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Everyday tennis enthusiasts are being offered the chance to earn A$1m when they face tennis' top professionals - including top-ranked the Spanish champion - in a single-point showdown leading up to the year's first major

Event planners of the Australian Open have unveiled the $1 Million Single-Point Tournament, which will match a dozen non-professionals against 22 professionals in a knockout tournament at the Australian Open venue

The Unique Event Will Work

Participants must play 'the decision-making game' to determine who takes the serve or return position, and the player who wins the point will move forward to the next round

The winner of the event will receive £490,000

By comparison, players who advanced to the penultimate round of the primary tournaments in the previous year's tournament won substantial prize money

Earlier Comparable Tournaments

The New York major organized a redesigned, standalone combined gender tournament in August which motivated top singles players to take part, with the winners receiving a million-dollar prize

The Australian Open held its first-ever single-point competition in the current season, but the cash prize was a smaller amount and it had limited exposure

The Russian player was the sole elite competitor participating, and his campaign came to an end when he put the single service opportunity permitted into the net in his quarter-final

Event Details

Planners have not specified precisely how the event will operate, but it is projected to follow a comparable structure to the previous version

The professionals will be allowed to have a single serve and the non-professionals two times - as is the standard practice in conventional tennis

While it is not certain how the pairings will work, there will be several competitive phases and the location will be the main stadium rather than the alternative court

The last matches will occur in a evening slot instead of 1pm local time

Participation Details

Domestic competitors - or overseas competitors who have signed up with the governing body - can participate in 'single-point competition' competitions at their local tennis clubs

The champions of the grassroots tournaments will then go into a draw, with an everyday competitor from every region and area chosen to participate in the 'championship round' in a evening match on the specified date

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

It commences on the starting date and the successful competitors will advance to the following day's 'final showdown' with the additional everyday players and elite competitors

"No matter your experience, the overall victor will receive the reward. Applications will begin shortly at clubs throughout the nation"

Tournament officials said there were "further celebrities to be revealed shortly", while the tournament site mentioned "celebrities" would be taking part