Australian Open, Alcaraz wins career Slam

Carlos Alcaraz makes history by winning the Australian Open for the first time: thus, at 22 years and 272 days, he is the youngest player of all times to have won all Slam tournaments (before him the record was held by Don Budge, 22 years and 363 days, in 1938). The Spaniard prevailed in the final over Novak Djokovic 2-6, 6-2, 6-3, 7-5: the Serb struggled but had to surrender to an opponent who at this moment has weapons others do not have. Not only talent, but the completeness of his strokes, the variety of solutions, the ability to move around the court and cover angles in an incredible way, and his physical fitness (he is able, as we saw in the semi-final with Zverev, to overcome even sudden weaknesses and resist cramps). With this result, Carlos consolidates his first place in the Atp ranking and proves that even without Ferrero (the historic coach from whom he parted last December) he is the player we have come to know.

Djokovic has little to reproach himself with in a match in which he even got off to a good start, bringing home a first set played perfectly, as - for long stretches - in the semi-final with Sinner: confident and aggressive, he put a somewhat contracted and confused Alcaraz on the ropes. But then the Spaniard, who had everything to lose in this match, slowly rose, made fewer mistakes, crucified Nole with short balls, and responded better and better. He no longer allowed any space to the Serb, who found himself defending his serve with increasing difficulty. Djokovic believed in it until the very end, as he always does, and in the fourth set on 4-all he failed to transform a break point that could have taken him to the fifth, but he had to surrender to the greatness of the Spaniard, who seems to do everything with ease and naturalness.

During the prize-giving ceremony, after the customary congratulations to his opponent, Djokovic told Alcaraz "we will see each other again many times", adding proudly that he never thought "to be able to be at the closing ceremony of a Slam again" playing with two champions like Carlos and Jannik Sinner (who held the title here). Then addressing Rafa Nadal, who was in the stands today: 'It was an honour to share the court with you and to see you there. Of course, too many Spanish legends here, I felt like I was playing 2 against 1,' he joked. Then the Serb warmly thanked the audience, before handing over the stage to the Spaniard.

Alcaraz began by saying 'I want to talk about Novak, he deserves an ovation'. And then, addressing him: 'What you do inspires me, the hard work day after day with your team, this fantastic tennis... I enjoy watching you play. It was an honour to share the court and the locker room. Thank you for everything you do." Then, looking at his own team: "Only you know how hard I worked to win this trophy, the preseason was a rollercoaster, we tried not to listen to what people were saying, we worked our heads off and pushed to do the right things. I am very grateful to each and every one of you, this trophy is yours'. Then the acknowledgement to Nadal: 'It was a great honour to play in front of you, to see you here is a privilege, thank you for coming'.

Eloquent, finally, is the sentence written by Carlos on the camera: 'Job done. 4/4', referring to the career Slam.