Follow us on Google Discover The Six Kings Slam recently took place, with Jannik Sinner winning the latest match in his rivalry with Carlos Alcaraz.
The tournament, which takes place in Saudi Arabia, featured some of the game’s top players, with Novak Djokovic and Taylor Fritz also present at the competition.
Alexander Zverev got in on the basis that he’s the third-best player in the world, but with Stefanos Tsitsipas making up the six, some criticism has come from fans on social media.
With both of those players not enjoying great years in 2025, there was some critique over potentially using other players more deserving of the place at the lucrative tournament.
Sam Querrey and John Isner, however, don’t believe that notion is entirely fair.
Photo by Fred Lee/Getty ImagesSam Querrey and John Isner defend Zverev and Tsitsipas
In fairness to the people criticising, it’s not really a surprise given that both players pocketed $1.5 million for playing tennis for less than an hour.
The duo were thrashed in their respective matches and headed out of Saudi Arabia almost as quickly as they’d arrived.
Querrey told the Nothing Major podcast, however, that people shouldn’t be so harsh on the two former Grand Slam finalists.
He said: “My one pet peeve on the internet is that (we see) ‘Zverev and Tsitsipas got $1.5m and they were there for 56 minutes’ and everyone is annoyed with it.
“Why are people always annoyed with that, but they are not annoyed with a soccer player or a baseball player or an NFL guy who signs a three-year, $81 million deal and puts up six points and two rebounds a game. They are like good for those guys. Getting paid.
“It’s like no, good for Zverev and Tsitsipas. It’s not like they randomly drew chips out of a hat for the Six Kings Slam. These guys have put together a phenomenal body of work over the course of the last 10 years to deserve that spot to play.
“It does not matter that they lost in under an hour. It does not. They are phenomenal players who deserve to be there and deserve that paycheck.”
Isner echoed the thoughts of his compatriot and said: “What fans are doing is looking at this event in a vacuum. They were invited because of their body of work, not over the last year or two years. It’s their body of work over their whole careers. So good for them.”
Zverev and Tsitsipas deserved place in Six Kings Slam
Zverev might have had a bad season, but he has reached a Grand Slam final this year and has been a consistent figure in the top three of the world rankings.
Tsitsipas has also reached two Grand Slam finals in his career and was the world number three back in 2019.
His participation in the tournament only came when Jack Draper chose not to play, and given that lots of players have been inconsistent this year, he probably did deserve it.
It seems as though the same people who have a gripe with the players picked to play in the Six Kings Slam are the same ones who don’t really care too much for the tournament anyway.
Saudi Arabia are making a genuine go of holding sporting events in their country, and having top-class players like the six that played this year, still made it a sound spectacle.
As Isner and Querrey say, Tsitsipas and Zverev have been largely consistent for 10 years and as a result, it’s a little bit harsh to say they weren’t deserving of their place at the event.