Jannik Sinner won the inaugural edition of the Six Kings Slam last year. However, despite his status as the exhibition tournament's defending champion, at this year's edition, the Italian hasn't received a bye. Instead, his rivals Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz have been given byes because of their greater Major title hauls. This has sparked a backlash against the tournament from fans.Sinner, a four-time Major champion, is set to begin his 2025 Six Kings Slam campaign with a quarterfinal clash against Stefanos Tsitsipas. Meanwhile, Djokovic, a 24-time Slam winner, and Alcaraz, a six-time champion at Majors, are slated to start their respective campaigns directly from the semis.Several fans failed to understand the reasoning behind the Six Kings Slam's decision to not give defending champion Jannik Sinner a bye."This is disrespectful to Sinner honestly. He is the DEFENDING CHAMPION for heaven's sake! Why not just base it on ranking at the very least, and have the winners of the QFs face him and Alcaraz 👶🏻🐐in the semis🙄," one fan wrote."Not a Sinner fan but it’s stupid, djoc (Djokovic) lost to him every semi they played this year," commented another."I thought it was based on rankings Sinner and Alcaraz should be in semifinals And what is Tsitsipas even doing there," another fan chimed in."He is the defending champion there...he should get a bye instead of faker," opined one."Idc as a defending champion this is low-key disrespectful smh.. anyway go get your money and get all the Slams next year.. The hunt for calendar slam is on for our GOAT," another added."Such a sad day for tennis," weighed in yet another fan.Jannik Sinner defeated Carlos Alcaraz in final of inaugural Six Kings Slam; spoke up about rivalry with Spaniard after comeback winJannik Sinner poses with the 2025 Six Kings Slam trophy (Source: Getty)Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz battled it out for the 2025 Six Kings Slam trophy and the staggering $6 million paycheck last year. The Spaniard put himself in pole position to win by taking the first set 7-6(5). However, the Italian stormed back into the match and took the next two sets 6-3, 6-3 to win the inaugural edition of the exhibition event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.Following the result, Sinner shared his thoughts on his rivalry with Alcaraz, saying:"I wake up in the morning trying to understand the ways to beat him. These kind of rivalries and players push us to our 100% limit. I’m happy about this today. But the reason we came here was to show all of you what tennis is about. It can be long sometimes, like today. But we just try our best. Hopefully, you enjoyed the show."Currently, both Sinner and Alcaraz are featuring in this year's Asian swing of the ATP Tour. While the Italian is going strong at the China Open in Beijing, the Spaniard is making the most of his debut campaign at the Japan Open in Tokyo.