6 Kings Slam becomes latest addition to Riyadh Season calendar

Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority has detailed plans for ‘6 Kings Slam’, a non-ranking tennis event featuring high-profile men’s players that will form part of the 2024 Riyadh Season calendar.

The event will take place in October and feature Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev, Jannik Sinner and Holger Rune.

Djokovic has played in Saudi Arabia before having taken part in the Riyadh Season Tennis Cup, which was held in the city on December 26-27 last year. That event also featured Alcaraz, Aryna Sabalenka and Ons Jabeur.

6 Kings Slam becomes the latest addition to Riyadh Season, a cultural and entertainment festival that has featured a host of sporting events in recent months.

Last month, the World Snooker Tour became the latest sports body to strike a Saudi events deal, as the World Masters of Snooker was added to the expanding Riyadh Season calendar. The invitational event will take place from March 4-6 at Riyadh’s Boulevard Arena.

Upcoming events on the Riyadh Season calendar include the ‘Knockout Chaos’ boxing event, which will feature a fight between Anthony Joshua and Francis Ngannou, and PFL Champions vs Bellator Champions.

News of the 6 Kings Slam event comes after recent reports suggested that Saudi Arabia was in talks to acquire either the Madrid Open or Miami Open, which are among the leading tennis tournaments outside of the four grand slams.

The tournaments are owned by IMG, the sports and entertainment agency that is part of the Endeavor group. Saudi officials are said to have been in talks with top tennis executives for more than a year about multiple potential investments, with inroads having already been made.

Jeddah’s King Abdullah Sports City already serves as the host venue for the Next Gen ATP Finals in a five-year deal that commenced in 2023, and Saudi Arabia has also been linked with a deal to host the WTA Finals.

In other news, the Jeddah Central Development Company (JCDA) has appointed the consortium of the Saudi branch of the China Railway Construction Corporation and Sama Construction for Contracting to build a new sports stadium in the city.

The stadium will meet FIFA specifications and will have a capacity of 45,000. It will form part of the wider Jeddah Central Destination project.