For 59 minutes of tennis
Zverev fails – and collects a sum of millions
October 16, 2025 – 10:55 a.mReading time: 2 minutes
Alexander Zverev’s form crisis continues. The German tennis star also disappointed in Riyadh. After all, despite the bankruptcy, he collected a large sum of money.
Bitter defeat for Alexander Zverev: The world number three failed in the first round of the Six Kings Slam in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) with 3:6, 4:6 to Taylor Fritz. It was the seventh defeat in a row against the Americans. This means that the tournament ends early for Zverev. Nevertheless, the 28-year-old really cashes in for his performance, which only lasted 59 minutes.
The opening fee in Riyadh alone is 1.5 million US dollars (around 1.3 million euros). A possible tournament victory would have brought Zverev another 4.5 million dollars (around 3.9 million euros).
Zverev, who had already failed early in his last ATP tournaments, started the match weakly and immediately gave up his first service game. That was enough for Fritz to win the first set after less than half an hour. In the second round, Zverev also received a quick break to make it 1:2, which he was unable to catch up with.
And how was he doing physically? When the score was 1:3 in the first set, Zverev grabbed his back, his face contorted in pain. The 2021 Olympic champion has been suffering from back problems for months, and even a course of injections only helped to a limited extent.
In terms of sport, the invitational event in Saudi Arabia is meaningless, but the line-up is top-class. Six top players are guests. There are no world ranking points or titles to be won, but there are record bonuses. The winner will receive a total of six million US dollars (more than 5 million euros). Tennis stars can’t earn so much with any Grand Slam triumph.
Ex-professional Boris Becker explained in a joint podcast with Andrea Petković that there was “a lot of money” at the Six Kings Slam, but “no points and no respect from the tennis scene.” Critics see the tournament as another example of so-called sportswashing, with which Saudi Arabia wants to distract attention internationally from its human rights violations and polish its image.