Diriyah Tennis Cup

The Diriyah Tennis Cup is a very popular men’s tennis exhibition event, held in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia.

The Diriyah Tennis Cup takes place at the ancient city of Diriyah - a UNESCO heritage site where the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was founded. The first edition of the Diriyah Tennis Cup took place in December 2019.

Many players used it as a warm-up event for the Australian Open, which was held one month later in 2020. Since 2019, there have only been two editions of the event, in 2019 and 2022. Initially, only a singles competition took place.

However, the event organizers introduced a doubles draw for the 2022 finals. Each season, 12 players enter the Diriyah Tennis Cup competition. The four highest-ranked players automatically receive a first-round bye and enter the quarter-final stage.

Then, the remaining eight players compete in the first round for their place in the final quarter-finals. All matches are played under regular ITF rules. But there are some exceptions, such as the third set being replaced by a match tie-break where the first to 10 wins.

In 2022, the four defeated players from the first round continued in the tournament but in a doubles competition instead. For instance, in the 2022 finals, the losing players, Dominic Stricker and Hubert Hurkacz, were knocked out in the opening round of 16.

But the duo went on to win the doubles competition, defeating Matteo Berrettini and Andrey Rublev in the final. Several leading ATP players have entered the previous finals at the Diriyah Tennis Cup.

In the inaugural event in 2019, former Grand Slam winners such as Stan Wawrinka and Daniil Medvedev took part. Medvedev went all the way to win after beating Italian opponent Fabio Fognini in the final.

2022 saw many more top players compete at Diriyah. Medvedev went on another good run, reaching a second consecutive final. However, the Russian eventually lost the final match in straight sets against Taylor Fritz.