Stefanos Tsitsipas replaces Jack Draper for 2025 Six Kings Slam

The sixth "king" has been announced after Jack Draper withdrew from the 2025 Six Kings Slam, and his name is Stefanos Tsitsipas.

After Draper announced that he would cut his season short, it was quite clear that he wouldn't be able to compete at the 2025 Six Kings Slam, even though it's just an exhibition and there is $1.5 million on offer just for participation.

There were some candidates to replace him for the event organized by Turki Alalshikh in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from October 15th to 18th. Ben Shelton was arguably the hottest candidate to play at the event, as he is currently the sixth-highest-ranked player on the ATP Tour, which would maintain the event's image of having the six best players in the world compete.

However, it seems that Shelton is still struggling with an injury he suffered at the US Open, as he withdrew from the Japan Open in Tokyo. As such, the event organizers had to look for different alternatives.

Holger Rune, who was one of the players competing in the inaugural edition, seemed like a plausible option, but ultimately, the tournament organizers selected, a bit surprisingly, Stefanos Tsitsipas.

The Greek player is in the middle of the worst season of his tennis career, and he has been struggling with a back injury, preventing him from competing regularly or at the level he would want to compete at.

That's why his selection is a bit surprising, but on the other hand, out of the current crop of players, he has all the necessary accolades to deserve being one of the "kings" competing at this event.

Tsitsipas is a three-time Monte-Carlo Masters champion, and he is also the ATP Finals champion. In his career, he beat Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, and Roger Federer. In fact, he beat all of them twice.

Tsitsipas is the sixth "king" added to the line-up, which has been known for a few months already. The first five highest-ranked players on the ATP Tour will all compete in this exhibition event.

Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, Alexander Zverev, Novak Djokovic, and Taylor Fritz are the other five players competing in this event. It's expected to have the same format as last year.

The event is held over four days with one rest day in the middle. That is to ensure compliance with the ATP rules, which currently don't permit players competing at exhibition events that last three consecutive days.

With six players competing, it's expected that two will be seeded for the semi-finals again, with the other four play quarter-final matches. Last year, legends Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal were seeded for the semi-finals (not based on the ranking).

This year, it's expected that the world No. 1 and world No. 2 players, Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, will receive a bye for their first match to start in the semi-finals.