Andy Murray at the Olympics / MARTIN BERNETTI/GettyImages The Six Kings Slam is set for the middle of October.
The Six Kings Slam will feature six ATP players playing for a ton of money. To be sure, the event is an exhibition and no ranking points are involved. The participants are there because they play tennis for a living and they will earn a pretty payday for themselves for showing up. Andy Murray, however, very much dislikes the idea of the tournament.
Murray probably has nothing against the players involved – Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, Holger Rune, Rafael Nadal, and Daniil Medvedev – but perhaps the fuss about how good the recently dropped promo for the event looked miffed the recently retired Murray. He has a good reason for that. He is also likely correct.
The event was created by Saudi Arabia and its Public Investment Fund which has poured billions into attracting golf and tennis to the country. Saudi Arabia has been oft-criticized for reported human rights issues, and some might see that taking money for playing a sport from the nation in a way endorses the country’s views. Playing at an exhibition event in Saudi Arabia at least legitimizes the nation’s efforts to use money to change the sports landscape.
Andy Murray has some harsh words for the Six Kings Slam
The tournament also might distract from ATP or WTA-sanctioned events where players are trying to increase their ranking and earn a bit of money. The Six Kings Slam is just a money grab. And what a money grab it is, with each player earning $1,604,520 for just showing up and the winner earning $6,420,00 for taking home the title.
The promo for the tournament features the six players involved as different rulers, leading to a final tournament. It is well done. So much so that Andy Murray’s fellow Brit, Liam Broady, posted on social media, “Speechless as to how damn cool this promo is. Probably best I’ve ever seen in tennis. Would watch this movie. 10/10.”
Murray was having none of that, though. He replies, “Except it’s not a movie and you won’t watch it because it’s an exhibition tennis event that nobody cares about.”
Are Murray’s words a bit harsh? Likely. Plus, the Saudis have put so much money into the tournament that they will probably make sure they earn that money back in world viewership. Murray is not wrong, however. The problem is that no tennis tournament is making a promo for their own event that looks so amazing.
