Slam

MELBOURNE, Australia — Carlos Alcaraz is 22, he’s the youngest man ever to win all four of the major titles in tennis, and he had to achieve what no man previously has done to complete the career Grand Slam in Australia.

The top-ranked Alcaraz dropped the first set of the Australian Open final in 33 minutes Sunday as Novak Djokovic went out hard in pursuit of an unprecedented 25th major title, but the young Spaniard dug deep to win 2-6, 6-2, 6-3, 7-5.

“Means the world to me,” Alcaraz said. “It is a dream come true for me.”

Djokovic had won all 10 of his previous finals at Melbourne Park and, despite being 38, gave himself every chance of extending that streak to 11 when he needed only two sets to win.

Carlos Alcaraz celebrates after defeating Novak Djokovic to win the Australian Open on Sunday.

(Asanka Brendon Ratnayake / Associated Press)

Alcaraz rose to the challenge.

“Tennis can change on just one point. One point, one feeling, one shot can change the whole match completely,” he said. “I played well the first set, but you know, in front of me I had a great and inspired Novak, who was playing great, great shots.”

A couple of unforced errors from Djokovic early in the second set gave Alcaraz the confidence.

He scrambled to retrieve shots that usually would be winners for Djokovic, and he kept up intense pressure on the most decorated player in men’s tennis history. There were extended rallies where each player hit enough brilliant shots to usually win a game.

Djokovic has made an art form of rallying from precarious positions. Despite trailing two sets to one, he went within the width of a ball in the fourth set’s ninth game of turning this final around.

After fending off six break points in the set, he exhorted the crowd when he got to 30-30. The crowd responded with chants of “Nole, Nole, Nole!”

When Djokovic earned a breakpoint chance — his first since the second set — he whipped up his supporters again. But when Djokovic sent a forehand long on the next point, Alcaraz took it as a reprieve.

A short forehand winner, a mis-hit from Alcaraz, clipped the net and landed inside the line to give him game point. Then Djokovic hit another forehand long.

Alcaraz responded with a roar, and sealed victory by taking two of the next three games.

As he was leaving the court, Alcaraz signed the lens of the TV camera with a recognition: “Job finished. 4/4 Complete.”

Carlos Alcaraz has rewritten tennis history by becoming the youngest man to complete the career Grand Slam with his victory over the great Novak Djokovic in the final of the Australian Open 2026 in Melbourne.

Alcaraz, 22, overcame a first-set loss to complete a 2-6, 6-2, 6-3, 7-5 triumph over the 24-time Grand Slam champion at the Rod Laver Arena on Sunday. In the process, he denied the 38-year-old a chance to become the only player with 25 Slam titles.

While the world number one later admitted his “legs were shaking” as he served for the title, he seemed to have the upper hand as the match wore on and finished after three hours and two minutes.

The top seed now has an Australian Open trophy to add to his two French Open, Wimbledon and US Open titles each, also making him the youngest to garner seven Slams.

Djokovic, from Serbia and a 10-time champion in Australia, was the quicker of the two out of the blocks and broke his younger rival twice to swiftly claim the opening set.

But Alcaraz, of Spain, didn’t waste time in pulling back and claiming the second set with the same scoreline in a display of speed, power and finesse.

In breaking the career Slam record, Alcaraz surpassed his idol and compatriot Rafael Nadal – who watched from the stands and who was two years older when he did the same.

It was a first defeat for Djokovic in a Melbourne final after he won all 10 previously, leaving him still searching for a landmark 25th major to better Australia’s Margaret Court, who was also watching on.

Gladiatorial contest

Both men battled through five long sets in their semifinals, Alcaraz against Alexander Zverev and Djokovic against Jannik Sinner, and recovery was always going to be key after their physical struggles.

But they showed few signs of fatigue in another gladiatorial contest.

They both opened with comfortable holds before a double fault and netted forehand presented the first break point chance for Djokovic at 2-1.

Alcaraz saved it, but the aggressive fourth seed kept pressing and converted on his third, then consolidated for a 4-1 lead.

Djokovic was reading Alcaraz’s serve well, and once he got in the rallies, he was authoritative, with a sensational forehand winner earning him two set points.

He claimed the set in a statement 33 minutes after a ninth unforced error from the top seed, having dominated the big moments.

It was vintage Djokovic, but Alcaraz came storming back, upping the tempo to break for 2-1 in the second set, pumping his fist when he saved a break point and held in the next game.

Djokovic put drops to his eyes and began rubbing them, unable to tame a now rampant Alcaraz, who broke again for 5-2.

There were some sensational rallies that had the crowd on their feet in set three, which went with serve until Djokovic slapped a forehand wide under pressure to slip 2-3 behind.

He gamely saved four set points at 3-5, but, with his energy level dropping, was unable to save a fifth as the Spaniard took control.

On the back foot, Djokovic then saved six break points in an 11-minute opening service game in set four to stay alive and kept fighting hard.

But Alcaraz ground him down and pounced as Djokovic served to stay in the match to seal a maiden Australian championship.

It ensured he remained world number one and Sinner two, with Djokovic moving up a place to three ahead of Zverev.

Australian Open win ‘means the world’ to Alcaraz

Despite his heartbreaking loss, Djokovic was gracious in defeat as he walked around the net to congratulate Alcaraz on his side of the court.

Plenty of pats on the back and smiles were exchanged in a passing-of-the-baton moment between the two tennis icons.

Afterwards, Alcaraz told the host broadcasters that his legs were shaking as he served for the championship.

“I was telling myself, at least put it [the serve] in and then let’s see what happens,” the champion said with a laugh.

The man from Murcia, southeastern Spain, said the elusive win in Australia was something he had been working hard for.

“It means the world to me and shows that all the hard work paid off,” he said.

Alcaraz’s seventh Slam put him alongside John McEnroe and Mats Wilander and one behind Andre Agassi, Jimmy Connors and Ivan Lendl.

However, the young champion was quick to dismiss talk of overtaking his heroes Nadal and Djokovic, and said 22 or 24 titles were “too far away” at the moment.

“I know how difficult it is to win a Grand Slam,” he said. “I know what it takes, so I just want to enjoy each one because I don’t know if it’s going to be my last one.

“I want to keep going and working hard to feel this emotion again.”

Meanwhile, Djokovic did not make any explicit statements on his career but did admit he’s not sure whether he will return to Melbourne for next year’s Australian Open.

“I tried to give it back with good tennis over the years. This is my 22nd year coming to Australia,” he said at the presentation ceremony.

The Serb said he didn’t think he’d be “standing on a Grand Slam final podium again”.

“God knows what happens tomorrow, let alone in six or 12 months,” the 2023 champion said.

“It has been a great ride, and I love you guys.”

MELBOURNE — Elena Rybakina finally won her second Grand Slam title with a victory over top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka at the Australian Open on Saturday, and it was something of a testament to quiet achievers.

After some tumult at the start of 2025, including the suspension of her coach, Rybakina finished off last year with a title at the WTA Finals in November. And now she has started the new year with a major championship.

Her low-key celebration was symbolic of her understated run through the tournament: a small fist pump, a quick embrace with Sabalenka, a handshake with the chair umpire, a smile, and a few hand claps on the strings of her racket and a wave to acknowledge the crowd.

It happened quickly after Rybakina closed with an ace to cap a third-set comeback and a 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 win over a regular rival who beat her in the final here in 2023.

“The heart rate was definitely beating too fast. Even maybe [my] face didn’t show, but inside it was a lot of emotions,” the 26-year-old Rybakina, who was born in Moscow but represents Kazakhstan, said of her calm and clinical finish.

She knew she had to capitalize quickly this time, after she acknowledged getting tight and needing almost a half-hour from her first match point to her match-winning point in a semifinal win over Jessica Pegula.

Elena Rybakina plays a backhand return during the women’s singles final at the Australian Open on Saturday.

(Dita Alangkara / Associated Press)

Three years ago, Rybakina won the first set of the Australian Open final but lost the match in three.

This time, after breaking in the first game and taking the first set, she rallied after losing the second set and going down 3-0 in the third. She won five straight games to regain control.

“It gives me a kind of relief,” she said, “also, a lot of confidence for sure for the rest of the season.”

It was a second major title for fifth-seeded Rybakina, who won Wimbledon in 2022 and entered that Australian final three years ago as the only major winner in the contest.

While Sabalenka went on to win another three majors, including back-to-back triumphs in Australia and the 2024 and ’25 victories at the U.S. Open, Rybakina’s results dipped and she didn’t reach another major final until this tournament.

Career change

A win over Sabalenka at the season-ending WTA Finals has changed her career trajectory. She has the most match wins on tour since Wimbledon, and is now on a roll of 20 wins in 21 matches.

“Last year I didn’t start so well,” she said. “I qualified for the [WTA] Finals late. I just hope I can carry this momentum. Do a good job with the team and continue this way.”

Rybakina is 10-0 in her last 10 matches against top-10 players, and she’ll return to No. 3 in the rankings.

Kazakhstan’s flag was unfurled on the court at Rod Laver Arena after Rybakina had paraded the trophy around and posed for photos with her team.

Coaching team

She paid tribute to her coach, Stefano Vukov, who spent time under suspension last year by the women’s tour. Vukov received a silver plate from the tournament organizers for being the champion’s coach.

“Of course I would like to thank my team,” she said. “Without you it wouldn’t have been possible. Really. We had a lot of things going on [last year]. Thank you to all of you, and hopefully we can keep on going strong this year.

“It’s a win for all the team, all the people who support me,” she said. “I just hope that I can carry this moment throughout the whole season and keep on improving.”

She said she’d been working with Vukov since 2019 and she finds it helpful to hear the constant stream of technical and tactical advice he conveys from his seat beside the court. The more, the better, she said, because eventually she listens.

“We won many titles together,” Rybakina said. “And even last year in Ningbo, WTA Finals, and now this trophy I felt just, again, proud and thankful to my team for the work.”

Win some, lose some

Aryna Sabalenka reacts after winning a point against Elena Rybakina in the women’s singles final at the Australian Open on Saturday.

(Dita Alangkara / Associated Press)

For Sabalenka, it’s back-to-back losses in the final in Australia after going down in an upset last year to Madison Keys.

“Of course, I have regrets. When you lead 3-love and then it felt like in few seconds it was 3-4, and I was down with a break — it was very fast,” she said. “Great tennis from her. Maybe not so smart for me.

“But as I say, today I’m a loser, maybe tomorrow I’m a winner. Hopefully I’ll be more of a winner this season than a loser. Hoping right now and praying.”

Rybakina went on the attack from the start and her serve was strong, with six aces and — apart from the two breaks at the end of the second set and the start of the third — she fended off six of the breakpoint chances she faced.

While Sabalenka’s emotions intensified, Rybakina maintained a determined quietness throughout.

In the end, she let her tennis do the talking.

Carlos Alcaraz becomes the youngest man to reach all four slam finals and can now become youngest to win all four.

Carlos Alcaraz overcame cramps and injury to fend off Alexander Zverev in an epic, momentum-swinging five-setter to become the youngest man in the Open era to reach the finals of all four Grand Slam events.

At 22, he’s aiming to be the youngest man to complete a career Grand Slam.

He reached his first Australian Open final the hard way, winning 6-4, 7-6 (5), 6-7 (3), 6-7 (4), 7-5 in 5 hours, 27 minutes on Friday.

That’s despite being two points away in the third set from a semifinal victory in a tournament where he hadn’t dropped a set through five rounds.

He was behind in the fifth set after dropping the first game and didn’t break back until Zverev was serving for the match in the 10th.

Alcaraz will next face either two-time defending champion Jannik Sinner or 10-time Australian Open titlist Novak Djokovic, who is bidding for an unprecedented 25th Grand Slam singles title. The long afternoon match delayed the start of the night’s semifinal.

The top-ranked Alcaraz was leading by two sets and appeared to be in the kind of form that won him the US Open last year and has helped him evenly split the last eight majors with Sinner.

But in the ninth game of the third, he started limping and appeared to be struggling with an upper right leg problem. After holding for 5-4, he took a medical timeout in the changeover. It may have been cramp, but he rubbed the inside of his right thigh and called for the trainer, who also massaged the same area.

Zverev was demonstrably upset, talking with a tournament official, when his rival was given the three-minute break for treatment.

Even with his limited footwork, Alcaraz was able to hit winners and get to 6-5 before the trainer returned in the changeover to massage the area again.

When he went back out, the crowd gave him rousing support. Zverev served a double-fault to open the next game, and Alcaraz lobbed and then slapped a forehand winner down the line to get to 0-30. But Zverev won four straight points to force the tiebreaker and then win it.

No 3 Zverev, the 2025 runner-up, retained his composure despite Alcaraz’s obvious discomfort on the other side of the net, and the crowd on Rod Laver Arena firmly behind the Spaniard.

He was in front for the entire fourth set, but Alcaraz stayed with him, until Zverev again took charge in the tiebreaker. More than four hours had elapsed when the match went to a fifth set, the first five-setter on the centre court in the 2026 tournament.

Alcaraz dropped serve in the opening game of the fifth set but hung with Zverev, getting five breakpoint chances without being able to convert.

The drama lifted in the sixth game, when Alcaraz sprinted across court to track down a drop shot and slid at full pace for an angled forehand winner. The crowd went crazy.

Alcaraz finally converted the break when Zverev was serving for the match at 5-4 in the fifth set.

He held for 6-5 and converted his first match point when Zverev was serving to stay in the match.

Iga Swiatek’s bid to complete the career Grand Slam at this year’s Australian Open was ended by Kazakh fifth seed Elena Rybakina in the quarter-finals.

Reigning Wimbledon champion Swiatek lost 7-5 6-1 as Rybakina used her power to devastating effect.

Swiatek, 24, can already be ranked among the greats, having won six major titles across all three different surfaces.

Mastering the Wimbledon grass last year – a surface considered her weakest – opened the door to attempting in Melbourne to become only the sixth woman in the Open era to win all four Grand Slam events.

Before the tournament, Swiatek acknowledged the achievement would be a “dream come true” but insisted she was blocking out the outside noise about what was at stake.

On the evidence of what she had showed over the opening four rounds, it never truly felt that she would complete the clean sweep this year.

Swiatek’s service game had not been solid, while the quicker courts at Melbourne Park have historically led to problems against aggressive opponents.

That always promised to be a bad combination against 2022 Wimbledon champion Rybakina, who ruthlessly took advantage in Wednesday’s contest.

Rybakina, 26, could not find rhythm with her serve in a first set which started with the pair exchanging breaks.

A low first-serve percentage of 41% was uncharacteristic, but she had enough pace and aggression in her groundstrokes to rush Swiatek.

That was demonstrated in the crucial 12th game. Rybakina fought back from 0-30 with deep returning – drawing loose sprays from Swiatek – and explosive winners to take the opener.

Momentum stayed with Rybakina as she immediately took control of the second set.

In perfect 22C sunny conditions following Tuesday’s heatwave, her groundstrokes continued to fly through the court and Swiatek was unable to solve the problem facing her.