Carlos Alcaraz's name goes down in history as the youngest man to complete the career 'Grand Slam' of lifting all four of tennis’ major trophies, after winning his maiden Australian Open title.
His victory over Novak Djokovic saw the 22-year-old claiming the seventh major title of his career, just six years after making his senior debut. Alcaraz has won five of the past eight slams and has astonishingly prevailed in all but one of his eight major finals.
He follows all-time greats Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Andre Agassi and Rod Laver as only the sixth man to achieve the career Grand Slam in the Open era. The man he replaces as the youngest to achieve that feat is, fittingly, his sporting idol and 22-time major winner Rafael Nadal, who did so aged 24 in 2010 and watched his compatriot's historic win over old foe Djokovic from the stands in Melbourne.
In tennis history, Alcaraz surpassed Don Budge, who had won the Australian Open, French Open. Wimbledon and the US Open by the age of 22 years and 355 days in 1938. "Every year that I came to Australia I was thinking about winning but it didn't happen,” he said.
“This year, I was hungry for more. It is a dream come true." Alcaraz is the first player to achieve the career slam since Djokovic in 2016. And in winning his seventh Grand Slam, he now has the most major singles titles before the age of 23 than any other man during the Open era - only Bjorn Borg had won six slams at a younger age than Alcaraz, but Borg turned 23 on his way to lifting his seventh at Roland Garros in 1979.
The Spanish giant has already triumphed twice at each of the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open, but before this year his best Australian Open result was two quarter-final appearances in 2024 and 2025. He won his first US Open at the second attempt, achieved a first Wimbledon triumph in his third appearance, claimed a maiden French Open on his fourth visit, and completed his sweep of successes at his fifth Australian Open. Across the seven major finals he has won, Alcaraz has never faced a player seeded lower than fifth - overcoming Djokovic on three occasions and Jannik Sinner twice, along with victories over Alexander Zverev and Casper Ruud.
After winning September's US Open, Alcaraz stated his desire to begin the year with this historic achievement. By adding his 25th tour-level singles title, Alcaraz is behind only Djokovic (101) for the most won by active players. He has now captured 15 'big titles' - consisting of Grand Slams, ATP Finals, Masters 1000 tournaments and the Olympics - with his win rate of one big title for every 3.7 tournaments he has played behind only Djokovic (3.3) and Nadal (3.5) – and he will now be looking to emulate Rod Laver as only the second man in the Open era to achieve a calendar slam, which is to win all four majors in the same year.
On that aim, Alcaraz said: "It is going to be a big challenge, but, right now, I’m just aiming for one at a time - the next is Roland Garros and I feel really special every time that I go there.” Djokovic said: "The results are a testament to his already stellar career.
“He deserves every bit of the praise that he gets and is already a legend, who has already made huge mark in the history books of tennis. Everything is possible in his case, no question about it."
