Alcaraz's Grand Slam Pursuit: Australian Open & Beyond

Zverev, De Minaur, Djokovic strolled… the Top 5 points of Alcaraz in Melbourne

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Nothing is too big for him. No dreams. No ambition. Carlos Alcaraz has already accomplished more at his age than any other champion in the history of tennis before him. With his career Grand Slam in his pocket since his victory at the Australian Open on Sunday, he will face the ultimate question of his sport: can he achieve the Grand Slam, the real one, the one in one and the same season? “It’s going to be a huge challenge“, he agreed after his southern triumph.

No one since Rod Laver in 1969 has managed to accomplish such a masterpiece. Everyone broke their teeth over it. Some came very close, but all stalled. Even Novak Djokovic. In 2021, the Serb became the first player in more than half a century to win the first three major tricks of the season. He only missed one match since he reached the final of the US Open, before being overwhelmed by the weight of history and the monumental stakes. However, Djokovic has won everything, achieved everything, accomplished everything. But even for him, the task had proven insurmountable.

Winning all four Majors this year will be a huge challenge

We won’t go so far as to say that Carlos Alcaraz did the hard part by winning in Melbourne, but for the very first time, he is at least putting himself in a position (admittedly still very distant and hypothetical) of being able to achieve it. As for the other three major tournaments, he will be in his element. At under 23, he has already won Roland-Garros twice, Wimbledon twice and the US Open twice. He is a double title holder in Paris, has won twice in the last three years in London and is the outgoing winner in New York.

The Murcian can win anywhere. But it’s obviously one thing to have dominated each of the capital tricks in turn, and another to do all four in a row. “Winning the four Majors this year will be a huge challenge, he insists. To be honest, I want to take tournament after tournament. Roland-Garros is next, I have great memories there.” He does not rule out anything, nor does he forbid himself from considering anything, but above all he does not want to impose such a challenge on himself. : “I don’t want to put myself under the obligation of having to and put any pressure on myself, but this quest is going to be great.”

“Everything is possible for him, no doubt about it, said Sunday Novak Djokovic, his latest Australian victim, a connoisseur of the subject having himself chased the calendar Grand Slam. If he has managed to win seven Grand Slam titles at such a young age, he has a great future ahead of him. But there is Jannik Sinner, of course. Both, I imagine, will compete for the biggest titles.”

Alcaraz towards the 25 major titles? “It would be a trap to fall into that”

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It’s not just the Grand Slam

Djokovic is right. This is a point that cannot be overlooked so easily. The last fortnight should not make us forget that Carlos Alcaraz is not alone. Yes, he has won three of the last four Grand Slam titles and he leads in their direct confrontations, but in the last two years the Spaniard and his Italian rival have shared the trophies equally, going from 2-2 in 2024 and 2025 to 4-0 in 2026 is not impossible, but we cannot make it the most likely hypothesis at this stage.

Alcaraz wants to become the greatest of them all. He wants to win everything. The Grand Slam constitutes the central point of his ambitions, without a doubt, but he is eyeing other things, as he recalled in Melbourne. He wants everything. “I hate losing, that’s my motivation. I try to lose as little as possible“, smiles “Carlitos”. In Grand Slam as elsewhere. “Yes, there are tournaments that I really want to win at least oncehe continues. Some Masters 1000, for example. Of course, there are the ATP Finals (the Masters, Editor’s note) and the Davis Cup. The Davis Cup is a very big goal for me. I want to win this with my country, for my country. I will set new goals for myself this season, and I will try to achieve them.”

He is 22 years old. Not 38. He is not yet at the stage where he wants to bet everything on the Grand Slam tournaments, as Novak Djokovic has decided to do for two or three seasons. This rhythm will perhaps come one day, but it is not there. Carlos Alcaraz will therefore not sacrifice everything in a quest for the absolute. He’ll take what he can take, as he goes. The Grand Slam, the real one, is only a distant horizon at this stage. But if he ever triples the stake at Auteuil next June, there is no doubt that the debate will return to the table, with increased insistence. And that will make him want more than fear.