Jannik Sinner and other biggies in Arabia, Roger Federer exposes himself
King Roger speaks out on the exhibition tournament among current racquet bigwigs
The possibility of organizing an exhibition tournament in Saudi Arabia with the main players of the current tennis scene (from Jannik Sinner to Novak Djokovic, via Daniil Medvedev and Carlos Alcaraz) did not take Roger Federer by surprise, who in an interview with the Süddeutsche Zeitung exposed himself without hiding too much.
"It's simply the logic of supply and demand, these kinds of events help tennis to develop where it is not yet present,‖ explained King Roger, -and it's difficult to do so except by organizing exhibition tournaments: You can't buy out of nowhere the possibility of organizing a Slam tournament, and it's very difficult to get into the Masters 1000" calendar.
"Even for an ATP 500 you have to get in line,” added the legendary Swiss racquet champion, “-that’s why the exhibitions have become so popular. This is not è a negative aspect, I have wonderful memories of my exhibition tours in South America or the match against Rafa Nadal in South Africa".
Although there'è nothing official yet, there is talk of as much as 5.5 million euros for the winner of the tournament, so a much higher figure than can be earned by winning a Slam title. Even just participating in the event would guarantee impressive revenues, as there is talk of about 1.5 million euros guaranteed to those who agree to participate in the Riyadh tournament.
