Carlos Alcaraz targets 2026 Australian Open as pre-season plans take shape

World No 1 Alcaraz played his last official match of the 2025 ATP Tour season on November 16 when he lost the ATP Finals showpiece match against Jannik Sinner and, after being forced to miss the Davis Cup Finals due to a hamstring injury, he spent some time at home in Murcia.

Once the injury cleared up, the Spaniard went on holiday with Miami his preferred destination as he spent some time by the beach, watched some football and was on hand to hand over the MLS Cup trophy to Lionel Messi after Inter Miami won the Eastern Conference Final.

He also caught some NBA action involving the Miami Heat and attended the Miami Dolphins' NFL clash against New Orleans Saints.

The six-time Grand Slam winner will return to a tennis court soon, but it will be in an unofficial capacity as he will play two exhibition matches in the United States with the first against Francis Tiafoe on December 7 in Miami and the second against Joao Felix a day later in New Jersey.

The 22-year-old will have another short break after his final exhibition match on December 8 before he starts his pre-season on December 13 at the Juan Carlos Ferrero Tennis Academy in Alicante.

But the first few days will consist of physical training before he starts on-court training on December 17 with rising star Flavio Cobolli set to join him.

Cobolli was due to be his hitting partner in December 2024, but the Italian picked up a shoulder injury and was forced to delay the start of his pre-season training.

The Italian, a regular at the Ferrero Tennis Academy, finished the 2025 season at No 22 and won his maiden ATP Tour title at the Èširiac Open in April before lifting a second trophy at the Hamburg Open in May.

The 22-year-old was also the hero in the Davis Cup Finals in Bologna as he won his singles rubbers in the quarter-final, semi-final and final to steer Italy to a third consecutive title.

According to Marca, Alcaraz's pre-season training will stretch over 25 days until January 7 when he leaves for Seoul, South Korea, for his exhibition match against Jannik Sinner on the 10th.

He will then head to Australia, where he will take part in another exhibition match before the season-opening Grand Slam starts on January 18 at Melbourne Park.

Alcaraz will look to become the youngest player to win the Career Grand Slam next year with only the Australian Open missing from his collection.

"I think [the AO is] going to be great. It's my first goal, to be honest," he said in a recent interview. "When I just go to the pre-seasons to what I want to improve, what I want to achieve, Australian Open is there.

"It's the first or second tournament of the year, and it is always the main goal for me to complete a Career Grand Slam, Calendar Grand Slam."

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