Explained: Saudi Arabia's clever plan to dodge ATP Tour rules for 6 Kings Slam tennis tournament

Saudi Arabia is in overdrive as far as expanding its footprint on sporting world in concerned and the latest in its initiative is the “6 Kings Slam” which will see Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal participate in an exhibition event in Saudi Arabia in October. Carlos Alcaraz, new Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner, Daniil Medvedev and Holger Rune will also be part of the tournament which will take place in Riyadh. Spaniard Nadal, who signed up as an ambassador for the Saudi Arabian Tennis Federation last month, said he was looking forward to the event. “After some other tennis players have done so, I am very excited to play for the first time in Riyadh,” the 22-times Grand Slam champion said in the press release. Apart from the star cast, another aspect about 6 Kings Slam is that the tennis tournament is expected to follow a “two days on, one day off” pattern which will allow big stars to participate in the competition without facing the ire of ATP Tour. As per the new rules of ATP Tour, the elite tennis players will be stripped of their “Platinum Status” if they take part in unofficial tournaments lasting “three or more consecutive days”. Saudi Arabia’s clever plan The organisers of 6 Kings Slam (General Entertainment Authority) have decided to divide the tournament in such a away that it doesn’t run for more than two days at a time, reported The Telegraph. There’s another loophole that 6 Kings Slam is targeting. While exhibition events in the Gulf are nothing new, they are usually played during breaks in the ATP season or after it has finished. The ATP has a full schedule in October, including mandatory Masters 1000 tournaments in Shanghai and Paris. But the start date of 14 October allows players to escape another ATP Tour rule which bans top-30 players from appearing in exhibitions in the same week as Masters 1000 or ATP 500 events. The week of 14 October is scheduled to have only two ATP 250s which means top players can easily participate in Riyadh tournament. What is Platinum Status? A tennis player requires a Platinum Status to receive a share from the end-of-year bonus pool. This a methodology through which ATP Tour shares profits with the top players. For last year, the end-of-year bonus pool was almost $12.5 million. With agency inputs