RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) 鈥� starts his pre-retirement farewell tour against Carlos Alcaraz on Thursday at the Six Kings Slam, and faces Jannik Sinner at an exhibition event that awards money but no ATP ranking points and is .
next month to open a three-year deal as the kingdom continues to invest in various sports, despite concerns about LGBTQ+ and women鈥檚 rights there and others.
In Wednesday's matches at the Six Kings Slam, 鈥� who was cleared in a doping case shortly before winning the U.S. Open last month, although 鈥� beat 6-0, 6-3, and defeated Holger Rune 6-4, 6-2.
Nadal, an ambassador for the Saudi Tennis Federation, and Djokovic were given byes into the semifinals.
The matchup against Alcaraz will be the first contest for in July 鈥� and his first match since he announced last week that he would be retiring after playing for Spain in the Davis Cup next month. Nadal and Alcaraz played doubles together at the Paris Games and could team up again for Davis Cup.
Looking ahead to Thursday's exhibition, Alcaraz called Nadal a 鈥渓egend鈥� and 鈥渁 really important person for my life, for my career.鈥�
met for real on Sunday: Sinner won in straight sets to earn the trophy at the Shanghai Masters.
After a day off on Friday, the winners of Thursday鈥檚 two matches in Riyadh will meet in the event鈥檚 final on Saturday.
Nadal, 38, owns 22 Grand Slam titles; Djokovic, 37, has won 24, a record for the Open era.
Sinner won his first two Grand Slam trophies in 2024, and Alcaraz collected the two other men's majors this season to raise his career total to four. Medvedev won the 2021 U.S. Open.
Rune is the only member of the six-player field without a major championship and the only one who hasn't been ranked No. 1.
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The Associated Press
