Novak Djokovic Wins ‘This’ Mouth-Watering Prize Money Despite Losing to Jannik Sinner at Six Kings Slam

Novak Djokovic has now lost six consecutive matches against World No.2 Jannik Sinner.

Novak Djokovic Wins ‘This’ Mouth-Watering Prize Money Despite Losing to Jannik Sinner at Six Kings Slam

Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic (X/The Tennis Letter)

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For the second consecutive time, Novak Djokovic lost to Jannik Sinner in the semifinals of the Six Kings Slam. On October 16, Djokovic suffered a 6-4, 6-2 defeat to the Italian ace, but he is still a part of the Riyadh exhibition.

October 17 will be the rest day, given that an ATP rule doesn’t allow players to compete for three consecutive days in an exhibition event. On the following day, Djokovic will be squaring off against Taylor Fritz, who lost to Carlos Alcaraz in the first semifinal.

Despite the defeats to Sinner and Alcaraz, respectively, Djokovic and Fritz will take home $1.5 million each as participation fees. Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas– both of whom made their debut in the event- did not even win a set against Fritz and Sinner in the quarterfinals, respectively, but pocketed $1.5 million each.

But the winner will win an additional $4.5 million, with the total prize money being $6 million. Last year, the $6 million was taken home by Sinner by beating Alcaraz in three sets. The World No.1 and World No.2 will once again be scheduled to clash in the final.

Last year, Sinner lost to the 22-year-old three times in official events and only won a match against the Spaniard when they met in Riyadh. Win or no win, Sinner will continue to trail 5-10 in the head-to-head matchups against the six-time Grand Slam champion as the Riyadh exhibition is not an ATP-sanctioned event.

Robbie Koenig thinks Novak Djokovic is not doing cardio enough

Novak Djokovic has won just the Geneva Open this year, as Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz are the only players who are dominating on the tour a great deal since the 2024 season. Djokovic also played the final of the Miami Open, though he failed to beat Jakub Mensik.

Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic (Image via X/The Tennis Letter)

Apart from the two events, the 24-time Grand Slam champion also reached the semifinals of every Major. While watching Djokovic play at the Australian Open, former player Robbie Koenig made some observations.

My biggest takeaway is, I wonder exactly how much cardio work he’s been doing? I said it the whole year, even when I saw him playing in Australia, I just get the feeling, and this is me guessing, I don’t know, but is he more concerned about keeping the body healthy and not working quite so much on the cardio side, is he neglecting that a little bit because he wants to stay injury free?

Robbie Koenig said on the Inside In Podcast

Before the Six Kings Slam, Djokovic was in Shanghai for the penultimate Masters 1000 of the season. The four-time Shanghai Masters champion, however, fell in straight sets against eventual winner Valentin Vacherot in the semifinals.

As long as he starts tournaments injury-free, with a lesser lung capacity, there’a sense that he thinks he can play himself in a little bit and I think we’ve seen a bit of that historically but I think this year, he been found short physically, that’s my eye test when I see him even after a couple of games, you can see how heavily he’s breathing and I wonder if he’s not been pushing the cardio as much as other seasons.

Robbie Koenig added

Following the Six Kings Slam, while other top players will shift their focus toward the Paris Masters, Djokovic will once again be skipping the tournament. It was here back in 2023 that the 38-year-old last lifted a Masters 1000 title. After skipping the last Masters 1000 of the season, Djokovic will be featuring in the first edition of an ATP 250 tournament in Athens in November.

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