Chuffed officials hope the Australian Open's elevation to become a "grand slam of squash" will lure back a lost generation of players and spark a full-blown revival for the high-octane sport.
The Professional Squash Association (PSA) has nominated the Australian Open, the US Open, the World Tour Finals and the time-honoured British Open - traditionally regarded as the 'Wimbledon of squash' - to serve as the game's four blue-ribband events each offering a monster $1 million prize pot.
Backed by a US-based billionaire banker, the tournaments will boast equal prize money for men and women and be the pinnacle under an exciting new tennis-style overhaul of the international squash calendar.
Squash Australia boss Rob Donaghue said the PSA's planned restructure would start in 2024 and ultimately feature tournament blocks in most corners of the world.
"They're looking at that ATP-type model to structure the sport a little more sensibly to make it viable for people to be a professional squash player.
"They're looking for private investment to bring the prize money up to make it really worthwhile for the top players to earn a living out of it," Donaghue told AAP.
"The first step is having to go to a Challenger 30 tour, then next year we want to take a step to being a bronze or silver event, then the next three or four years after that get to the grand slam level."
The jewel in Australia's crown is the Sydney Opera House, which has been flagged as one of the world's iconic backdrops ideally suited to potentially staging one of the grand slams using a state-of-the-art four-walled glass court.
The Opera House had been slated to host the 2022 Australian Open before organisers hit a logistical snag.
"We own the only doubles glass court in the world. We provided it to Birmingham for the Commonwealth Games this year but with the shipping delays it did not make it back in time," Donaghue said.
Next week's national championship will instead be played at Sydney University and offer $100,000 in prize money, the richest purse in more than a decade, in another great stride forward for the sport.
Donaghue, though, hopes this is merely the continuation of an unlikely post-COVID resurgence for squash down under.
This year's Australian Open junior event boasted twice the number of entrants of the 2020 edition.
Donaghue said the all-action game was perfect for time-poor players and proving popular again for all-comers after rising real estate prices led to hundreds of centres closing in the late-1990s.
"We probably have lost a generation in a sense but it's certainly growing," Donaghue said.
"COVID has helped. People are wanting to get out and be active afterwards, and want that short, sharp activity for half-an-hour, 45 minutes.
"You can play it everywhere. You can play it with your kids, it's indoors.
"So there's certainly a bit of momentum."
