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Amateur players are getting an opportunity to claim one million Australian dollars when they take on tennis' top professionals - featuring world number one the Spanish champion - in a single-point showdown before the Australian Grand Slam

Tournament officials of the year's first Grand Slam have unveiled the $1 Million Single-Point Tournament, which will pair a dozen non-professionals against 22 professionals in a single-elimination format at the tournament grounds

How the Tournament Functions

Competitors are set to play 'rock, paper, scissors' to establish who takes the serve or return position, and whoever wins the point will move forward to the subsequent phase

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

For comparison, players who made it to the semi-finals of the main draw competitions in the previous year's tournament won substantial prize money

Previous Similar Events

The American Grand Slam staged a redesigned, standalone combined gender tournament in August which encouraged top singles players to participate, with the winners receiving $1m

The Melbourne tournament held its first-ever single-point competition in the current season, but the cash prize was a smaller amount and it received minimal attention

One top competitor was the sole elite competitor involved, and his run concluded when he sent the one and only serve allowed failing to clear the net in his last eight match

Tournament Information

Planners have not specified precisely how the event will operate, but it is projected to emulate a comparable structure to the most recent iteration

The top competitors will be allowed to make one service and the everyday players two times - as is the usual procedure in conventional tennis

While it is unclear how the bracket will work, there will be five knockout rounds and the location will be the main stadium rather than the secondary venue

The final stages will take place in a evening slot instead of early afternoon

Competitor Details

Any Australians - or foreign participants who have enrolled with Tennis Australia - can participate in 'One Point Slam' competitions at their local tennis clubs

The victors of the local competitions will then go into a selection process, with an everyday competitor from every state and territory selected to participate in the 'grand finale' in a night session on the specified date

There will also be a preliminary competition in December which amateurs, developing professionals, well-known figures and sport stars can enter

It starts on Monday, 12 January and the pair of champions will advance to the following day's 'championship match' with the other eight amateurs and top-ranked athletes

"No matter your experience, the final champion will claim the prize. Registrations will start imminently at clubs across the country"

Competition planners said there were "additional stars to be announced soon", while the event portal mentioned "famous personalities" would be participating