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Amateur players are getting an opportunity to earn A$1m when they face elite players - featuring top-ranked the Spanish champion - in a one-point battle prior to January's Australian Open

Event planners of the year's first Grand Slam have unveiled the Seven-Figure Quick-Fire Competition, which will match a dozen non-professionals against top-ranked players in a single-elimination format at the tournament grounds

This Innovative Tournament Functions

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

The winner of the event will earn £490,000

For comparison, players who made it to the final four of the men's or women's singles in the last edition won A$1.1m

Previous Similar Events

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

The year's first major held its debut single-point competition in the current season, but the cash prize was A$60,000 and it generated little publicity

Andrey Rublev was the single high-ranked athlete involved, and his campaign came to an end when he directed the single service opportunity allowed into the mesh in his penultimate round

Competition Information

Organizers have not specified precisely how the event will function, but it is expected to follow a similar format to the previous version

The professionals will be permitted to serve once 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 multiple elimination stages and the location will be the main stadium rather than the smaller Kia Arena

The concluding rounds will occur in a night session instead of 1pm local time

Participation Requirements

Local players - or international players who have signed up with the governing body - can compete in 'single-point competition' events at their community centers

The winners of the local competitions will then go into a random pairing, with an everyday competitor from every state and territory picked to compete in the 'championship round' in a night session on mid-January

There will also be a preliminary competition in the final month which non-professionals, developing professionals, celebrities and athletic celebrities can compete in

It begins on early January and the two winners will qualify for the midweek 'final showdown' with the additional everyday players and 10 professionals

"No matter your experience, the final champion will claim the prize. Applications will open soon at clubs throughout the nation"

Event organizers stated there were "more big names to be revealed shortly", while the official website mentioned "well-known figures" would be participating