Jannik Sinner never fails to make the headlines. Be it for his heroics on the court or the controversies that keep on lingering around him off the court, he’s always in the limelight, and why not? The world number one ended his incredible 2024 season with 8 titles and two out of them were Grand Slam triumphs. He earned almost more than $16 million in prize money this season! However, despite all these incredible grabs, his win at an exhibition event in Riyadh has been a hot topic of discussion. Sinner raised a few eyebrows with his statement on the real motivation to take part in that event. However, recently, American legend Andy Roddick defended Sinner’s stance on that.

What all the fuss is about, though? Jannik Sinner won a staggering $6 million as prize money at the Six Kings Slam in Riyadh. Then after that during an interview, he was asked about his real motivation to take part in this mega event. In reply to that question, Sinner said, “I don’t play for money. It’s very simple. Of course, it’s a nice prize, but I went there because there were possibly the six best players in the world and you can measure yourself with them.”

Then afterward, Carlos Alcaraz was asked a similar question and his reply was, “If I said that I went there just to have fun or to play without thinking about money, I would be lying. It’s obvious: every person works for that too. That’s how life works.” Seeing this massive contradiction, a lot of fans raised a few question marks on Jannik Sinner’s claims. Now, after hearing all these about Sinner, Andy Roddick recently shared his thoughts on the same. During the recent episode on ‘Served with Andy Roddick’, he said, “People took that in like there was a kind of collective eye-roll about it. But I think his point was…obviously you go to Saudi for one reason. It’s the quickest payday he’ll ever have. Three days $6 million. Bingo Bango!”

He further added, “That specifically, I don’t think 5 days of actions supplants him not thinking about money one time during the US Open SF. I honestly don’t believe it. I find it hard to believe if he knew how much he would win for an SF or like a Masters series. I really don’t think he knows that. He doesn’t act like someone who goes about it for money and for four days massive cash grab. But I think a lot of people got that backward.”

Interestingly a month ago, Andy Roddick was the one who pointed out that Jannik Sinner had earned “more than 25%” of his career prize money at the Six Kings Slam exhibition and he said that it made him feel “sick.” He also stated that he had “no interest” in the event in Saudi Arabia as he feels that it looks more like “completely unnatural” and weird.

So, hearing about Roddick’s take on the criticisms that Sinner has faced over the last few weeks for his statement on the real motivation to take part in the Six Kings Slams is really interesting. Recently, Andy Roddick was also spotted heaping praise on the Italian for his incredible performance at the ATP Finals. What did he say, though?

American tennis legend dubs Jannik Sinner’s form in Turin “a joke”

Jannik Sinner defeated America’s Taylor Fritz by 6-4,6-4 in the final match of the 2024 ATP Finals. Interestingly, Sinner didn’t drop a single set in the entire tournament. After seeing his dominance over his opponents in this tournament, Andy Roddick claimed that he was stunned at the scorelines by which Jannik Sinner defeated his rivals.

“It was fun. It was weird in turn. There weren’t that many close matches, right? Jannik Sinner was a joke. I mean in the best possible way,” said Andy Roddick. He further added, “Doing, checking his TC live and then checking his score lines, it’s the score lines that you used to drop on people when you were 16 playing like in your state tournaments. And if you were a really good junior, but like, and then kind of take that out and expand it to the best on earth with no two-year age groups. What he’s done on hard courts this year is absurd.”

So, Jannik Sinner quite successively managed to impress the former world number one, with his incredible tennis in Turin. Now, the question is can he yet again bring smiles on the faces of his countrymen? Jannik Sinner is all set to represent his nation at the 2024 Davis Cup Finals in Malaga. If Italy successively manages to defend their title this year, then Sinner lifts his 9th title of the 2024 season. Do you think he can end the year on the highest note?