Alcaraz Conquers Djokovic for Career Slam Glory

MELBOURNE, Australia—Carlos Alcaraz stepped into Rod Laver Arena carrying the unfinished edge of his major collection, the hard-court swing’s relentless pace now funneling into this clash with Novak Djokovic. The top-ranked Spaniard, fresh from a grueling semifinal, faced a rival who’d claimed 10 titles here without a final loss. At 22, Alcaraz chased his first Australian Open crown; at 38, Djokovic hunted a record 25th major.

Djokovic strikes first with baseline fire

Djokovic charged the opener with deep returns that bit low off the Plexicushion, forcing Alcaraz into defensive scrambles and yielding a 2–6 set. His one–two pattern—serve followed by crosscourt forehand—pinned the younger man back, exploiting the surface’s true bounce to turn heavy topspin into floaters. The Serb’s movement, still predatory, fed off the crowd’s building roar, his fist pumps cutting through the humid night as he eyed becoming the Open era’s oldest major winner.

Alcaraz absorbed the early pressure, his athleticism flickering in retrievals of shots that typically ended points. Both players, drained from five-set semifinals, poured stamina into the baseline exchanges, the arena’s energy shifting with each prolonged rally. Djokovic’s never-lost record in 10 previous finals here loomed large, but Alcaraz’s eyes sharpened, hinting at the rally to come.

Alcaraz rallies with tactical shifts

From the second set, Alcaraz recalibrated, unleashing inside-out forehands that stretched Djokovic wide and disrupted his setup. He took the frame 6–2 by mixing slice backhands to keep the ball low, neutralizing the veteran’s flat returns and varying serve placement to evade predictable patterns. The hard court’s grip allowed sharper slides, turning defense into down-the-line counters that left Djokovic lunging.

Momentum swung as Alcaraz’s pressure mounted, his 6–3 third-set win built on relentless retrievals and overhead leaps that turned potential winners into errors. The three-hour grind tested their fitness, Alcaraz’s explosiveness contrasting Djokovic’s calculated defense. Psychologically, the Spaniard drew on past triumphs at Wimbledon and the US Open, silencing the doubts from a season packed with recovery and upsets.

Historic close denies Djokovic’s chase

The fourth set tightened into a 7–5 nerve test, Djokovic breaking back with net rushes that pulled Alcaraz forward on the quicker surface, but the Spaniard held with kick serves to the body. An inside-in forehand winner sealed the 2–6, 6–2, 6–3, 7–5 victory, Alcaraz’s seventh major and first here completing the career Slam. At 22 years and 272 days, he eclipsed Don Budge’s 1938 French mark of 22 years and 363 days as the youngest man to claim all four.

Djokovic’s bid for 25 majors, now thwarted by Alcaraz or Jannik Sinner for nine straight, underscored the generational handoff. The Serb edged Sinner in the semis, but couldn’t overcome Alcaraz’s blend of power and precision. As confetti fell, Alcaraz lifted the trophy, the win reframing his 2026 path across clay and grass with renewed edge.