World No. 8 speaks on players being criticized for taking Saudi Arabia's money

With no ATP points at stake, the ongoing Six Kings Slam in Saudi Arabia is viewed as nothing more than a big payday for the sport's biggest stars.  

The six players — Novak Djokovic, Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz, Rafael Nadal, Holger Rune and Daniil Medvedev — will each net $1.5 million in participation fees, with the winner taking home $6 million. 

For perspective, the winner of this year's U.S. Open (Sinner) earned $3.6 million in prize money, and the Wimbledon champion (Alcaraz) netted $3.5 million. The Saudi champion will earn nearly twice as much for winning three matches in four nights (two for Nadal and Djokovic, who got first-round byes). 

The expansive affair has ruffled some feathers, primarily due to the human rights situation in Saudi Arabia. 

World No. 8 Casper Rudd was not invited to play in Saudi Arabia, but that was likely due to his past refusal to play in the Diriyah Tennis Cup, an exhibition tournament held in Saudi in 2019 and 2022.

However, despite his stance, Ruud thinks it's hypocritical of anyone to criticize players for traveling to Saudi Arabia because ATP is willing to hold events in certain other countries.

“I didn't get an offer from Six Kings Slam, but I have had offers in the past and I chose not to go," Ruud told SpilXperten's Nicholas Albek. "It is of course a controversial country in many ways, but there are also other countries that are controversial that we travel to and play in.

“You can certainly discuss China and human rights there, but we go there every year. There was a lot of talk about Peng Shuai and what happened to her, and it's just to say that if you want to point to Saudi Arabia as a controversial country, you should also mention other countries that we're not talking about.”

In previous years, Medvedev, Alexander Zverev, Gael Monfils and Cameron Norrie went to Riyadh for the Diriyah Tennis Cup in 2019 and 2022. This was the first year the Kingdom managed to lure the likes of Djokovic, Nadal, Alcaraz and Sinner. And by the looks of it, the annual Saudi-based events are here to stay, possibly even as an official ATP event.

As such, Ruud believes he might eventually be forced to change his stance on Saudi Arabia. 

"So far, I have chosen not to go there, but it seems inevitable to me that they will be big in tennis in the future, and they already have the Next Gen Finals, so let's see what the future holds," he said.

In addition to the Next Gen Finals in December, the year-ending WTA Finals will be held in Riyadh next month. The latter is a groundbreaking event that will see female tennis players play in the country for the first time, even though legends such as Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert have called the event "a step backward" for women's tennis.