After turning to golf amid Shanghai Masters absence, Carlos Alcaraz finally makes his return to tennis court ahead of Six Kings Slam

After winning the 2025 US Open, Carlos Alcaraz won the Japan Open before sitting out the Shanghai Masters due to a left ankle injury sustained during the first round match in Tokyo. Though Alcaraz battled through injury and even won the tournament, his camp decided that it would be in his best interest to skip Shanghai to rest and recover.

Alcaraz is back on court to practice ahead of the Six Kings Slams. The tournament is scheduled to take place from October 15 to October 18, 2025, at the ANB Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Earlier, the World No. 1 was spotted playing golf at the Open de España Pro-Am. This is Spain's national open golf championship. Alcaraz competed in the tournament as an amateur partner to Jon Rahm, a former World No. 1, who has won two major championships. Rahm spoke highly of the Spaniard during an interview with Fox News Digital:

"As [Rafael] Nadal is coming to an end of his career, to all of a sudden, overnight, Carlos shows up and becomes the greatest next star. It’s so interesting. All of a sudden, you go from Nadal with 22 Grand Slams and has accomplished all these great things, boom. Two years later, this guy has four. It’s absolutely insane. "Can’t say enough good things about him. You got a guy that carries himself well, very charismatic. He's absolute fire on the court and somebody that definitely provides a lot of entertainment. It’s quite special."

Alcaraz is only 22 years old, but he already has six Grand Slams to his name on top of 24 ATP titles.

Carlos Alcaraz preparing to compete against elite players in Riyadh

The Six Kings Slams will feature top-ranked male tennis players, including Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner (2024 champion), Novak Djokovic, Alexander Zverev, Taylor Fritz and Stefanos Tsitsipas (replacing the injured Jack Draper).

As one of the top two seeds, Alcaraz receives a first-round bye and, therefore, he will face the winner of the match between Zverev and Fritz on Thursday, October 16, 2025. His match will be played at ANB Arena, an 8,000-seat capacity stadium built specially for Six Kings Slams.

The six-player field will receive a guaranteed participation fee of $1.5 million. The winner will receive an additional $4.5 million. Therefore, the winning amount exceeds the $5 million awarded to the 2025 US Open champion.

Edited by Krutik Jain