Alcaraz comes into action, at the opening of the Open the Australiaon the first day, in the night sessionwith the Australian Adam Walton as a rival. The 22-year-old Murcian, world number one, faces the event he is most looking forward to. The Australian Open, which his greatest rival, the Italian Jannik Sinner, has won in the last two years, is the only one of the major tournaments missing from his record.
With no preparation tournament behind him so far in 2026, with a progressive tune-up at his academy in El Palmar (Murcia), the world number one arrives at Melbourne Park without hours on the court so far this season. Only the South Korean exhibition, along with Jannik Sinnerrelaxed, without intensity or pressure.
It is the same situation for Alcaraz as for Sinner and Djokovic who attend this “Grand Slam” without playing a previous tournament. The Serbian, ten-time winner in Australia, left Adelaide for physical reasons. The three arrive with the counter at zero.
Adam Walton is the first obstacle. Located in 79th place in the ATP ranking, the 26-year-old has never played in a final on the circuit. He finished 2025 with sixteen victories and thirty-two defeats and his most relevant moment was the victory of the Russian Daniil Medvedev, in the second round of the Cincinnati Masters 1,000. His best result was the round of 16 at the Miami Masters 1,000. But throughout the year it stagnated in the usual previous phases and in the first rounds.
Alcaraz and Walton have faced each other once. It was at the Queens tournament in London last year. The Murcian won in two sets, 6-4 and 7-6 (7/4).
A victory will take Alcaraz to the second round, where he will play against the winner of the duel between the German Yannick Hanfmann and the American Zachary Svajda, from the previous phase.
Sinner, champion of the last two editions, will enter action on Tuesday and Novak Djokovic, on Monday.
Before starting to compete and after arriving on the same flight to Melbourne, Alcaraz and Sinner continue to show a special harmony. The last detail they have left is the confession of how each one has saved the other’s phone number. The Alcaraz thing is quite simple, zero surprises: “For me? For me, it’s Jannik Sinner.” The number two in the world is not particularly original either: “I saved him because he changed his number, so I have him as the new Carlos Alcaraz. Very old school.” Both could meet again on February 1 playing in the final of the tournament at the Rod Laver Arena.
