Carlos Alcaraz denied Novak Djokovic a record 25th Grand Slam title, but by winning the Australian Open, he became the youngest tennis player ever to complete the career Grand Slam in the Open Era
Carlos Alcaraz made history by defeating Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open final(Image: Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)
Carlos Alcaraz beat Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open final to break Rafael Nadal’s record and become the youngest tennis player to win a career Grand Slam in the Open era. The world No. 1 lost the first set 6-2 at Rod Laver Arena, but won the next three 6-2, 6-3, 7-5 to triumph in Melbourne for the first time.
Alcaraz, 22, has won each of the other three Grand Slams twice. However, before this year, the Spaniard always fell short Down Under. After quarter-final exits in each of the last two years, including to Djokovic last year, he made a maiden final this time around.
Alcaraz exacted revenge 12 months on and took out the 11-time champion in just over three hours. 2026 was the Spaniard’s last chance to become the youngest in all of tennis history to do so and break an 88-year-old record set by Don Budge in 1938 at 22 years and 363 days – while Nadal held the record in the Open era.
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Alcaraz did so at 22 years and 272 days, which is over a year younger than Nadal was in 2010 (24 years and 101 days), and also tops Rod Laver’s 1962 mark (24 years, 32 days).
Nadal was in attendance at Rod Laver Arena to watch his countryman rewrite tennis history and win the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup. Alcaraz now has seven Grand Slam singles titles, the youngest to reach that total, breaking Bjorn Borg’s record.
This latest major win also moves the Spaniard three successes ahead of rival Jannik Sinner, who Djokovic beat in the semi-finals. The Italian would have to win all of this year’s remaining Grand Slams to tie Alcaraz.
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Djokovic, 38, was two sets away from becoming the outright all-time leader in Grand Slam singles titles with 25 after a near faultless opening set. However, the Serbian struggled physically in the second and third, and even after responding in the fourth, could not force a decider in his 38th Grand Slam final.
He would have also become the oldest man to win a title in the Open Era, beating Ken Rosewall, the Australian who won the Melbourne major in 1972 aged 37, who was watching at Rod Laver Arena. Margaret Court was also at Melbourne Park and remains level with Djokovic on 24 Grand Slam victories.
Djokovic paid tribute to Alcaraz afterwards. He said: “Thank you very much, first and foremost, congratulations to Carlos, amazing tournament, amazing couple of weeks, what you have been doing, the best way to describe it is historic.
“Congratulations, I wish you the best of luck for the rest of your career. You have a lot of time ahead of you, like myself, I’m sure we’ll be seeing each other over the next 10 years… not!”
He also acknowledged the presence of his long-time rival, Nadal. Djokovic said: “I want to speak to the legendary Rafa, who is in the stands.
“Just a few words, it feels weird seeing you there and not here. I just want to say it’s been an honour to share the court and have you watch.
“It’s a strange feeling, but thank you for being present. There are too many Spanish legends here tonight; it felt like two against one.”
