Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz said on Monday the record prize money on offer at the Six Kings Slam in Saudi Arabia earlier this month was a motivation for playing in the tournament as the world No. 2 prepares for the Paris Masters.
Italian rival Jannik Sinner dismissed earlier claims that he joined the exhibition event for financial rewards, emphasizing that he went to Riyadh for the sporting challenge.
However, Alcaraz acknowledged the financial aspect played a role as he earned $1.5 million over four days in mid-October.
“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,” Alcaraz told reporters on Monday.
“…in Arabia is the most, highest prize money ever in the history, so that was a good motivation, at least for me.”
The Spaniard has not experienced much success at the Paris Masters in recent years, with a quarterfinal appearance being his best result. Alcaraz captured the French Open and Wimbledon titles this year but said that the season has taken its toll.
“I haven’t played good tennis here in this tournament. Probably at the end of the year, I have been tired, or yeah, as I said last year, I had to understand that the season is still going after September,” he said.
“The calendar is super tight, super demanding, as well. So coming to the last tournament of the year, probably I have been tired the last year, didn’t play as well as I wanted, but coming to this year, I think I’m feeling different.”
The Paris indoor tournament runs until Nov. 3.
The Top 8 singles players and doubles teams of the 2024 Hologic WTA Tour season have started to descend on Saudi Arabia for the season-endi
Jannik Sinner sparked plenty of debate after revealing that he did not play in the Six Kings Slam exhibition event for the prize money. Roger Federer
And though the Italian claimed, in an interview with Eurosport, that he played there as much to compete against the best players in the
Aug 29, 2024; Flushing, NY, USA; Xinyu Wang of China in action against Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan on day four of the 2024 U.S. Open tennis tournament at the