Six Kings Slam moved to December after deadly Riyadh attacks

The Six Kings Slam tennis exhibition in Riyadh has been postponed until 27-30 December after deadly attacks on the Saudi capital, BBC Sport reported. The event had been due to begin on 21 October, with Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic and Alexander Zverev among the players scheduled to take part. The change moves the exhibition from its planned October slot to the end of the year.

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The original programme was for a three-day competition. Australia's Alex de Minaur and Americans Taylor Fritz and Learner Tien were also expected to play, according to the BBC report. This will be the exhibition's third edition; Italy's Jannik Sinner won last year's tournament. The reported postponement gives new dates for the event, rather than cancelling it outright.

The decision follows attacks launched by Yemen's Houthi movement over the weekend. BBC Sport reported that a missile strike on Riyadh's airport on Saturday killed 13 people and injured more than 300. The exhibition venue, ANB Arena, is in northern Riyadh, approximately 31 kilometres from King Khalid International Airport. Saudi oil and gas facilities were also targeted.

In a statement to BBC Sport, the organisers said they had assessed the organisational and logistical difficulties involved in staging the tournament and how those could affect spectators' experience. They linked the decision to Riyadh Season's commitment to its event standards. Their explanation focused on those hosting considerations as the regional security situation continued to disrupt the sporting calendar.

Football has already been affected. Three Saudi Pro League fixtures were postponed on Tuesday, with Al-Riyadh against Al-Hilal and Al-Ittihad against Al-Shabab moved to December. Al-Nassr's away match at Al-Ahli was rescheduled for March. The league cited logistical factors. On Monday, Cristiano Ronaldo scored for Al-Nassr in an AFC Champions League game that had been delayed by an hour following a missile alert.

Golf organisers are also reviewing the situation, although the BBC report did not announce a postponement of the PIF Saudi International. The Asian Tour told Reuters it was monitoring developments and discussing the November tournament with Golf Saudi. Its season-ending event remains scheduled for 18-21 November at Riyadh Golf Club, making it another competition whose organisers are assessing the implications of the attacks.