Roger Federer’s former coach Paul Annacone says he agrees with Jannik Sinner that he didn’t go to Saudi Arabia solely for the money but also suggests that even if that was the case, no one should be criticizing the Italian because “it is a business” and he didn’t do anything illegal.
During a four-day event in Riyadh, the 23-year-old collected the biggest-ever prize money in tennis history after winning the Six Kings Slam. For just accepting to play at the Saudi Arabian exhibition, the reigning Australian Open and US Open champion collected $1.5 million. After winning the inaugural edition of the event, he bagged an additional $6 million, bringing the total to a stunning $7.5 million.
While some were busy accusing Saudi Arabia of using tennis for sportswashing purposes, some went at Sinner and other major names, claiming that they put money ahead of everything. When addressing that, the current ATP world No. 1 shut down that claim.
“I don’t play for money. It’s very simple. Of course, it’s a nice prize and everything but for me, I went there because there were possibly the six best players in the world. And then you can measure yourself with them. It was also a nice event for me. It was the first time I went to Riyadh and it was nice. When you come back as a winner, for me, it was more that, okay, I played the matches in the right way and this hopefully can improve me as a player also for the future,” Sinner said in a clip uploaded by Eurosport.
Jannik Sinner© YouTube screenshot
Annacone dismisses the criticism directed at Sinner
When it was announced earlier this year that the Italian, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev and Holger Rune would participate at the Six Kings Slam, it was perfectly clear that the organizers wanted to bring the best of the best to their tournament. And since the Saudis are determined to get into tennis in a big way, it was expected that they would be willing to throw some big money.
“Look, it’s a big business. I don’t think he plays solely for money. Obviously, he has got a lot more integrity than that. But just like any other big business, there is a price for players to go to certain places at certain times of the year and sure it was the best players in the world and an opportunity to face them, but it was also an opportunity to make the right business decision for him. There’s nothing wrong with that. I don’t think he needs to defend playing for money or not. The way he said it sounds ironic. This is something we always talk about with the top players. There is a lot of money thrown around…” Annacone said on Tennis Channel.
Alcaraz confessed that the money was a big reason why he went to Saudi Arabia
As you could have understood, not everyone believed Sinner that he didn’t go to Riyadh because of a big payday. And reporters went to Alcaraz to see if he was interested in revealing his reasons for going there. Answering the question, the four-time Grand Slam champion brutally honestly admitted that the money was indeed a factor.
“Well, I mean, if I say I went there just for fun or to play and forget the money, I’m gonna lie. That’s obviously. I mean, every person work for that, as well. You know, that’s how life is about. You know, 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. You know, in Arabia is the most highest prize money ever in the history, so that was a good motivation, at least for me,” Alcaraz admitted.
Carlos Alcaraz© YouTube screenshot
Unfortunately for the Spanish tennis star, he just fell short of being the one who would leave Saudi Arabia with a $7.5 million paycheck. In the final, the 22-year-old went up by a set against Sinner before the Italian stormed back to win 6-7 (5) 6-3 6-3. However, the reigning Wimbledon champion still collected a very notable sum as earning $1.5 million for playing just three matches definitely wasn’t the hardest of the jobs.
Meanwhile, participants spoke very highly of their time in Saudi Arabia as Sinner has already confirmed that he would be ready to return to the event next year.
In November, there will be more tennis in Saudi Arabia as the WTA Finals kick off next week while the Next Gen ATP Finals start in mid-November.