Carlos Alcaraz has become the youngest man in tennis history to complete the Career Grand Slam

Carlos Alcaraz has already broken a lot of records in his young career, but in Melbourne on Sunday night he broke his biggest one yet.

He battled past Novak Djokovic for his first Australian Open title, 2-6, 6-2, 6-3, 7-5, and having already won the other three Grand Slam events—twice each, no less—the 22-year-old Spaniard has become the youngest man in tennis history to complete the Career Grand Slam.

The previous record dates all the way back to 1938, when the late Don Budge, a slightly older 22 at the time, completed his set at Roland Garros.

MEN TO COMPLETE THE CAREER SLAM (all-time, listed by age):

• 22 years, 8 months: Carlos Alcaraz [at 2026 Australian Open]
• 22 years, 11 months: Don Budge [at 1938 Roland Garros]
• 24 years, 1 month: Rod Laver [at 1962 US Open]
• 24 years, 3 months: Rafael Nadal [at 2010 US Open]
• 26 years, 0 months: Fred Perry [at 1935 Roland Garros]
• 27 years, 8 months: Roy Emerson [at 1964 Wimbledon]
• 27 years, 9 months: Roger Federer [at 2009 Roland Garros]
• 29 years, 0 months: Novak Djokovic [at 2016 Roland Garros]
• 29 years, 1 month: Andre Agassi [at 1999 Roland Garros]

Having won his first US Open title at age 19, his first Wimbledon title at age 20 and his first Roland Garros title at age 21, it’s only fitting that Alcaraz would win his first Australian Open title this year at age 22.

The Happy Slam had been a thorn in his side, though, his best results coming into this year’s edition being two quarterfinals—he fell to Alexander Zverev in that round in 2024 and to Djokovic in 2025.

This year, after a 7-5, 6-2, 6-1 victory over Alex de Minaur to finally get over the quarterfinal hump, the Spaniard got revenge against Zverev in the semifinals with a grueling 6-4, 7-6 (5), 6-7 (3), 6-7 (4), 7-5 victory, overcoming cramping and battling back from 5-3 down in the fifth set to outlast the German after five hours and 27 minutes on court.

Things looked dicey for a while against Djokovic in the final, as the 10-time Australian Open champion came out swinging, breaking twice and never facing a break point himself to clinch the first set in 33 minutes.

But the momentum shifted from there, as Alcaraz started cutting down on the unforced errors—after hitting nine in the first set, he had 10 in the second and third sets combined—and he broke Djokovic twice in each of those next two sets, soon finding himself up two sets to one.

After holding serve in the opening game of the fourth set, Alcaraz brought up six break points in the next game but couldn’t convert, and the two fell into a holding pattern, trading games back and forth—Djokovic actually brought up a break point in Alcaraz’s 4-all service game, but the Spaniard saved it and ended up holding.

A few games later, with Djokovic serving at 5-6, Alcaraz generated his first match point when Djokovic missed a forehand into the net, and another forehand miss from the Serb on the next point sealed the win.

Djokovic, who had reached the record-extending 38th Grand Slam final of his career in Melbourne this year—and who was going for a record-extending 25th major title, as well—congratulated Alcaraz right out of the gates during his speech at the on-court trophy ceremony.

“What you’ve been doing, I think the best word to describe it is historic, legendary,” the 24-time Grand Slam champion said. “So congratulations, and I wish you the best of luck for the rest of your career.

“I mean, you’re so young, you have a lot of time, like myself,” he added. “I’m sure we’ll see each other many more times in the next 10 years!”

Likewise, Alcaraz started his speech by congratulating Djokovic.

"Obviously, first of all, I just wanted to talk about Novak. He deserves an ovation, for sure," the now-seven-time major winner said. "You're talking about how I'm doing the amazing things, but what you're doing is really inspiring, not only for the tennis players, but all the athletes and people around the world, and for me as well. Just putting the hard work every day with your team every tournament you go, and playing such great tennis, for me I just enjoy so much watching you playing. For me it's been an honor to share the locker, share the court and watching you play.

"Thank you very much for what you are doing. It's very inspiring to me."