"Money counts" - Carlos Alcaraz gets nod of approval from tennis insider after disagreeing with Jannik Sinner's bold Six Kings Slam claim

A well-known tennis insider recently weighed in on Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz's opposing views regarding the hefty prize money at the inaugural Six Kings Slam in Riyadh. The Insider opined that the Spaniard's sentiments about the prize money felt 'genuine' and 'realistic'.

In a recent interview with Eurosport, Sinner said that his participation in the Six Kings Slam wasn't driven by money. As the winner of the exhibition event, he won $6 million, with the rest of the participants winning at least $1.5 million.

The Italian said that his motivation stemmed from the fact that he would be facing five of the best players in the world during the event (Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Daniil Medvedev, Holger Rune, and Alcaraz).

However, when Carlos Alcaraz was asked to opine on his rival's comments during a pre-tournament conference at the Paris Masters, the Spaniard gave an answer that opposed Jannik Sinner's views. Alcaraz admitted that playing with the highest prize money in tennis history on the line served as motivation for him even though he loved playing competitive tennis.

A recent episode of TennisMania, a show discussing tennis hosted by Dario Puppo available on the OAsporTV channel, featured Eurosport journalists Guido Monaco and Massimiliano Ambesi. The three men discussed the contrasting views of the two rivals regarding money.

Monaco opined that truth was somewhere in the middle of the two opinions but found Carlos Alcaraz's answer 'realistic' and 'genuine' since it didn't cater to anyone and spoke volumes about the importance of money.

"The truth is in the middle, but I prefer Alcaraz's statement which I find more genuine and realistic. You don't always have to answer questions by answering what they want to hear," Monaco said.

"It's true that a lot of money allows you to build a competitive and cutting-edge team around yourself. It's not the same thing that the 30th, 40th, 50th in the world can afford. Money counts, even to stay at that level," he added.

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Jannik Sinner withdraws from Paris Masters due to intestinal virus; Carlos Alcaraz gets off to fiery start

Jannik Sinner (Source: Getty)

Jannik Sinner, who is enjoying the best season of his young tennis career, having won two Majors and reaching the World No. 1 among many other accolades, has had to pull out of the 2024 Paris Masters due to an intestinal virus.

The Italian addressed the issue via the tournament's social media page and stated that it may take him three to four days to recover from the virus and also apologized to the fans for his early leave.

"I am very very sorry for that but see you guys very soon next year and hopefully it's gonna be a great year," Jannik Sinner said.

On the other hand, second seed Carlos Alcaraz kicked off his campaign with a blistering 7-5, 6-1 win over Nicolas Jarry in the second round. He awaits the winner of 15th seed Ugo Humbert vs qualifier Marcos Giron next.