I’m the amateur who won $1million by beating Jannik Sinner – this is what I’m spending it on

Australian tennis amateur Jordan Smith woke up on Thursday with one million reasons to smile.

Smith, who works as a tennis coach, made headlines when he took out the One Point Slam at the Australian Open on Wednesday, where the victor would walk away with $1million (£498,000).

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What made Smith’s feat all the more impressive was the fact he beat four-time grand slam winner Jannik Sinner on his way to victory.

Smith beat the world No. 2 when the latter fired his serve into the net, which constituted a double fault in the One Point Slam as professionals were only allowed a single serve rather than two.

Speaking exclusively to talkSPORT, Smith revealed he got the chance to put the pressure on Sinner from the get-go when he won the toss, which was done via a game of rock, paper, scissors.

“The pros get one serve compared to me getting two serves, so they were quite nervous,” Smith said.

“I thought I’d put it on his (Sinner’s) strings and hopefully he’d miss, because I was going to be in a lot of trouble if he made that serve and I had to rally with him.”

That’s exactly what transpired as Smith secured an all-time upset, although he added Sinner was an incredibly gracious loser.

“I shook his hand and had a nice hug, got some cool photos,” Smith said.

“He (Sinner) just wished me the best. It was just amazing to play, he’s such a champion player and to play on Rod Laver Arena, on the biggest stage, never would have thought that.”

Victory over world No. 117 Joanna Garland in the final secured the stunning seven-figure prize for Smith, and he already has an idea of how he’ll spend his riches once it lands in his bank account.

“I’d like to set myself up with maybe a property for me and my girlfriend and we’ll go from there,” Smith said.

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Smith could have left Melbourne Park with more than $1m in his back pocket, too.

However, he lost to fellow amateur Alec Reverente in a battle to win a new set of wheels.

“I had to play before the final $1m point, I played the other remaining amateur in a point for a car,” Smith said.

“Unfortunately I lost and I was pretty devastated. Then I had to go out and play for the $1m.

“If I lost that point, I’d have come back with nothing. It was pretty nerve-wracking.”

With the One Point Slam in the books, attention for Sinner and the rest of his fellow pros turns to the Australian Open, which begins on January 18.