Carlos Alcaraz shut down the criticism regarding top players' participation in exhibitions as the world No. 1 suggests it is nonsense to compare the exhos with the main-level events.
On Wednesday, the Six Kings Slam kicked off in Riyadh, featuring six major names - Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, Novak Djokovic, Alexander Zverev, Taylor Fritz and Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Throughout the entire season - especially during this period of the year - players have been vocal about the ATP schedule, often describing it as "too demanding" on their bodies but also mental health. And at the start of the extremely star-studded exhibition event in Saudi Arabia, Alcaraz - a frequent critic of the schedule - was called out for signing up for an exho.
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Alcaraz: It's a different format and situation... It is not too demanding
"It's a different format, different situation playing exhibitions than official tournaments, 15-16 days in row, having such a high focus and demanding physically. We're just having fun for one or two days and playing some tennis, and that's great, and why we choose the exhibitions. I understand (the criticism), but sometimes people don't understand us, our opinions. It's not really demanding mentally (compared to) when we're having such long events like two weeks or two and a half weeks," the world No. 1 explained.
Alcaraz directly progressed into the Six Kings Slam semifinal, where he will play against Fritz, who beat Zverev.
For just making an appearance at the Riyadh exhibition, Zverev and Tsitsipas - who lost their opening matches - pocketed $1.5 million. The winner of the tournament is slated to earn a stunning $6 million - which is more prize money than any Grand Slam tournament pays their winners.
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Last year, Alcaraz made the Six Kings Slam final in the event's inaugural exhibition before falling just short to Sinner in a three-set thriller.
A large sum is on the line and there is no doubt that Alcaraz absolutely wants to go a step further in Riyadh this week.
