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Everyday tennis enthusiasts are being offered the chance to win one million Australian dollars when they take on elite players - featuring leading player the Spanish champion - in a winner-takes-all point before January's Australian Open

Event planners of the Melbourne major have announced the Seven-Figure Quick-Fire Competition, which will pit everyday competitors against elite athletes in a single-elimination format at the tournament grounds

How the Tournament Functions

Competitors are set to play 'the classic hand game' to decide who takes the serve or return position, and whoever wins the point will advance to the following stage

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

Contextually, players who reached the semi-finals of the primary tournaments in the previous year's tournament won over a million Australian dollars

Past Similar Events

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

The Australian Open held its first-ever single-point competition earlier this year, but the prize fund was sixty thousand Australian dollars and it generated little publicity

One top competitor was the single high-ranked athlete participating, and his campaign concluded when he put the sole serving chance allowed into the net in his penultimate round

Competition Information

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

The top competitors will be permitted to serve once and the amateurs on two occasions - as is the standard practice in standard play

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

The concluding rounds will take place in a night session instead of early afternoon

Participation Requirements

Domestic competitors - or foreign participants who have signed up with the national federation - can compete in 'quick-match event' 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 participate in the 'final competition' in a night session on Wednesday, 14 January

There will also be a entry tournament in December which amateurs, aspiring competitors, celebrities and athletic celebrities can enter

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

"No matter your experience, the overall victor will claim the reward. Registrations will open soon at venues throughout the nation"

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