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Recreational competitors will have an opportunity to claim one million Australian dollars when they compete against tennis' top professionals - headed by top-ranked Carlos Alcaraz - in a single-point showdown before the year's first major

Event planners of the Australian Open have revealed the Million Dollar One Point Slam, which will pit a dozen non-professionals against 22 professionals in a elimination competition at Melbourne Park

This Innovative Event Will Work

Players will play 'rock, paper, scissors' to decide who gets to serve or return, and the competitor securing the point will move forward to the following stage

The champion of the event will take home approximately half a million pounds

By comparison, players who made it to the final four of the main draw competitions in the 2025 Australian Open won over a million Australian dollars

Previous Comparable Tournaments

The New York major staged a restructured, independent combined gender tournament in August which prompted top singles players to take part, with the champions receiving one million US dollars

The Melbourne tournament held its first-ever One Point Slam in the current season, but the cash prize was a smaller amount and it had limited exposure

Andrey Rublev was the only top-10 player competing, and his run came to an end when he directed the single service opportunity granted failing to clear the net in his penultimate round

Event Specifics

Planners have not specified precisely how the event will function, but it is expected to follow a akin setup to the previous version

The professionals will be allowed to serve once and the everyday players twice - as is the usual procedure in standard play

While it is uncertain how the pairings will work, there will be multiple elimination stages and the site will be the primary court rather than the smaller Kia Arena

The concluding rounds will occur in a nighttime schedule instead of 1pm local time

Entry Information

Any Australians - or foreign participants who have registered with the governing body - can compete in 'One Point Slam' tournaments at their local tennis clubs

The winners of the community events will then go into a random pairing, with a single non-professional from every geographic division picked to take part in the 'final competition' in a evening match on mid-January

There will also be a preliminary competition in late year which non-professionals, developing professionals, celebrities and sports personalities can enter

It commences on Monday, 12 January and the pair of champions will advance to Wednesday's 'final showdown' with the other eight amateurs and top-ranked athletes

"No matter your experience, the ultimate winner will receive the prize. Applications will open soon at clubs throughout the nation"

Event organizers stated there were "more big names to be announced soon", while the tournament site said "celebrities" would be participating