The Tennis podcast host, Catherine Whitaker, has defended Carlos Alcaraz's move to withdraw from the 2025 Shanghai Masters. The Spaniard was last seen in action at the Japan Open on tour.Alcaraz entered Tokyo after title-winning runs in New York and Cincinnati. He started his campaign by cruising past Brandon Nakashima and Casper Ruud in the initial few rounds and then eliminated Taylor Fritz to win the title.Whitaker felt that the ATP was accountable for its flawed financial structure and scheduling of Masters 1000 events on tour. She revealed Alcaraz had already received a bigger pay cheque to compete in events leading up to the Shanghai Masters."The ATP have created a system where the main incentive to play these 1000s really is financial now. Carlos Alcaraz doesn't need to worry about that, because he can get far bigger financial incentive elsewhere. And I don't blame him, because I think these two weeks-long 1000s are an absolute disaster," Whitacker said View this post on Instagram Instagram PostThe tennis podcast was launched in 2012 and is popular for its coverage of tennis news, results, and tournaments from around the world. The show has featured former tennis players such as Andy Murray, Chris Evert, and Marion Bartoli.Whitaker highlighted the massive appearance fee being awarded to players by tournament organisers these days. She felt the Shanghai Masters missed out by offering a less competitive structure this year. "He's played the Laver Cup, got an appearance fee, massive. He's played Tokyo, don't know the number, but he got a massive appearance fee, bigger than whatever Beijing were offering. He's going to play the Six King's Slam, and he's going to miss Shanghai, which in theory should've been the biggest and most heavily incentivized tournament in amongst those," she addedThe Brit also pointed out that Alcaraz didn’t break any rules by pulling out of Shanghai and won’t lose much in the ATP Rankings thanks to his strong results this year."I don't blame him personally. It's clear that if you're doing well enough at Slams, and if you're winning a couple of them a year as Alcaraz and Sinner are, your ranking is going to take care of itself. So Carlos Alcaraz is kind of going like, OK, if those are the rules of the game, I'm going to play by those rules," she concludedCarlos Alcaraz secures $1.3 million for competing in the Six Kings Slam 2025Alcaraz at the Kinoshita Group Japan Open - Day 7 - Source: GettyThe Six Kings Slam is back with another exciting edition this year. The popular exhibition event will give away $13.5 million in prize money this year.Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, Novak Djokovic, Alexander Zverev, Stefanos Tsitsipas, and Taylor Fritz are expected to feature in the Six Kings Slam this year. Each player is guaranteed $1.3 million for participating in the event.The winner of the tournament will receive $6 million in prize money this year. The Six Kings Slam will begin on October 15, 2025.