Hot shots, soccer skills and a visit from Neymar: Six Kings Slam kicks off in Saudi Arabia

Tennis royalty met soccer royalty on the opening night of the 'Six Kings Slam' exhibition event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, as Brazilian forward Neymar was among the fans in attendance to watch Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner debut victorious in the competition.

Alcaraz and Sinner's wins set up semifinal matches for 2024's major winners with Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, respectively, on Thursday, but that wasn't the only highlight of the early stages of the three-day display.

Before the three days of competition in the Kingdom's captial began, the six participants were welcomed to the city with tennis-ball themed flower bouquets, and tasty refreshments awaited them when they arrived earlier in the week.

Read more: Grab the popcorn! 'Six Kings Slam' trailer plays like a movie, impresses on social media

On the eve of play, Nadal channeled his inner Neymar by flashing his soccer skills during a high-intensity practice. The 22-time Grand Slam singles champion will play Alcaraz in his first match since announcing that next month's Davis Cup Finals will be the last tournament of his career, and it is a fitting clash. On the tournament's media day, Nadal said that the "next generation" is already "amazing."

"Carlos, Jannik, especially these two guys, are making special things," he said. "I wish them all the best to keep growing in all the ways."

Read more: Rafael Nadal was at peace with retirement even in 2019 '60 Minutes' interview

They showed it on court, too, where Sinner dominated Daniil Medvedev and Alcaraz take on Holger Rune.

Sinner never trailed in a 6-0, 6-3 win over Medvedev, his fifth win over the 2021 US Open champion this year in all arena, in an opening match that lasted just 69 minutes.

This Sinner hot shot, flicked past Medvedev at the net, to close out a 21-rally drew particular applause.

Later in the day, Alcaraz eased to a 6-4, 6-2 triumph over Rune, and said he was ready to bring "full power" against his idol Nadal in the semifinals, drawing cheers from the crowd.

"The player he is, the legend that he is, it doesn't matter that he stayed away from tennis for ... months, he's going to come back strong," Alcaraz said. "I'm going to go full, without fear."

After his on-court interview, Alcaraz was joined by Neymar as his doubles partner in distributing autographed tennis balls. The Brazilian plays for the Saudi Pro League club Al Hilal, but looked at home on a tennis court as he grabbed one of Alcaraz's racquets to hit balls into the stands.

Play continues in Riyadh on Thursday beginning at 12:30 p.m. ET with Djokovic against Sinner, followed by Alcaraz vs. Nadal. All matches will be aired on T2—fans can visit tennis.com/T2 to see where they can stream it—as well as TennisChannel.com and the Tennis Channel app.