Despite the stress debate: Tennis stars at a show tournament: the head of the association finds it strange

For President Dietloff von Arnim of the German Tennis Federation (DTB), the participation of the superstars around Carlos Alcaraz in the Six Kings Slam show tournament is at least questionable in view of the current debate about stress. “We keep hearing that the top players complain about the heavy load in the tournament calendar,” von Arnim told the German Press Agency: “If someone complains about the heavy load and then plays a show tournament, then that’s already a good thing .” a bit strange.”

In addition to the German tennis star Alexander Zverev, Alcaraz also recently made critical comments about the full schedule. “I am one of those players for whom there are too many compulsory tournaments a year. And there will probably be more in the next few years. “This will kill us,” the Spaniard had said.

Alcaraz is one of six top players who have confirmed their participation in the upcoming show tournament on October 16th and 19th in Saudi Arabia. In addition to the four-time Grand Slam tournament winner, the Italian world number one Jannik Sinner, the Serbian Grand Slam record champion Novak Djokovic, Holger Rune from Denmark, Daniil Medvedev from Russia and even Rafael Nadal will also be competing in Riyadh. Spain’s veteran star recently announced his final retirement at the end of the year for fitness reasons.

The kingdom lures the stars with an entry fee of $1.5 million each. The winner is even expected to pocket a whopping $6 million – almost twice as much as the prize money Sinner received for his triumph at the US Open.

Saudi Arabia will have more influence in tennis

Saudi Arabia has been increasing its investments in tennis for some time, as it has previously done in football, boxing, golf and Formula 1. The kingdom is accused of using its involvement in sport to distract from its violations of human rights and to improve its image want.

“I think that there is not enough debate about human rights and democratic values ​​when awarding tournaments,” said von Arnim. These “must come more to the fore” when awarding tournaments.

However, the DTB President does not see any negative effects for the German tournament scene in view of the Saudi million-dollar offensive. “The German tournaments are established, they are recognized and wanted by all market participants.”

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