The staggering amount Alexander Zverev earned despite being blitzed by Taylor Fritz at Six Kings Slam

Alexander Zverev slid out of the Six Kings Slam in Saudi Arabia losing 6-3, 6-4 to Taylor Fritz but it was all worth it just to pocket a hefty appearance fee. He won more than Valentin Vacherot did for winning nine matches in 18 hours.

Zverev was part of the Six Kings Slam in Saudi Arabia which features some of tennis's biggest stars including Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic and Stefanos Tsitsipas alongside Zverev and Fritz.

Each player is guaranteed a $1.5million appearance fee just for stepping onto the court. The champion will also walk away with a whopping $4.5million which translates to just over £3m. Zverev's match was just under a hour and was over in a flash. He gets £18,997 for every minute he spent on court and gets to fly home now for the privilege while Fritz heads for the bigger pot of money. He faces off against Carlos Alcaraz who alongside Novak Djokovic will move straight into the semi-finals.

Zverev has had a poor time of it as of late despite the amount he earned in Saudi Arabia. He lost in three sets in the last 32 to one of two surprise stories in the tournament in Arthur Rinderknech. Last year's Six Kings Slams saw Jannik Sinner who came through his opener over Stefanos Tsitsipas defeat Carlos Alcaraz in the final. He sealed a spot in the semi-final with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Tsitsipas. He faces Novak Djokovic in the final four with the winner set to face either Alcaraz or Fritz in Saturday's final.

Carlos Alcaraz defended the use of these tournaments especially with the schedule in the words of players already bordering on too much and often is a bone of conjecture and complaints.

"All I can say is that it's a really different format, different situation playing exhibitions than the official tournaments, having 15, 16 days in row, having such a high focus and demanding physically.

"That's why, because we're just having fun for one or two days and playing some tennis and I think that's great, and I think that's why we choose sometimes the exhibitions.

"Obviously I understand [the criticism], but sometimes the people don't understand us, our opinions. When I see a lot of people complaining about how we are defending the exhibitions, I don't understand them because, as I said, it's not really demanding mentally [compared to] when we're having such long events - like two weeks or two-and-a-half weeks. It's really tough."