{"id":370900,"date":"2026-01-15T07:25:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T07:25:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/370900\/"},"modified":"2026-01-15T07:25:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T07:25:15","slug":"carlos-alcaraz-and-jannik-sinner-upset-nick-kyrgios-entertains-and-amateur-becomes-millionaire-why-one-point-slam-was-so-much-fun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/370900\/","title":{"rendered":"Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner upset, Nick Kyrgios entertains and amateur becomes millionaire: Why One Point Slam was ‘so much fun’"},"content":{"rendered":"

There were upsets, there were laughs, there were faults from professional players, there was Nick Kyrgios<\/a> smashing a racquet with a smile on his face, and at the end of the One Point Slam<\/a> there was an amateur walking away with A$1 million (\u00a3490,000).Jordan Smith, who came through qualifying in New South Wales, was crowned the One Point Slam champion after an incredible run saw him beat five pros, including two-time Australian Open<\/a> champion Jannik Sinner<\/a> and women\u2019s world No. 4 Amanda Anisimova.<\/p>\n

What were the standout moments and takeaways from the entertaining event?<\/p>\n

Alcaraz, Sinner upset<\/p>\n

The top two men\u2019s players in the world, Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, were the headline names in the One Point Slam.<\/p>\n

Sinner won his first match against fellow pro Pablo Carreno Busta – watched intently by Alcaraz – and said afterwards that even he was nervous.<\/p>\n

“You cannot imagine my heart rate right now, it\u2019s around 200,” said Sinner. “I was just happy not to serve, the problem is going to be when I serve.”<\/p>\n

And so it proved.<\/p>\n

One Point Slam rulesEach ‘match’ is a single pointA game of ‘rock, paper, scissors’ is played to decide who servesAmateurs get two serves, pros get just one<\/p>\n

In Sinner\u2019s following match, he chose to serve – and hit the ball into the net, handing a shocked Smith a pass into the next round, with the pros permitted just one serve.<\/p>\n

“I kind of called it,” admitted Sinner with a smile.<\/p>\n

Alcaraz was also toppled in the third round – by women\u2019s world No. 52 Maria Sakkari.<\/p>\n

The drop shot, so often Alcaraz\u2019s magical weapon, proved his undoing as he chipped the ball into the net.<\/p>\n

\"picture\"<\/p>\n

Alcaraz beaten by Sakkari at One Point Slam<\/p>\n

Video credit: TNT Sports<\/p>\n

“The drop shot is my shot, I don\u2019t know what happened,” said Alcaraz. “It never disappoints me, not even in the toughest moments, but today it didn\u2019t work.”<\/p>\n

Kyrgios entertains<\/p>\n

You can count on Nick Kyrgios to bring entertainment to any event.<\/p>\n

Kyrgios, who is entered into doubles but not singles at the 2026 Australian Open<\/a>, pulled off a brilliant passing shot to win his opener against amateur Steve Yarwood.<\/p>\n

The shot just clipped the outside of the line and a buzzing Kyrgios said his “heart was racing”.<\/p>\n

\"picture\"<\/p>\n

‘Like a Wimbledon final!’ – Kyrgios goes wild after beating amateur in One Point Slam<\/p>\n

Video credit: TNT Sports<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s like the Wimbledon final,” he added.<\/p>\n

But Kyrgios was beaten in his next match by women\u2019s world No. 117 Joanna Garland as he hit a service return long.<\/p>\n

Kyrgios took the defeat in amusing fashion as he smashed his racquet several times on the court – all with a big smile on his face.<\/p>\n

\"picture\"<\/p>\n

‘He’s gone!’ – Kyrgios smashes racquet after One Point Slam loss<\/p>\n

Video credit: TNT Sports<\/p>\n

Pros hit by nerves<\/p>\n

You\u2019d think the professionals competing in the One Point Slam would be able to handle the nerves better than the amateurs.<\/p>\n

But that wasn\u2019t always the case, with Sinner not the only pro to miss a serve and hand their opponent the win.<\/p>\n

Coco Gauff admitted she was “too tight” after faulting against Donna Vekic, while Frances Tiafoe had his head in his hands after doing the same against Iga Swiatek.<\/p>\n

“That\u2019s terrible, that\u2019s horrible,” said a laughing Tiafoe.<\/p>\n

Gauff tweeted afterwards: “I feel better about missing my serve now that Jannik and Foe did. #NotAlone.”<\/p>\n

\"picture\"<\/p>\n

‘The champ has fallen!’ – Sinner beaten by amateur at One Point Slam<\/p>\n

Video credit: TNT Sports<\/p>\n

Smith a perfect winner<\/p>\n

The One Point Slam could hardly have been scripted better.<\/p>\n

The star names were upset and an amateur from New South Wales won a life-changing prize in a final against women\u2019s world No. 117 Garland, who would have doubled her career prize money if she had won.<\/p>\n

Smith\u2019s run saw him topple Sinner, Anisimova and Pedro Martinez, while British-born Garland beat Alexander Zverev, Kyrgios and Sakkari.<\/p>\n

Garland opted to serve first in the final but missed with a backhand to hand Smith victory.<\/p>\n

“I can’t even speak, that’s unbelievable,” said Smith. “Coming into tonight, I was happy winning one point, I was so nervous, it was a great experience.”<\/p>\n

\u2018So much fun\u2019<\/p>\n

The Australian Open looks to have a hit with the One Point Slam.<\/p>\n

The pros appeared to enjoy it – both when playing and when watching beside the court – and world No. 9 Taylor Fritz said he was disappointed to miss out.<\/p>\n

“Now that I\u2019m actually watching it on TV, massive L from me to not be playing the One Point Slam, this looks like so much fun,” wrote Fritz on X.<\/p>\n

Alcaraz and Tiafoe stayed until the end to watch the final and were both jumping for joy when amateur Smith won.<\/p>\n

Naomi Osaka had some banter with Australian comedian Andy Lee, and Donna Vekic seemed to be loving things throughout as she was either smiling or laughing.<\/p>\n

The most entertaining point of the event was early on when amateur Petar Jovic hit an excellent tweener against Daniil Medvedev – but still didn’t win the point.<\/p>\n

\"picture\"<\/p>\n

Medvedev wins ‘point of the night’ after amateur’s tweener<\/p>\n

Video credit: TNT Sports<\/p>\n

Also, rock, paper, scissors to decide who serves? Bring it into the professional game.<\/p>\n

The main draw of the Australian Open starts on Sunday, January 18, live on TNT Sports and discovery+<\/a>.How to watch the 2026 Australian OpenAll the action from Melbourne will be available live and on-demand via TNT Sports and its streaming platform discovery+<\/a>.<\/p>\n

TNT Sports is available across all major TV platforms, offering a line-up of up to four TV channels (TNT Sports 1, TNT Sports 2, TNT Sports 3, TNT Sports 4), up to six digital or red-button channels (TNT Sports 5 to 10), and TNT Sports Ultimate plus TNT Sports Box Office HD.<\/p>\n

The streaming home for TNT Sports in the UK is discovery+<\/a>, where fans can enjoy a subscription that includes TNT Sports and entertainment in one destination.<\/p>\n

You can also watch TNT Sports through BT, EE, Sky, and Virgin Media.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There were upsets, there were laughs, there were faults from professional players, there was Nick Kyrgios smashing a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":370901,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[126862,101,118,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-370900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-australian-open-2026","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370900","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=370900"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370900\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/370901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=370900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=370900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=370900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}