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Recreational competitors will have the possibility to win A$1m when they take on elite players - including top-ranked the Spanish champion - in a winner-takes-all point leading up to January's Australian Open

Event planners of the year's first Grand Slam have announced the $1 Million Single-Point Tournament, which will pit a dozen non-professionals against top-ranked players in a elimination competition at the Australian Open venue

How the Event Will Work

Competitors are set to play 'rock, paper, scissors' to determine who serves or receives, and the player who wins the point will advance to the subsequent phase

The victor of the event will receive £490,000

Contextually, players who advanced to the penultimate round of the primary tournaments in the previous year's tournament won A$1.1m

Past Related Competitions

The American Grand Slam hosted a revamped, separate combined gender tournament in the eighth month which motivated top singles players to compete, with the victors receiving one million US dollars

The Melbourne tournament held its first-ever single-point competition this year, but the total purse was A$60,000 and it generated little publicity

One top competitor was the single high-ranked athlete involved, and his campaign concluded when he directed the one and only serve permitted into the net in his penultimate round

Event Information

Planners have not detailed exactly how the event will operate, but it is expected to follow a comparable structure to the previous version

The elite players will be granted to serve once and the non-professionals twice - as is the standard practice in standard play

While it is unclear how the bracket will work, there will be multiple elimination stages and the venue will be the primary court rather than the secondary venue

The concluding rounds will occur in a night session instead of 1pm local time

Entry Requirements

Local players - or overseas competitors who have signed up with the national federation - can enter 'One Point Slam' competitions at their neighborhood facilities

The winners of the local competitions will then go into a random pairing, with one amateur player from every region and area selected to compete in the 'championship round' in a evening match on Wednesday, 14 January

There will also be a preliminary competition in December which non-professionals, developing professionals, famous personalities and sports personalities can enter

It begins on the starting date and the pair of champions will advance to the following day's 'grand finale' with the other eight amateurs and elite competitors

"Regardless of your skill level, the overall victor will walk away with the award. Applications will open soon at facilities across the country"

Tournament officials stated there were "more big names to be unveiled imminently", while the tournament site said "famous personalities" would be involved