Nadal and Alcaraz Face Off in High-Stakes Netflix Slam: A New Era of Tennis Exhbitions

Nadal and Alcaraz greet each other in the Netflix Slam (Netflix).

The lights of the MGM Grand Garden Arena lost strength until they went out completely to make way for two tennis players who shine with their own light. Rafa and Carlos. Nadal and Alcaraz. The legend against the prodigy. A face to face between the two is always a guarantee of success, of spectacle, even if there is nothing more at stake than winning to reinforce morale. The Netflix Slam had a movie ending. A match like this deserved to end with suspense. We had to wait for the super tie break to know the winner. Finally, Alcaraz won (3-6, 6-4 and 14-12), although that is the least important thing because people went to see the show and that is what they had.

The creators of this show call it the Netflix Slam, which is a bombastic way of referring to a simple exhibition match, but Americans like these kinds of ultra-processed shows. Especially if they are held in Las Vegas and are sponsored by one of its large casinos, which always gives it enormous interest from a betting point of view. The organization offered fans the option of being able to train beforehand with the players individually and even share a table during a dinner by paying 138,800 euros. All under the umbrella of Netflix, which broadcast the game live for the first time in its history and dug deep into its pockets to do so.

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In the case of Rafa Nadal, the American company has paid one and a half million euros to get him to participate, while Carlos Alcaraz has been paid one million. Exorbitant figures, even more so when compared to the bonuses distributed in the Grand Slams. The last one of which there is reference is the Australian Open, where Sinner, champion of the tournament, took home 1.9 million euros. He had to play seven best-of-five-set matches, instead of one in two sets, like Nadal and Alcaraz’s exhibition, and pay for a three-week stay for himself and his entire team in Melbourne.

Nadal and Alcaraz during the Netflix exhibition (Netflix)

The transmission channel is new, but a dynamic that is beginning to gain more and more strength is not. While the intermediate or low profile tournaments -ATP 250 or 500- begin to lose competitive links with the circuit, the exhibitions are erupting into an overly packed calendar. Concentrated before the end of the year in the preseason framework, they are becoming embedded in the tennis agenda. Thus began the Laver Cup promoted by Federer, which today appears as just another tournament to be played.

Saudi Arabia is giving clues to what it is capable of. First it organized exhibitions in December during the preseason, then it took over the Next Gen Finals, it will soon announce the Women’s Masters, and in October it will hold the first edition of the ‘6 Kings Grand Slam’ in Riyadh, an exhibition tournament that will bring together six of the best rackets on the planet. The most recognized and recognizable tennis players of the moment will be there.

On the poster are Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, Daniil Medvedev and Holger Rune, seduced by the financial reward to be received. Last week the ATP made official its strategic and million-dollar alliance with Saudi Arabia that definitively broke the entry barriers to tennis. Fireworks and neon lights, the show must go on.

2024-03-05 20:49:00
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