, because they had a chance to earn a lot of money. Otherwise, why choose to go to an event at the end of another tiring year to play meaningless matches?

Sinner made recent comments to Eurosport that the money involved in the Six Kings Slam was not overly important to him. He wanted to once again test himself against five other elite-level players. The Italian might not have outright lied, but there is little doubt that he and the other players involved, including Carlos Alcaraz, played in Riyadh because they could greatly increase their bank accounts.

When Alcaraz was asked the same kind of question, his answer seemed much more forthright and honest. Sure, he played in Saudi Arabia, a country with a bad history of human rights violations, but he did so because no tournament had ever paid what Alcaraz and the others would make. The Spaniard is, after all, a professional tennis player who plays the sport to earn a living.

Carlos Alcaraz gives a more honest answer about the Six Kings Slam than does Jannik Sinner

Sinner told Eurosport, "I don’t play for money. It’s very simple. Of course, it’s a nice prize and everything but for me, I went there because there were possibly the six best players in the world. And then you can measure yourself with them."

The Italian does not need to prove himself against the others in an exhibition match, though. He does that by winning various tournaments and reaching No. 1 on the ATP tour. He knows he is good, and so do the other players. One huge reason Sinner played in Riyadh was the money, and he should own that.

Alcaraz did. He said, "Well, I mean, if I say I went there just for fun or to play and forget the money, I’m gonna lie. That’s obviously. I mean, every person work for that, as well. You know, that’s how life is about. You know, I love playing tennis. You know, most of the time I don’t think about the money. I just play for love or for fun. But you have to be realistic. You have to think that you want to earn money, you know, and that’s it."

This is not a judgment about who is the better person: Alcaraz or Sinner, but when it comes to playing in the Six Kings Slam, Alcaraz had a more honest answer. There is nothing wrong with playing an event if you are going to potentially make lots of money. Sinner just needed to say that.

More tennis news and analysis: