Tennis scheduling is always a talking point, be it among the players or other bigwigs in the tennis world. Such has been the cramped nature of the season that there is hardly any breathing space left for the players. While the players have often complained about the hectic scheduling, there was a different problem created this time around due to the upcoming Six Kings Slam exhibition event. The 3-day event takes place this week in Saudi Arabia, just days before the ATP Vienna tournament. As a result, the ATP Vienna director, Herwig Straka, raised massive concerns.

Last year, Jannik Sinner emerged victorious in Vienna, defeating Daniil Medvedev in the summit clash. However, due to the Six Kings Slam this week, Sinner will miss the tournament in Vienna. Expressing disappointment at the defending champion giving this year’s tournament a miss due to the exhibition event in Riyadh, Straka said, “This exhibition doesn’t make much sense. Generally speaking, I’m not happy with the exhibitions. This week’s one obviously doesn’t satisfy us, because it potentially prevents us from having certain players for our field, including our defending champion, Jannik Sinner.”

Apart from Sinner, the likes of Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Daniil Medvedev, Carlos Alcaraz, and Holger Rune will also feature in the 3-day event. While Nadal announced his retirement after the Davis Cup Finals this year, fans would look to catch some last glimpses of him in action on the court.

Apart from the clash with ATP Vienna, the Six Kings Slam event also caused controversy with its venue being Saudi Arabia. Former World Number 1, Andy Murray, also slammed the much-talked-about event.

Andy Murray takes a harsh dig at the Six Kings Slam exhibition event

Earlier this year, the promo for the event in Riyadh dropped by. It showed Nadal as the clay warrior and Djokovic as the leader of wolves fighting it out for the title in Saudi Arabia. While the promo was produced like a movie, it invited the wrath of Andy Murray, who questioned the purpose of the tournament.

He said, “Except it’s not a movie and you won’t watch it because it’s an exhibition tennis event that nobody cares about.” Further, in another interview, he expressed a wish to exchange the exhibition events with a longer off-season. Murray added, “I think there should be a longer off-season as well. I don’t know if I would want restrictions on exhibitions, it’s the top players in the world that are able to play exhibitions, where they make lots of money, but the rest of the players they don’t have that opportunity and who should you feel more.”

Further, there is a massive amount of money involved at the 3-day Six Kings Slam event in Riyadh. The exhibition tournament promises all the players a fee of approximately $1.6 million while the winner will take home $6.42 million. As a result, the tournament easily attracted the top players in the world.

The controversy kept aside, the 3-day exhibition event promises exciting matchups. Additionally, the fans would look forward to watching Nadal in action as he bids adieu to tennis in a few weeks.