Elena Rybakina Delighted as Amateur Jordan Smith Wins 1 Point Slam at the Australian Open

The second edition of the One Point Slam at the Australian Open caught the attention of the tennis world with amateur player Jordan Smith winning the champion’s prize money. Elena Rybakina, who did not feature at the exhibition tournament, has praised the event and its eventual champion.

The One Point Slam debuted in 2024, but didn’t attract top players, except Andrey Rublev, who was the top 10 player at the event. At this year’s edition, Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, Alexander Zverev, Iga Swiatek, Jasmine Paolini, and Amanda Anisimova were among the 48 fielded players (24 professional players and 24 amateurs and wildcards).

Each match consisted of just one point in each match. Instead of the traditional coin toss to decide who will serve first, a game of ‘rock, paper, and scissors’ was used to decide who serves. Crucially, if the serve should fall to an amateur player, he’s allowed to serve twice, but professional players are only allowed one.

Smith defeated Sinner in the third round after the former World No.1 hit his serve at the net, crashing out of the tournament. The Australian amateur faced World No.117 Joanna Garland in the final. Garland had beaten Alexander Zverev and former Wimbledon finalist Nick Kyrgios. Smith beat Garland to win the one million Australian dollar prize money.

Tennis Australia has gained praise for initiating the event, and Smith for winning the championship and prize money. Rybakina, who is known for her powerful serves on the court, revealed that she was happy Smith won the One Point Slam and it was fun seeing other professional players get nervous before their matches:

I think it’s a nice event, and I’m very happy that in the end a non-professional won it. I think it’s really cool. It was fun to see all the players getting nervous because you have only one serve and it’s only one point. I think it’s a great event, and I hope we will see more like this at other tournaments. In a One Point Slam, I feel like you don’t want to risk too much. You give a chance to the other person to serve and maybe miss.

However, Swiatek recorded a notable victory, beating ATP star Flavio Cobolli in the second round, while Anisimova defeated former World No.1 Daniil Medvedev. Pedro Martinez then defeated Swiatek before losing to Smith. Players will look forward to the next edition of the One Point Slam.

Elena Rybakina not fully satisfied with her game after her opening round win in Melbourne

Elena Rybakina delivered a flawless performance in the opening round of the Australian Open. The former World No.5 defeated Kaja Juan 6-4, 6-3 in just over an hour to seal her place in the second round of the Grand Slam tournament. The Kazakhstan star now holds a 7-0 record in the first round of the Australian Open.

The 2023 runner-up struck five aces and won over 75 percent of her first serve points, which was her most effective weapon on the court. During the aforementioned press conference, she admitted that despite the victory, she still has several things to improve in her game as she was not satisfied with her performance:

We’ve been working on the serve since, as I said, it was not really good in the past tournament. Today it worked, and hopefully it’s going to be the same throughout the whole tournament. Of course, there were other details we had to work on. Some things worked today, some things didn’t, but I think first matches are always tough to start the tournament.

Rybakina will face French star Varvara Gracheva in the second round. She finished the 2025 season notching seven top 10 victories, which culminated in a straight-sets demolition against Aryna Sabalenka in the championship match of the WTA Finals in Riyadh last November.

Also Read: Novak Djokovic Demands Cheeky ‘Agreement’ With Carlos Alcaraz Over Suspicious New Serve

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