When you are the director of the Paris Masters 1000, the fear is always the same when the first racquet hits approach at the Palais omnisports de Paris-Bercy. Scheduled a few days before the Masters, a tournament that brings together the eight best players of the season, the Parisian meeting often seems like a week of preparation for the big names in tennis, when it is not simply skipped by those who want to save. his last strength for the “masters tournament”.
The 2024 season is no exception to the rule, and only German Alexander Zverev (world number 3) was among the top eight on Friday, in the quarterfinals. Blame, in particular, a virus that forced number 1, Jannik Sinner, to withdraw at the last moment.
“Whether we are high-level athletes or not, we are all a little fragile from an immunological point of view at the end of the year”Cédric Pioline apologized. The tournament director did not fail to add that “does not depend on [lui] judge » whether the Italian’s schedule is coherent or not. Understand: if you could have better preserved yourself to wait in line at Bercy.
So that ? Because between his title in Shanghai in mid-October and his arrival in Paris, Jannik Sinner detoured to Riyadh, to compete in the Six Kings Slam exhibition. For four days, the capital of Saudi Arabia welcomed six of the biggest stars of the discipline – among them Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal –, delighted by a “prize money” never before seen in a tennis competition: almost 1.5 million dollars (about 1.4 million euros). euros) guaranteed for each participant, and even 5.5 million dollars for the winner.
“The players are a bit hypocritical”
Jannik Sinner took home the top prize, but with no ranking points (exhibition tournaments do not award any). “Obviously it is a very good sum, but I went there because there were possibly the six best players in the world and I wanted to measure myself against them”stated the Italian before the Eurosport microphone. “If I were to say that I went there just for fun or to play without thinking about money, I would be lying.”admitted his rival in the final, Carlos Alcaraz, during a press conference in Paris.
The Spaniard knows what he is talking about, he makes numerous appearances at these types of events. In December 2023, he was already in Riyadh against Novak Djokovic, before participating with Rafael Nadal in a match organized by Netflix in Las Vegas in March 2024, and then in the Laver Cup, a team competition created by Roger Federer, in Berlin in September. Each time, these events helped him fill his bank account. But also to fuel paradoxes.
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