Alcaraz rallies in style to complete cherished slam

Carlos Alcaraz was a phantom for the first 45 minutes of his maiden Australian Open final.

- C Alcaraz

While the Spaniard was painfully tentative on one of the most significant occasions of his career, he was suffocated by the eternal brilliance of Novak Djokovic, who burst into this historic match playing some of his best tennis in recent years.‘Ayounger version of Alcaraz may have compounded his slow start by overhitting, as was the case during parts of their fateful Olympic battle in Paris 18 months ago, but here he calmly worked his way into the match and then took control. In the process, he pulled off one of the great sporting achievements in recent years, recovering from a set down to defeat Djokovic 2-6, 6-2, 6-3, 7-5 and triumph at the Australian Open for the first time in his career.

This sport has produced many legendary young champions, from Bjorn Borg to Rafael Nadal, a witness from the first row on Rod Laver Arena yesterday. Alcaraz, however, continues to make his claim as the greatest young male tennis player that has ever lived.

At only 22, Alcaraz is the youngest man to complete the career grand slam, a record that had been held by Don Budge since 1938, 87 years ago. Only eight other men have won all four grand slam titles. “Completing acareer grand slam was something that was on my mind,” said Alcaraz. “Every time that I come here to Australia, Imade the preseason just with my mindintothis tournament to try to work as hard as I can and to be as well-prepared as Ican, you know, toplay this tournament and trying to get the trophy. Inthe previous yearsI haven't gone ina good way, but lam really happy that just push myself to be better and finally came this year.”