It’s deja vu again in Saudi Arabia this week. Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner advanced to their semi-finals and will face each other for the coveted $6 million prize on Saturday – after a day off – in Riyadh.
The pair have played in the last three major finals and combined for the last eight championships, each winning four, so it’s only fitting that they play for the year’s biggest prize purse.
Alcaraz put on a drop shot clinic against Taylor Fritz, and recorded a 6-4, 6-2 win in 69 minutes, the Spaniard winning for the second time this autumn against Fritz, after Fritz defeated Alcaraz at the Laver Cup in September.
“12 out of 13, that’s fantastic,” Alcaraz said when reporters told him about his drop-shot efficiency against Fritz (he won 12 of 13 points in which he attempted a drop shot). “After five or six, I just realized I was winning all the shots I was hitting. I think Tokyo was kind of the same, I knew the putt was going to be a great weapon today.”
Sinner took out 24-time major champion Novak Djokovic in the second semi-final, further cementing his dominance over the legend whom he has defeated five times in a row on the tour, including the semi-finals at Roland-Garros and Wimbledon this year.
The 6-4, 6-2 victory was another reminder that the sport belongs to Sinner and Alcaraz these days, even if Djokovic is still the goat and a sentimental favorite as he fights at 38.
At the Six Kings Slam, each player is guaranteed a $1.5 million appearance fee; the last one standing receives a bonus that brings his total to four times that for the event, which is streamed live on Netflix.
“Money is nothing we’re trying to hide. We know how much is at stake here, and it would be a lie if I told you that wasn’t a motivation,” Sinner said earlier this week.
Apparently.
Sinner raced to a double lead in the opening set before Djokovic won a break. The Italian easily served out the set in the tenth game.
He broke the Serbian icon in the first game of the second set and never looked back. Djokovic had his moments and did his best to work the crowd, but Sinner was too focused, too methodical, too good.
“I’m sorry you can’t see a longer match today,” Djokovic said. “It felt like a runaway train, he was hitting the ball from all angles and I was just trying to hang in there, he was so good.”
He converted his first point of the game to close out the game in a 62-minute on-and-off.
“It’s never good when someone hits you like that on the court,” added Djokovic. “But it’s amazing that I’m still able to still play at a high level, being Top 10, Top 5. I’m trying to do my best… It’s been an incredible journey and an amazing career, and there’s a lot to celebrate, but I would love if someone would trade me a younger body, that would be great, just for one year so I can try to win against these guys.
“All joking aside, I still have the desire, I know it’s getting a lot harder for me to win against Jannik and Carlos especially, but I’ll keep challenging them until it happens.”
Since the start of 2024 Alcaraz has won seven of eight against Alcaraz.
