Carlos Alcaraz won the 2026 Australian Open on Sunday, defeating Novak Djokovic in four sets 2-6, 6-2, 6-3, 7-5, dashing Djokovic’s hopes of winning a 25th Grand Slam title and cementing his status as the world’s No. 1 player.
With this victory, Alcaraz completed a career Grand Slam, earning his seventh major victory at just 22 years old. He joins 38-year-old Djokovic, Andre Agassi, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, who did it at age 24, as the only male players to complete a career Grand Slam in the Open era.
The final was the first Grand Slam final since last year’s Australian Open, when both Alcaraz and world No. 2 Sinner, who lost in five sets to Djokovic in the semifinals, were absent. Djokovic, on the other hand, had not played in a major final since 2024, when he lost to none other than Alcaraz at Wimbledon. Alcaraz, on the other hand, had never made it past the quarterfinals at the Australian Open until this year.
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Djokovic dominated from the start on Sunday, eventually winning the first set, but Alcaraz gained momentum in the second set and never lost his advantage, breaking Djokovic in the third and seventh games. Alcaraz didn’t take the lead until the fifth game in the third set, but Djokovic kept it close until the decisive ninth game. Djokovic did not let Alcaraz go easily in the fourth set, exchanging points in the 11th and 12th games, but a series of unforced errors gave Alcaraz a match point and the victory.
Alcaraz converted five of 16 break points and Djokovic converted two of six. Djokovic had 46 unforced errors, compared to 27 for Alcaraz.
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Djokovic has never lost an Australian Open final and has won a whopping 10 times since 2008.
After the match, Alcaraz called Djokovic “inspiring” and the runner-up praised Alcaraz while joking about the future.
“What you’ve done can best be described as historic, legendary,” Djokovic said. “Congratulations and best of luck for the rest of your career. You are very young and, like me, you have a lot of time on your hands. I’m sure we’ll see each other many times over the next 10 years.”
Djokovic has refrained from talking about his retirement, but given that this will likely be his last Australian Open, he has offered some farewell.
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“God knows what’s going to happen tomorrow, let alone six months or 12 months from now, so it’s been a great journey,” Djokovic said. “I love you guys.”
This breaking news article will be updated.
