Preview / Schedule Day Two Six Kings Slam - Djokovic and Nadal enter the fray in blockbuster clashes

The second day of action is here at the Six Kings Slam on Thursday evening with our preview looking ahead to the action which will see the semi-finals take place in the first appearances of Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic in Riyadh.

For Nadal similar to Medvedev and Rune yesterday, it is very much win win as he can lose this one match and still pocket $1.5m and of course facing off against his compatriot Carlos Alcaraz for perhaps the final time is one that will garner intrigue and a lot of column inches.

Alcaraz himself said that ‘he’s my idol’ on the tie with Nadal and called it ‘difficult’. It is in the way that Alcaraz cried when Nadal announced his retirement and also is a player that has played such a formidable role in his sporting life and make up. He will likely play a big part also in his actual retirement next month when he plays Davis Cup with him.

He could reform the Nadalcaraz pairing which garnered so much intrigue during the Olympic Games and Alcaraz in a passing of the torch moment will likely be there come what may when he retires. Often a clash that is highly talked about due to the old v new Nadal comparison but is one that is perhaps not wanted by either in the grand scheme of things.

But Nadal will likely relish the fact there is very minimal pressure. Retiring next month from the sport that has given him so much, he will no longer have to fight for wildcards or ranking points and face players who have caught up with him such as Alexander Zverev at Roland Garros. He can just go out and play and given that they had a great duel at the Netflix Slam, the same is likely expected here.

Head to Head wise, Nadal leads it. Two wins at Madrid and Indian Wells in 2021 and 2022 while Alcaraz pulled one back in 2022 in the Madrid Quarter-Final. A match heralded as the passing of the torch and one that has a similar feeling here.

But Alcaraz also has plenty of match practice under his belt that can benefit him. He has been non stop for some months albeit some of it despite his protestations has been his own making despite slamming the ATP Tour. He saw off Holger Rune 6-4, 6-2 yesterday to bring up this clash.

While the other match with $6,000,000 to the winner by the way when that is crowned on Saturday, Jannik Sinner again will face off against Novak Djokovic in a tie only seen last week in the Shanghai Masters final.

Djokovic was accused by outspoken Italian, Adriana Panetta of giving up after an hour but the proof will be in the pudding. They met a lot last season at this juncture and while it won’t be as frequent this time of the year, it is still a clash that can bring the intrigue and one which given Djokovic’s level in Shanghai will likely be a lot more entertaining and worth watching.

Sinner comes into the match having defeated Daniil Medvedev on Wednesday 6-0, 6-3. The World No.1 is currently 4-4 against Djokovic on tour. Their last meeting coming mere days ago in which the Italian prevailed 7-6(4), 6-3. The last five matches have come on hard courts with Sinner winning four and a lot of Sinner’s rise to the top has coincided with wins over the great Serbian. In particular the Davis Cup last year and the Australian Open this year.

Often when he performs it is at the behest of Djokovic. But given it is a one shot tournament with it all on the line, anything can happen.