The city of Diriyah in Saudi Arabia will host an exhibition tennis event, from December 8th to 10th.
While all eyes are on World Cup in Doha, Diriyah Tennis Cup have some tennis stars for three days. Five of them are from Top 10. For example: Stefanos Tsitsipas, Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev, Taylor Fritz, Hubert Hurkacz.
It is worth to mention: Alexander Zverev is coming back on court after 7-months absence. He tore an ankle in French Open semifinal. Dominic Thiem and Stan Wawrinka will also try their luck, after coming back from hard injuries.
Zverev is so excited to play again:
“I’ll be surrounded by so many tennis stars. It has been a long time I miss this. I am expecting a high-level tournament. The most of them are in active shape. They were competing in Davis cup or ATP Finals not long time ago”,
– Alexander Zverev.
'@GrigorDimitrov, @domithiem and @MattBerrettini spent a part of their day with some sightseeing yesterday ?? They visited the world heritage site At-Turaif! #DiriyahTennisCup #DiriyahSeason #DTC #SaudiArabia #Aramco pic.twitter.com/3gptdiiVWF
— Diriyah Tennis Cup (@DiriyahCup) December 7, 2022
The Rules
Matches will be played with a little bit different rules in Diriyah Tennis Cup:
The first round in singles will be best of three match tie-breaks to 10. After that, matches will continue with regular scoring system. But with an only exception: Instead of 3rd set, there will be a match tie-break to 10.
The losers of first matchday will continue to participate in doubles next day, on December 9th. Semifinals of singles will also be played that day. On Saturday, we will have final matches.
The prize money
This tournament is a possibility for the players to keep their shape and get ready for new season. However, the prize money is also matter.
Diriyah Tennis Cup has $3 000 000 of prize fund. The champion is receiving one million, and runner-up $500 000.
This is the second edition of Diriyah Tennis Cup. The first event was held in 2019. It was Daniil Medvedev who claimed the title, after defeating Fabio Fognini in the final.
