Carlos Alcaraz shares ambitions of becoming the ‘youngest’ Career Grand Slam winner at the Australian Open

World No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz will break idol Rafael Nadal's record if he emerges victorious at the 2025 Australian Open.

Carlos Alcaraz shares ambitions of becoming the ‘youngest’ Career Grand Slam winner at the Australian Open

Carlos Alcaraz (Image via X)

World No.3 Carlos Alcaraz is chasing his first Australian Open title and if he wins the tournament, he will etch his name in record books by becoming the youngest man to accomplish the Career Grand Slam. After breezing past Yoshihito Nishioka 6-0, 6-1, 6-4 on Wednesday (January 15) in an hour and 22 minutes, Alcaraz reiterated that completing the Career Grand Slam is one of his main goals.

Alcaraz tasted his first victory in Major at the 2022 US Open and became the youngest No.1 in the ATP rankings in the Open Era. He upset Novak Djokovic in a five-set thriller at the 2023 Wimbledon and repeated the same next year, though in straight sets. Alcaraz had completed the Channel Slam last year as he also won the French Open after battling past Alexander Zverev.

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The young Spaniard has never reached the final at the Australian Open. He could face Djokovic in the quarterfinals, and if he is lucky and survives all the threats and reaches the final, there’s a possibility of him meeting World No.1 Jannik Sinner, who clinched his first Major at Melbourne Park last year.

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If Alcaraz wins the tournament, he will surpass his idol Rafael Nadal to become the youngest man to clinch all four Majors in his career, at the age of just 21. Nadal achieved the feat at 24.

That’s one of the reasons I want to win this tournament one day. To put my name on that shortlist. I’m working every day just to be ready for that time. Hopefully, this year. Day by day. Let’s see how it’s gonna feel. Right now, I’m thinking about the next round. Hopefully, I’m gonna get farther.

Carlos Alcaraz said during his on-court interview
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Carlos Alcaraz has worked a lot on his serve in the pre-season

Carlos Alcaraz asked the tennis world, ‘Am I a serve bot?’ on the television camera after hitting 14 aces against Yoshihito Nishioka. After the match, he said his serves against Alexander Shevchenko in the first round bothered him so he worked with coach Juan Carlos Ferrero afterward.

Carlos Alcaraz
Carlos Alcaraz (Image via X)

This is something that I worked on in the pre-season. In the first round, I struggled a little bit, so I wasn’t too happy with the serve. Yesterday I was more focused on practising the serve.

Carlos Alcaraz said
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In the next round, Alcaraz is set to lock horns with Nuno Borges, who knocked out Alexandre Muller and Jordan Thompson in the previous rounds. He met the Portuguese once, in the 2023 Barcelona Open, and won it.