RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Rafael Nadal starts his pre-retirement farewell tour against Carlos Alcaraz on Thursday at the Six Kings Slam, and Novak Djokovic faces Jannik Sinner at an exhibition event that awards money but no ATP ranking points and is Saudi Arabia's latest foray into tennis.
Riyadh will host the WTA Finals next month to open a three-year deal as the kingdom continues to invest in various sports, despite concerns about LGBTQ+ and women’s rights there raised by Hall of Famers Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova and others.
In Wednesday's matches at the Six Kings Slam, the top-ranked Sinner — who was cleared in a doping case shortly before winning the U.S. Open last month, although the World Anti-Doping Agency has appealed that exoneration — beat Daniil Medvedev 6-0, 6-3, and Alcaraz defeated Holger Rune 6-4, 6-2.
Nadal, an ambassador for the Saudi Tennis Federation, and Djokovic were given byes into the semifinals.
The matchup against Alcaraz will be the first contest for Nadal since his exit at the Paris Olympics in July — and his first match since he announced last week that he would be retiring after playing for Spain in the Davis Cup next month. Nadal and Alcaraz played doubles together at the Paris Games and could team up again for Davis Cup.
Looking ahead to Thursday's exhibition, Alcaraz called Nadal a “legend” and “a really important person for my life, for my career.”
Djokovic and Sinner met for real on Sunday: Sinner won in straight sets to earn the trophy at the Shanghai Masters.
After a day off on Friday, the winners of Thursday’s two matches in Riyadh will meet in the event’s final on Saturday.
Nadal, 38, owns 22 Grand Slam titles; Djokovic, 37, has won 24, a record for the Open era.
Sinner won his first two Grand Slam trophies in 2024, and Alcaraz collected the two other men's majors this season to raise his career total to four. Medvedev won the 2021 U.S. Open.
Rune is the only member of the six-player field without a major championship and the only one who hasn't been ranked No. 1.
AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
Jannik Sinner of Italy serves his winning shot against Novak Djokovic of Serbia during the men's singles match in the Shanghai Masters tennis tournament at Qizhong Forest Sports City Tennis Center in Shanghai, China, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
Jannik Sinner of Italy, right, chats with Novak Djokovic of Serbia during a trophy ceremony after their men's singles finals match for the Shanghai Masters tennis tournament at Qizhong Forest Sports City Tennis Center in Shanghai, China, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
Carlos Alcaraz of Spain plays a backhand return against Tomas Machac of the Czech Republic during the men's singles quarterfinals match in the Shanghai Masters tennis tournament at Qizhong Forest Sports City Tennis Center in Shanghai, China, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
FILE - Rafael Nadal of Spain returns the ball against Marton Fucsovics of Hungary during the men's singles tennis competition, at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Sunday, July 28, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez, File)
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Witnesses reported seeing a group of armed people harassing hurricane relief workers in a remote Tennessee community last weekend, a sheriff said Wednesday as a man in North Carolina appeared in court for allegedly threatening aid workers in that state.
Although there is no indication that the incidents are related, they come with the Federal Emergency Management Agency facing rampant disinformation about its response to Hurricane Helene, which came ashore in Florida on Sept. 26 before heading north and leaving a trail of destruction across six states. Reports of threats to aid workers sparked a temporary shift in how FEMA was operating in western North Carolina.
In Tennessee, Carter County Sheriff Mike Farley said that witnesses reported Saturday that FEMA workers were being harassed by a small group of armed people in the remote community of Elk Mills, not far from the North Carolina border. No arrests were made, but Farley said that the people who showed up were looking to cause trouble.
“It was a little hairy situation, no guns were drawn, but they were armed,” Farley told The Associated Press.
Farley said his department was setting up a 24-hour command post in Elk Mills because of what happened. The region is still largely cut off from the rest of the state because Helene damaged and destroyed many bridges and roads.
“The community in that area has been great to work with, but this group is trying to create more hate toward the federal government,” Farley said.
Over the weekend, reports emerged that FEMA workers aiding the Helene efforts could be targeted by a militia, but authorities later said they believed that a man who was arrested and accused of making threats acted alone. FEMA has said operational changes were made to keep personnel safe “out of an abundance of caution,” but workers were back in the field Monday.
William Parsons, the man accused of making the threats in North Carolina, said he believed social media reports that FEMA was refusing to help people, but that he realized that wasn't the case when he arrived in hard-hit Lake Lure, a small community about 25 miles (40 kilometers) southeast of Asheville.
During a phone interview with WGHP-TV, the 44-year-old Parsons read aloud a social media post he made that said “We the people” were looking for volunteers on Saturday to “overtake the FEMA site in Lake Lure and send the products up the mountains.”
Parsons, of Bostic, explained that he believed FEMA was withholding supplies and that his post was a call for action, not violence.
“So we were going to go up there and forcefully remove that fence,” he said, but he found a different situation than he expected in Lake Lure. He said he wound up volunteering that day in the relief effort, but law enforcement officers cast doubt on that claim Wednesday.
Capt. Jamie Keever, of the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office, said soldiers called the sheriff’s office on Saturday after a Polk County gas station attendant relayed a “vague threat” made by a customer, later identified as Parsons, that he would “go mess up some FEMA personnel” in Rutherford County, The Citizen-Times reported.
In an email Wednesday, Keever said Parsons was arrested at a Lake Lure grocery store that was a site for a FEMA bus and a donation site for relief efforts.
“It does not appear Parsons was involved in any relief efforts at the time and if so why was he armed,” Keever said. “I think based off of his statement he was prepared to take action with his firearms and take the donations.”
Parsons had an AR-style rifle and two handguns, according to his arrest warrant.
Sheriff’s officials said Parsons was charged with “going armed to the terror of the public,” a misdemeanor, and released after posting bond. The sheriff’s office said initial reports indicated that a “truckload of militia” was involved in making the threat, but further investigation determined that Parsons acted alone.
Parsons told WGHP-TV that he had a legally owned gun on his hip and his legally owned rifle and pistol in his vehicle.
A public defender was appointed for Parsons during a court appearance Wednesday, WYFF-TV reported. His next court date is Nov. 12. The public defender's office didn't immediately respond to a call seeking comment.
Brumfield reported from Baltimore.
People gather at a FEMA Disaster Recovery Center at A.C. Reynolds High School in Asheville, N.C.,, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Makiya Seminera)
People gather at a FEMA Disaster Recovery Center at A.C. Reynolds High School in Asheville, N.C.,, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Makiya Seminera)
Signs are seen at a FEMA Disaster Recovery Center at A.C. Reynolds High School in Asheville, N.C., Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Makiya Seminera)
