Incredible Carlos Alcaraz makes career Grand Slam history with Australian Open crown

Either way, it was going to be a historic day in Melbourne. Djokovic was chasing a scarcely believable and record-setting 25th grand slam, but this day saw 22-year-old Alcaraz etch his name into the history books via a 2-6, 6-2, 6-3, 7-5 scoreline at the Rod Laver Arena.

For most of Djokovic's ten Australian Open titles, the Serb couldn't buy a cheer in support from the Melbourne crowd. However, 2026 saw them embrace the underdog, a tag that has been forced on Djokovic by the likes of Jannik Sinner and Alcaraz with their incredible play.

But for a long period on Sunday, Djokovic was not the underdog. The 38-year-old played sublime tennis in the opening set. He gave Alacaraz not even a sniff of a breakpoint while converting two from his four opportunities to not only win the set, but dominate it.

Djokovic's accurate serve fell aparted in the second set. His first serve percentage slipped down to 58 percent while Alcaraz's ratcheted up.

By the third set, the Spaniard was back to his free-flowing best, getting the better of Djokovic in several stunning exchanges that saw both players charging all over the blue court.

Momentum was clearly with Alcaraz, but veteran Djokovic found another gear in the fourth set, showing steely resolve to save no less than six break points to keep the young pretender honest. But serving to force a tiebreaker, Djokovic was unable to deny Alcaraz a decisive break that gave him a seventh Grand Slam title.

"I think nobody knows how hard I have been working to get this trophy," said Alcaraz on court afterwards. "I chased this moment so much. Preseason was a little bit of a rollercoaster emotionally⦠[My team] was just pushing me to do the right things every day, so I have to say I'm really grateful for everyone I have in my corner right now."

Djokovic was once again brilliant on the mic.

"Congratulations Carlos," said the ten-time Australian Open winner.

"An amazing tournament, an amazing couple of weeks. To your coach, to your family, to your team. What you have been doing, I think the best words to describe it are historic, legendary.

"So congratulations and I wish you the best of luck for the rest of the career. You are so young, you have a lot of time, like myself. So I'm sure we will be seeing each other many more times in the next 10 years."

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