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Amateur players are getting an opportunity to earn one million Australian dollars when they compete against world-class athletes - featuring world number one the Spanish champion - in a winner-takes-all point before the year's first major

Event planners of the year's first Grand Slam have revealed the $1 Million Single-Point Tournament, which will pit a dozen non-professionals against 22 professionals in a single-elimination format at Melbourne Park

How the Tournament Functions

Participants must play 'the decision-making game' to establish who serves or receives, and the player who wins the point will advance to the subsequent phase

The victor of the event will earn approximately half a million pounds

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

Previous Related Competitions

The American Grand Slam staged a revamped, separate combined gender tournament in the eighth month which prompted top singles players to compete, with the champions receiving one million US dollars

The year's first major held its first-ever quick-fire event this year, but the prize fund was a smaller amount and it received minimal attention

Andrey Rublev was the only top-10 player competing, and his run concluded when he directed the single service opportunity allowed into the mesh in his quarter-final

Tournament Specifics

Organizers have not detailed exactly how the event will function, but it is projected to emulate a comparable structure to the previous version

The elite players will be permitted to have a single serve and the everyday players twice - as is the norm in standard play

While it is unclear how the pairings will work, there will be five knockout rounds and the site will be the Rod Laver Arena rather than the alternative court

The final stages will occur in a night session instead of midday timing

Entry Details

Local players - or overseas competitors who have signed up with Tennis Australia - can enter 'One Point Slam' tournaments at their local tennis clubs

The victors of the local competitions will then go into a selection process, with one amateur player from every geographic division picked to take part in the 'grand finale' in a evening match on mid-January

There will also be a preliminary competition in December which amateurs, aspiring competitors, famous personalities and athletic celebrities can enter

It begins on the starting date and the pair of champions will advance to the midweek 'grand finale' with the additional everyday players and 10 professionals

"No matter your experience, the ultimate winner will claim the prize. Applications will begin shortly at clubs nationwide"

Competition planners said there were "further celebrities to be announced soon", while the event portal said "celebrities" would be involved