CARLOS ALCARAZ beat Novak Djokovic to win his first Australian Open title on Sunday, becoming the youngest man to complete a career Grand Slam. The win denied Djokovic a 25th Grand Slam title.
Alcaraz recovered after losing the opening set to defeat the 38-year-old 2-6, 6-2, 6-3, 7-5 on Rod Laver Arena. The Spaniard won his seventh Grand Slam title and retained his position as world number one.
With the victory, Alcaraz became the youngest man in the Open era to win all four Grand Slam titles. He now has two titles each at Wimbledon, the French Open and the US Open.
At 22, he passed Rafael Nadal, who was 24 when he completed the career Grand Slam. Nadal was present in the stands for the final.
Alcaraz’s seventh major title placed him level with John McEnroe and Mats Wilander, and one behind Andre Agassi, Jimmy Connors and Ivan Lendl.
The loss marked Djokovic’s first defeat in an Australian Open final, after winning his previous 10 finals in Melbourne. He remains on 24 Grand Slam titles, one short of Margaret Court’s record of 25. Court was also in attendance.
Djokovic last won a Grand Slam title at the US Open in 2023. Since then, Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner have won the majors.
Both players came through five-set semi-final matches, with Alcaraz defeating Alexander Zverev and Djokovic beating Sinner.
Djokovic earned the first break of the match to take a 4-1 lead in the opening set and closed it out after Alcaraz made his ninth unforced error.
Alcaraz broke early in the second set and broke again for a 5-2 lead before levelling the match.
The third set remained on serve until Djokovic dropped serve at 2-3. He saved four set points at 3-5 but lost the set after failing to save a fifth.
Djokovic saved six break points in the opening game of the fourth set but was broken later as he served to stay in the match. Alcaraz then closed out the contest to secure his first Australian Open title.
The result confirmed Alcaraz as world number one, with Sinner second. Djokovic moved up to third in the rankings, ahead of Zverev.
