By Richard Pagliaro | Tuesday, November 18, 2025Photo credit score: Antoine Couvercelle/ROLEX
The Joyful Slam is a historic goal for Carlos Alcaraz.
Empowered by the most effective season of his profession this yr, the top-ranked Alcaraz shared his No. 1 objective for subsequent yr: Win a maiden Australian Open and make historical past because the youngest man to finish the profession Grand Slam.
The 22-year-old Alcaraz, who withdrew from the Davis Cup Remaining 8 at the moment because of the proper leg damage he suffered falling to Jannik Sinner, 7-6(4), 7-5 in Sunday’s ATP Remaining title match, met the media in a Zoom name at the moment. Alcaraz, selling Racquet on the Rock exhibition vs. Frances Tiafoe at Newark’s Prudential Heart on December seventh, shared his 2026 mission assertion: Dethrone two-time champion Sinner and win the Australian Open to finish the profession Grand Slam.
“Completely, it’s a actually good objective for me to finish the calendar Grand Slam,” Alcaraz instructed the media in at the moment’s Zoom name. “Having that document to be the youngest participant to finish it will be a extremely good achievement and accomplishment to myself. So I’m actually trying ahead to it in 2026.”
Six-time Grand Slam champion Alcaraz is a champion for all surfaces making historical past because the youngest man to seize Grand Slam championships on the three main surfaces: arduous court docket (2022 and 2025 US Open), grass (2023-2024 Wimbledon) and his native floor crimson clay at Roland Garros (2024-2025).
The worst place in tennis proper now could be trailing Jannik Sinner in a significant match. Frontrunner Sinner squashes even elites when he’s up within the rating. But Alcaraz can play even bolder and shine even brighter when he’s down. The Spanish shotmaker confirmed all of it combating off three championship factors to interrupt Sinner’s coronary heart within the Roland Garros remaining epic for the ages in June.
The query is: Can Alcaraz, whose finest Australian Open outcomes are back-to-back quarterfinal finishes in 2024-2025, defuse Sinner on the Italian’s finest Slam in Melbourne?
Alcaraz suggests lack of a tune-up event Down Beneath has damage his Joyful Slam quest up to now.
“It might be an incredible document to be sincere. I’m actually trying ahead to profitable Australia in the future,” Alcaraz stated. “I’m actually enthusiastic about it. That’s the nice level of it—it’s the primary Grand Slam.
“I begin the season taking part in immediately a Grand Slam which might be difficult with no rhythm in any respect, not competitors rhythm, let’s imagine. However I’m gonna have an incredible pre season to prepare.
“Clearly, having that document of being the youngest to finish the profession Grand Slam is one thing that sticks in my thoughts.”
Fifteen years in the past, Rafael Nadal, Alcaraz’s tennis hero and Olympic doubles accomplice, gained the 2010 US Open to finish the profession Grand Slam on the age of 24. Roger Federer, Alcaraz’s stylistic inspiration, was 27 years outdated when he defeated Robin Soderling within the 2009 Roland Garros remaining to win his first French Open and full the profession Grand Slam.
Alcaraz, who fell to Grand Slam king Novak Djokovic in a four-set AO quarterfinal final January, gained a career-best eight titles in 2025 and says he’s a greater—and smarter—participant now than he was in the beginning of this season.
“A number of losses I haven’t performed my finest tennis at the start of the season then I noticed what I’ve to do on and off the court docket,” Alcaraz stated. “Then after that, from Monte-Carlo by means of the top of the yr, it’s been my finest yr, my finest tennis I ever performed. I’m actually pleased with how I dealt with every part the strain…
“I discovered the right way to see the conditions significantly better on the court docket. Mentally, I’m stronger and I feel for me that’s a very powerful factor. That I grew to become actually stronger from the losses and after I felt actually actually dangerous. That’s the second I’m actually happy with and that’s what I take from this yr.”
