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Everyday tennis enthusiasts are being offered an opportunity to win A$1m when they compete against tennis' top professionals - featuring top-ranked Carlos Alcaraz - in a single-point showdown prior to the year's first major

Tournament officials of the Melbourne major have announced the Million Dollar One Point Slam, which will pit everyday competitors against elite athletes in a knockout tournament at the tournament grounds

This Innovative Tournament Functions

Participants must play 'rock, paper, scissors' to decide who serves or receives, and whoever wins the point will progress to the following stage

The champion of the event will take home £490,000

For comparison, players who advanced to the semi-finals of the primary tournaments in the last edition won A$1.1m

Earlier Related Competitions

The New York major hosted a restructured, standalone combined gender tournament in the eighth month which encouraged top singles players to participate, with the victors receiving $1m

The year's first major held its first-ever One Point Slam earlier this year, but the cash prize was sixty thousand Australian dollars and it had limited exposure

Andrey Rublev was the single high-ranked athlete involved, and his run finished when he directed the sole serving chance allowed into the mesh in his last eight match

Competition Information

Planners have not specified precisely how the event will operate, but it is anticipated to follow a similar format to the previous version

The professionals will be permitted to have a single serve and the non-professionals on two occasions - as is the usual procedure in conventional tennis

While it is unclear how the bracket will work, there will be multiple elimination stages and the location will be the primary court rather than the smaller Kia Arena

The last matches will be held in a evening slot instead of midday timing

Participation Requirements

Any Australians - or international players who have registered with the national federation - can enter 'One Point Slam' tournaments at their neighborhood facilities

The victors of the local competitions will then go into a random pairing, with a single non-professional from every region and area selected to take part in the 'championship round' in a night session on the specified date

There will also be a entry tournament in December which non-professionals, developing professionals, well-known figures and sports personalities can compete in

It starts on Monday, 12 January and the two winners will qualify for the following day's 'final showdown' with the other eight amateurs and 10 professionals

"No matter your experience, the ultimate winner will walk away with the award. Registrations will start imminently at facilities nationwide"

Tournament officials said there were "more big names to be announced soon", while the official website indicated "celebrities" would be taking part