VAMOS! Carlos Alcaraz Beats Novak Djokovic To Win The Aussie Open Title, Becoming The Youngest Man Ever To Win All Four Grand Slams

Quinn Rooney. Getty Images.

I root for a lot of losers when it comes to sports. Teams that just continually disappoint me without fail when it comes to winning titles. Not necessarily losers like the Jets or Rockies who don't sniff the playoffs, but teams that get to the postseason only to shit down their leg when it matters most. Rooting for Carlos Alcaraz is the polar opposite of that and boy is it refreshing. And before you say I just picked the best player in the world to root for, I've been writing about him on here since 2021. I was at his upset against Tsitsipas at the US Open that year. I was on the Alcaraz train EARLY and the rewards have been incredible. When it matters the most he's actually the best there is. Big points, incredibly important matches, he rises to the occasion better than just about anybody like it's an involuntary action. And he does it with a smile on his face, playing just about the most exciting tennis in the sport. Exciting enough to attract even the biggest tennis hater out there. He's what the sport needed as Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic exited the game. Jannik Sinner is fantastic and will continue to challenge Alcaraz for every slam for the next decade+, but right now Alcaraz is the guy to carry the torch and it's awesome. 

Entering this Aussie Open Final, history was going to be made regardless of who won. Either Novak Djokovic was going to win a record 25th grand slam, the most of any man or woman, or Carlos Alcaraz was going to secure the elusive career slam, and become the youngest to ever accomplish that. No telling how either guy would be look coming in after 38 year old Novak's 5 set upset over Sinner and Alcaraz's cramp-filled victory over Zverev. Well, to start things off it was all Djokovic. Obviously being the much older guy it was imperative for him to start fast and grab a lead. Djokovic was everywhere and Alcaraz was extremely sluggish. It was a dream first set for Novak. 

Carlos would respond though and up his level, wrestling the second set away from Novak and evening up the match. The first and second sets were honestly mirrors of each other. Combined they lasted just an hour and ten minutes, setting us up for a best of three clash to decide the winner with both players fairly fresh. From that point on Alcaraz took control of the match while Djokovic clearly had trouble getting his energy levels back up. Even moments where Djokovic showed signs of life were wiped away with Carlos' brilliance. Not sure Novak has ever lost a point where he hit a shot like this in his career. 

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He started to resemble prime Djokovic out there, taking the legs before the soul. You couldn't hit a ball by him. He wasn't giving Novak an inch. P.S. Chloe Grace Moretz hasn't aged a second, huh?

It wasn't until the tail end of the 4th set when Novak regained a big surge of energy and it started to feel like he might actually push this thing to five. But just before they were ticketed to head to a tiebreak, Carlos broke through for the final time. The Aussie Open title was finally his. 

Full highlights here, I'm at the mercy of what the AO puts out on Twitter with what clips I throw in the blog. This is more of an extended look. 

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Bottom line? He's so fucking good. It's awesome to watch this all from the ground floor and see him rise to this level. The sky is truly the limit with Alcaraz. Once Novak retires it'll just be Sinner stopping him from winning every title, unless someone else comes along. Having seven slams already at 22 years old, he might finish with a preposterous number when it's all said and done. 

As for Novak, this was an incredible accomplishment to get to this point. Sure he needed some breaks and luck from a walkover and the Musetti retirement, but that's part of the sport. It's still crazy he was able to beat Sinner like that at his age. Gave Carlos hell for a bit as well. It was just too much of an ask this deep in a tournament to beat both of those guys in succesision. Dude is truly one of the greatest athletes of our time. Who knows if he'll ever get back to this spot again, but it was one hell of an effort even to do that. 

P.S. If you watched this match or others in the tournament, how fucking annoying was it that McEnroe and the other announcers would start talking the millisecond a point would end, thus spoiling it for the fan watching at home that the rally was about to end? I thought it was only an issue for me this whole time until others responded to my tweet during the match. 

I guess it was more of a production issue than the announcers, but holy shit needs to get fixed asap. 

P.P.S. Imagine telling Carlos 10 years ago this would be happening with Rafa. So sick to have him there.