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Tennis pros, celebrities and amateurs: How did the Australian Open’s 1-Point Slam’s unfold?
On Wednesday night a sold-out crowd packed Rod Laver Arena to watch the Australian Open’s “1-Point Slam” competition where tennis pros including No.1 Carlos Alcaraz and women’s No.2 Iga Swiatek competed against community champions and wildcards like AFL star Bailey Smith, TV host Andy Lee and Mandarin pop star Jay Chou for a cool $1 million.
The concept was relatively straight-forward and pretty brutal. Each “match” was decided by a single point. Win the point and you advance; lose it and you’re out. One misplaced step, messy swing or misjudged bounce and you could kiss the million dollar jackpot goodbye.
A “rock, paper, scissors” contest determined who served, however this proved to be a point of confusion for many players (do you shoot on count three or four?)
The million-dollar prize was wheeled out on court at the start of the slam and left in the corner. The metre-high stack of green bills elicited gasps from the crowd and then laughter when the camera panned to show Tennis Australia CEO Craig Tiley’s face on it.
There was early upset in the first round after a nervous Thomas Van Harran succumbed to a double fault, allowing a TV personality Karl Stefanovic to cruise through.
Other celebrity entries like comedian Andy Lee employed some sneaky mind games, taking the time to stall before his serve by taking off his jacket and asking for numerous balls. The psychological warfare proved successful and Lee won the point over Ashleigh Simes.
Other players preferred to interact with the crowd with fan-favourite Nick Kyrgios running around the court before his match. Kyrgios won the point over Steve Yarwood and then promptly celebrated like he’d won Wimbledon.
“This might be the biggest match of my career,” joked Kyrgios.
Bailey Smith’s AFL talents unfortunately didn’t translate to the tennis court and the Geelong star lost to Jordan Smith.
The next few rounds saw tennis pros Alexander Bublik, Naomi Osaka, Jannik Sinner and Daniil Medvedev effortlessly carve through the field of celebrities and community champions.
However, the one-point do-or-die pressure impacted the professionals with Coco Gauff and Félix Auger-Aliassime both losing their matches.
Garland performed brilliantly throughout the night, defeating men’s no.3 Alexander Zverev after a lengthy rally.
Joanna Garland Credit: Getty Images
The 24-year-old Taiwanese player later defeated Kyrgios who responded with a comical racquet smash and a smile. Garland later defeated Sakkari and Donna Vekic and proceeded to the final.
The Australian Open’s 1-Point Slam’s was ultimately a light-hearted evening defined by good sportsmanship, perhaps best summed up by Garland herself.
“There are three winners tonight,” Garland told the crowd before playing in the final match. “Tennis, me and him [Smith].
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