Joanna Garland’s Australian Open week was supposed to be over. The World No. 117 had already fallen in qualifying, leaving her with little reason to expect another appearance at Melbourne Park. Yet days later, she was back on Rod Laver Arena, this time with Alexander Zverev on the other side of the net.
Watch What’s Trending Now!
The setting was familiar, but almost everything else was different. There were no sets to settle into, no time to recover from a slow start and no long rally to turn a match around. Garland needed one point. She got it against Zverev, then did the same against Nick Kyrgios, Maria Sakkari and Donna Vekic, becoming the last professional standing in one of the Australian Open’s strangest competitions. That experiment is returning to Melbourne with even more star power.
“Carlos Alcaraz, Coco Gauff, Naomi Osaka, and Jannik Sinner are early committed players for the 2027 edition of the vaunted One Point Slam,” said tennis insider Ben Rothenberg on X.
This puts them back into a format where one point can send a Grand Slam champion home and put an amateur within touching distance of a A$1 million prize. And while people might point out that the One Point Slam is more of a glorified exhibition gimmick than an official Tour-level event, the announcement is significant in the broader context.
The last time Sinner was on a tennis court was when he lifted the Wimbledon title back in July. Since then, the World No.1 has been struggling with a knee injury, skipping Masters events as well as the US Open, before the Italian finally took the call to end his 2026 season altogether.
The Italian’s early commitment to be in Melbourne next year is good news for the fans who are waiting eagerly for the five-time Major champion to come back on the court.
Gauff’s decision to participate in the One-Point Slam will be a relief to her fans. The American just made the decision to withdraw from the last WTA 1000 event in Wuhan and talked about taking a rest. Her commitment to be in Melbourne shows that the World No. 4 has one eye on the next season.
The atmosphere of the One Point Slam also makes it an ideal setting for Sinner to return to the Tour before he has to handle playing full-throttle tennis at Tour-level events. The competition requires the Italian to play only five points if he reaches the final. Sinner himself was at the center of it all this year, as he missed his serve to lose to Smith, who went on to win the tournament. The Italian was all smiles during the competition, seen enjoying the on-court shenanigans with the likes of Carlos Alcaraz, Alexander Zverev, and others on the sidelines.
Should Sinner make his comeback at the One Point Slam, it will mirror the route that Carlos Alcaraz took in his comeback at the US Open this year after recovering from his wrist injury. The Spaniard did have a soft landing at the mixed doubles competition along with Serena Williams, which helped the Spaniard get used to playing on one of the big showcourts after a long layoff.
Made for the fans, the One Point Slam will make for fun moments as the pro-vs-amateur dynamic of tennis will be on full display.