Despite having a career-best season in 2025, one in which he won over 70 matches for the first time and captured a career-high eight titles, Carlos Alcaraz already has his eyes fixed on 2026 and the first Major of the new year.
In 2025, Alcaraz reclaimed the year-end No.1 ranking for the first time since 2022 and added two more Majors to his tally. Yet one tournament has consistently remained a difficult challenge for the Spaniard: the Australian Open. As the new season approaches, Melbourne is his clear and urgent target.
Alcaraz’s Push for the Career Grand Slam
For Alcaraz, winning the Australian Open in 2026 would not only give him a seventh Major title, an extraordinary pace, but it would also make him the youngest man ever to complete the Career Grand Slam, surpassing Rafael Nadal’s record set at the 2010 US Open.
Speaking about the possibility, Alcaraz acknowledged both the historic weight of the moment and the challenge ahead:
“It’s my first goal, to be honest. When I just go to the pre-seasons to what I want to improve, what I want to achieve, Australian Open is there. It’s the first or second tournament of the year, and it is always the main goal for me to complete a career Grand Slam, calendar Grand Slam.”
Having already won the other three Majors multiple times, Melbourne remains the final piece of the puzzle. Alcaraz also understands that each missed opportunity increases the pressure:
“I just wanted to complete it. Obviously I’m going to try to do it next year, but if it is not next year, hopefully in two and three and four.”
Race with Sinner
The biggest obstacle in Alcaraz’s path will once again be Jannik Sinner—the two-time defending champion in Melbourne, who will be aiming for a historic Australian Open three-peat in 2026.
Their rivalry is once again expected to shape the next season across all three surfaces. At the French Open, Sinner will also be chasing a Career Grand Slam of his own after coming agonizingly close in 2025, when Alcaraz saved three championship points to deny him in a gripping final.
With the Grand Slam race between them already heating up and both players within touching distance of history, 2026 could determine not only who takes the next big step in their rivalry, but also which of them completes the Career Grand Slam first.
