Jannik Sinner achieved recently the Six Kings Slam, an exhibition tournament held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with six of the best tennis players at the moment (Djokovic, Nadal, Alcaraz, Medvedev and Rune).
No ATP points at stake, but good, good money: six million dollars for the winner, the largest ever monetary prize in the history of tennis. Sinner won to Alcaraz 6-7, 6-3, 6-3.
In a now infamous interview with Eurosport, Sinner said that "he didn't play for money". "Of course it's a nice prize and everything, but for me, I went there because there were possible the six best players in the world and you can measure with them. When you come back as a winner it was more for me, okay, I played the matches the right way, it can improve me as a player".
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He added that the money is important but not that much, "I live a good life also without this money, I think it's much more important the health I have and surround myself with great people".
Jannik Sinner got roasted on Twitter and mocked by Wawrinka
Sinner's well-meaning words, trying to find a balance between the sportsmanship and acknowledging that that is a lot of Saudi money stirred some controversy, and even mocks by tennis player Stanislas Wawrinka, who reacted the video with a laughing emoji. He lated deleted it.
Sinner withdrawed from Master Paris 1,000 due to a virus, paving the way for Alcaraz to achieve his first victory in the final ATP event of the year (with over 4,000 points above Alcaraz, his number 1 rank is secured this year).