Nick Kyrgios is set to return to Rod Laver Arena for the 1 Point Slam alongside world No 1 Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner with 48 players consisting of a mix of pros, amateurs and celebrity wildcards battling it out for a prize of £498k (AUD$1m) up for grabs.
Kyrgios’ hopes of playing the Australian Open is gathering steam after he was announced as a headline act at the star-studded event where he will join some of the biggest names in tennis.
The 48-player event sees pro players take on amateurs and celebrity wildcards in a one-day event with each match consisting of just one point. A game of rock, paper, scissors determines who will serve.
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Take a look at some of Kyrgios’ best points of his career so far…
The former Wimbledon finalist has played just one Grand Slam match since he made the US Open quarter-finals in 2022, playing only five matches in 2025 and was last in action back in March.
Kyrgios, 30, has dropped to No 668 in the world rankings, requiring a wild card to gain entry into his home Slam with his injury-protected ranking of No 21 having expired.
He is currently working his way back to full fitness having been sidelined by knee and wrist injuries for most of the last three years.
Aryna Sabalenka and Kyrgios will face each other on December 28 in Dubai
Kyrgios has been preparing for an exhibition ‘Battle of the Sexes’ match against Aryna Sabalenka later this month, while he is also set in to play at the Kooyong Classic.
The Australian big-server said he is feeling the pressure ahead of his controversial exhibition match with Sabalenka.
Top-ranked Sabalenka and 2022 Wimbledon runner-up Kyrgios confirmed the date and venue – December 28 in Dubai – for the match.
“I was in Hong Kong recently and a lot of the male players were like, ‘look, you’re representing all of us’. So here I am in the firing line again,” Kyrgios said.
“I’m not a stranger to taking the heat from the media, but I’m excited whatever the result may be.
“I’m going to go out there and show the world that as good as she is, she’s got some weaknesses.”
Billie Jean King vs Bobby Riggs
Bobby Riggs and Billie Jean King arm wrestle at a press conference, where they announced they would face each other in a $100,000 winner-take-all tennis match
The name of the Sabalenka-Kyrgios exhibition was borrowed from the 1973 match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs – which King won in straight sets in the Houston Astrodome.
US Open champion King and ex-pro Riggs on September 20, 1973 was a match which went down in the annals of tennis history.
At the time, King was 29 and Riggs was 55, yet despite being retired from tennis for 14 years Riggs was adamant that he could beat any woman.
King eventually beat Riggs in straight sets, 6-4 6-3 6-3 in front of more than 30,000 fans at the Astrodome in Houston, Texas, an estimated 50 million people in the United States and 90 million worldwide.
The match is now described as a milestone moment in women’s sport.
Riggs’ ‘Battle of the Sexes’ match against King remains one of the most-watched tennis matches of all time
In the same year as The Battle of the Sexes, King formed the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) and the US Open became the first tournament to offer equal prize money.
“I really wanted to inspire the younger generations to go forward and fight for equality,” said King, “because every generation does have to start over, every generation does have to fight for it.”
Who else has played in one?
Jimmy Connors and Martina Navratilova faced each other in a ‘Battle of Champions’ in 1992
The first ‘Battle of the Sexes’ match also took place in 1973 when Riggs took on Australian Open and French Open champion Margaret Court.
Court took home $20,000 for playing in the televised match in May of that year. Riggs won the match in straight sets 6-2 6-1 – and it was later dubbed the ‘Mother’s Day Massacre’.
In 1992, 35-year-old Martina Navratilova faced 40-year-old Jimmy Connors at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, in a ‘Battle of Champions’. Connors, who finished as the year-end No 1 five times, got only one serve while giving Navratilova a court expanded by half-a-doubles alley on each side, he prevailed 7-5 6-2.
Each player was paid $500,000 to compete, with the prize money doubling for the winner and it was not being broadcast on national television but on pay-per-view.
“I’m glad it’s over,” said Navratilova. “It was such a long build-up and I was more nervous than for any match I’ve ever played. It was so unlike anything I’ve done before. It was a different kind of pressure – 14,000 people and a pay-per-view audience.”
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