By Randy Walker
@TennisPublisher
The Australian Open launched an exciting new pre-tournament entertainment event, the 1-Point Slam – a tournament featuring the top men’s and women’s professional players, mixed with local qualifiers, local celebrities and players who also qualify through a qualifying competition. Each game lasted only ONE POINT, with each player conducting a game of “Rock. Paper. Scissors” to determine who would serve or return for the point. Participating players included Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, Coco Gauff, Iga Swiatek, Naomi Osaka, Nick Kyrgios and other top professionals. The event received a great response at the tournament, including from event sponsor Kia, who presented a qualified amateur player with a new car.
Jordan Smith, a 29-year-old tennis instructor from Sydney, was the surprise and celebrated winner of the event, taking home the Australian $1 million first prize. Smith came into the event through a local qualifying tournament held in each Australian state and generated greater local interest in the Australian Open in the lead-up to the event. The local qualifying event mirrored a program once run by the US Tennis Association leading up to the US Open, called the US Open Wild Card Playoffs, in which each of the 17 USTA section associations held tournaments to determine singles, doubles and mixed doubles qualifiers who could advance to a final event that featured a US Open singles qualifying wild card and a main draw doubles and Mixed double wildcard were determined.
Benefiting from two-time Australian Open champion and reigning Wimbledon champion Jannik Sinner double-faulting in his match (actually a single fault, as professionals were only allowed one serve during the event), Smith defeated world No. 117 WTA player Joanna Garland in the final round match to secure his $1 million prize money. Garland received no prize money for reaching the final, which may be corrected for the final in the future. However, Garland, from Taipei, gained amazing global visibility that will certainly help her career.
Smith played one year of American college tennis at Gonzaga University in Washington (a traditional basketball powerhouse) before attempting to play professional tennis. Although he reached three ITF World Tennis Tour doubles finals, he only managed a career-high ranking of 1,141 in singles and 748 in doubles, with career earnings of $6,388, a far cry from the $1 million he had just earned.
The tennis during the 1-Point Slam was honestly terrible, but it was a lot of fun and interesting in terms of drama.
WATCH my video discussing more about the “1-Point Slam” here on the PrimeNewsDesk.com YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/b2DDiG2yloo?si=-M63u6vCoMt_ahZE