Carlos Alcaraz signs up for new tournament just hours after £4.5m plans fell apart
Carlos Alcaraz has officially signed up for the upcoming ATP 500 event in Vienna. The world No. 3 is set to make his first appearance at the Vienna Open since 2021, when he beat Andy Murray en route to the semi-finals as an 18-year-old rising star. It comes hours after the lucrative Six Kings Slam exhibition event was postponed. Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic were among those set to compete in Riyadh next week, with £1.1m guaranteed to all players and £4.5m up for grabs to the champion.
Alcaraz finished runner-up to Jannik Sinner at the Six Kings Slam in both 2024 and 2025, but with Sinner sidelined by a knee injury, he would have liked his chances of claiming the trophy and the massive prize cheque. The tournament was expected to be staged on October 21, 22 and 24 next week. But Saudi official Turki Al Alshikh announced that the event would be postponed to December 27 to 30, later this year.
The Spaniard has now turned his attention back to the ATP Tour, deciding to join the Vienna Open field. The tournament gets underway on October 26, but organisers have already confirmed that the seven-time Major champion will play his opening match a day later.
“WELCOME IN VIENNA, CARLOS ALCARAZ!” the tournament wrote on social media. “Last-minute news, huge excitement! Carlos will be kicking off his tournament on Tuesday, October 27!”
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It’s a huge boost for organisers of the ATP 500 event, as reigning champion Sinner is not able to return and defend his crown this year. Alcaraz has typically opted to skip this week in the ATP calendar. After reaching the Vienna semi-finals in 2021, he decided to play the Swiss Indoors Basel in 2022, an ATP 500 tournament running simultaneously in Switzerland.
Alcaraz will be keen to get some extra matches under his belt after spending almost five months sidelined by a wrist injury this year, missing the French Open and Wimbledon. He returned at the US Open, where he reached the quarter-finals.
The world No. 3 has since won a couple of matches at the Laver Cup and successfully defended his title at last week’s ATP 500 event in Tokyo. But he suffered a shock third-round defeat to Zizou Bergs at the Shanghai Masters and struggled with the conditions, ranting to his team as he lost 7-5 7-6(4).
Alcaraz will then head to the Paris Masters, where he lost his opening match to Britain’s Cameron Norrie a year ago, before competing at the ATP Finals in Turin. He is also expected to represent Spain in the Davis Cup Finals at the end of November
