The dream final
After spectacular escapes like magicians in the semi-finals, Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic are currently building their own history in the Australian Open 2026 final on February 1st.
16 years apart, Alcaraz and Djokovic are at two different stages of their careers, pursuing completely different milestones.
22-year-old Alcaraz is aiming to become the youngest player to complete a Career Grand Slam. His opponent is 38-year-old Djokovic, the highest-ranked male Grand Slam champion in history. The Serbian player has won the Australian Open 10 times and is looking to become the oldest champion in the history of the tournament.
Alcaraz won the longest semi-final in the history of the tournament, eliminating last year's runner-up Alexander Zverev after a dramatic match lasting 5 hours and 27 minutes. After the match, the Spanish player said: "We have put all our strength into it".
Meanwhile, Djokovic defeated Australian Open 2024, 2025 champion Jannik Sinner after 4 hours and 9 minutes, a classic match that the Serbian player described as "one of my best performances in the past decade".
Who will be crowned?
Biologically, I think he will recover a little easier," Djokovic said about Alcaraz. "I prepared very well, and I beat him last year here, also in a very difficult match. Let's see if both of us can reach our best fitness," the Serbian player continued.
Alcaraz defeated Djokovic in the most recent encounter between the two at the US Open last year, but after the match, he still praised the Serbian player's fitness, saying: "He looks like he's only 25 years old, but still maintaining that form at the age of 38 is really impressive".
The point gap between Alcaraz and Djokovic is always very close throughout the competition between these two generations. Just 12 months ago, Djokovic defeated Alcaraz right at Rod Laver Arena, where they will rematch in the upcoming final. Djokovic is leading Alcaraz with a score of 5-4 in the series of head-to-head matches between the two, but has lost 3 out of 5 encounters at Grand Slam tournaments.
After the defeat to Alcaraz in New York in September last year, Djokovic frankly shared about facing Alcaraz and Sinner, who have together won eight recent Grand Slam titles.
In the future, overcoming opponents like Sinner, Alcaraz in five-set win-three-set matches at Grand Slam tournaments will be very difficult for me. I think I have a better chance in three-set win-three-set matches, but five-set win-three-set matches are very difficult," Djokovic said.
The confrontation between Djokovic and Alcaraz promises to be a fierce tug-of-war from the baseline. In last year's match in Melbourne, both Alcaraz and Djokovic launched powerful shots and relied heavily on attacking finishing style, controlling the match with powerful shots.
Both players are expected to pull their opponents around the court, testing their fitness in the early stages of the upcoming final.
The final match between Alcaraz vs Djokovic will take place at 3:30 PM on February 1st.
