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Amateur players are being offered the possibility to win a seven-figure prize when they face tennis' top professionals - featuring top-ranked Carlos Alcaraz - in a one-point battle leading up to the year's first major

Tournament officials of the year's first Grand Slam have unveiled the Million Dollar One Point Slam, which will match a dozen non-professionals against elite athletes in a single-elimination format at the tournament grounds

How the Tournament Functions

Players will play 'the classic hand game' to establish who serves or receives, and the competitor securing the point will progress to the next round

The victor of the event will receive £490,000

For comparison, players who made it to the semi-finals of the main draw competitions in the last edition won substantial prize money

Previous Related Competitions

The New York major hosted a revamped, separate combined gender tournament in the eighth month which encouraged top singles players to participate, with the champions receiving a million-dollar prize

The Melbourne tournament held its inaugural single-point competition earlier this year, but the prize fund was sixty thousand Australian dollars and it received minimal attention

Andrey Rublev was the sole elite competitor competing, and his run concluded when he directed the sole serving chance granted into the net in his last eight match

Event Information

Planners have not specified precisely how the event will work, but it is expected to follow a similar format to the most recent iteration

The top competitors will be granted to serve once and the non-professionals two times - as is the usual procedure in traditional tennis

While it is not certain how the draw will work, there will be five knockout rounds and the venue will be the primary court rather than the alternative court

The final stages will be held in a nighttime schedule instead of early afternoon

Participation Details

Domestic competitors - or foreign participants who have signed up with the national federation - can enter 'single-point competition' competitions at their local tennis clubs

The champions of the grassroots tournaments will then go into a draw, with a single non-professional from every geographic division selected to compete in the 'grand finale' in a evening match on mid-January

There will also be a qualifying draw in late year which non-professionals, aspiring competitors, celebrities and athletic celebrities can compete in

It commences on early January and the pair of champions will qualify for Wednesday's 'grand finale' with the remaining non-professionals and top-ranked athletes

"Regardless of your skill level, the final champion will claim the award. Registrations will open soon at clubs across the country"

Tournament officials said there were "further celebrities to be unveiled imminently", while the tournament site indicated "famous personalities" would be involved