Half a dozen of the world’s top male tennis players will compete in an exhibition tournament in Saudi Arabia in October during a busy month in the ATP Tour season.
The Six Kings Slam event will form part of the Saudi cultural and entertainment festival Riyadh Season and feature the likes of Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal.
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Grand slam winners Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev, and Jannik Sinner will also participate, as well as Holger Rune.
The ATP already has a full schedule in October, with leading Masters 1000 events in Shanghai and Paris taking place.
Exhibition events are typically played during breaks in the ATP season or after it has finished but this latest move by Saudi in its attempts to bring global sports events to the kingdom could create a battle with the ATP.
Nadal recently signed up as an ambassador for the Saudi Arabian Tennis Federation.
Saudi Arabia already hosts the Next Gen ATP Finals end-of-season under-21 event in Jeddah under a five-year deal agreed with the ATP through 2027.
It marked the first official professional tennis event to take place in the nation.
The country is also reportedly in discussions over potentially hosting the women's WTA Finals.
The kingdom is now expanding into tennis following recent heavy investment in golf, Formula 1, soccer, and boxing.
ATP chairman Andrea Gaudenzi recently confirmed that he held talks with Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth Public Investment Fund about possible co-investments into the tour’s infrastructure, technology, and events (in new markets).
