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Everyday tennis enthusiasts will have the possibility to earn a seven-figure prize when they compete against world-class athletes - headed by leading player Carlos Alcaraz - in a one-point battle leading up to the year's first major

Tournament officials of the Melbourne major have revealed the Million Dollar One Point Slam, which will match a dozen non-professionals against 22 professionals in a knockout tournament at the Australian Open venue

The Unique Tournament Functions

Participants must play 'rock, paper, scissors' to determine who gets to serve or return, and the player who wins the point will advance to the following stage

The champion of the event will earn £490,000

Contextually, players who reached the penultimate round of the men's or women's singles in the last edition won over a million Australian dollars

Earlier Related Competitions

The American Grand Slam organized a revamped, standalone combined gender tournament in late summer which motivated top singles players to participate, with the winners receiving one million US dollars

The year's first major held its debut One Point Slam earlier this year, but the prize fund was sixty thousand Australian dollars and it generated little publicity

The Russian player was the single high-ranked athlete participating, and his campaign came to an end when he put the sole serving chance permitted into the net in his last eight match

Competition Specifics

Organizers have not specified precisely how the event will work, but it is expected to emulate a akin setup to the previous version

The elite players will be permitted to make one service and the amateurs two times - as is the standard practice in standard play

While it is not certain how the pairings will work, there will be multiple elimination stages and the venue will be the primary court rather than the secondary venue

The last matches will occur in a night session instead of 1pm local time

Participation Requirements

Any Australians - or international players who have enrolled with the governing body - can enter 'single-point competition' tournaments at their community centers

The champions of the community events will then go into a selection process, with one amateur player from every geographic division selected to participate in the 'grand finale' in a nighttime event on mid-January

There will also be a qualifying draw in late year which non-professionals, lower ranked pros, celebrities and sport stars can compete in

It begins on the starting date and the successful competitors will qualify for Wednesday's 'championship match' with the additional everyday players and elite competitors

"Regardless of your skill level, the overall victor will receive the reward. Registrations will begin shortly at clubs nationwide"

Event organizers stated there were "additional stars to be unveiled imminently", while the tournament site said "famous personalities" would be involved