After his win at the French Open 2024, Carlos Alcaraz has been all the rage. The 21-year-old has dominated tennis discussions around the globe, which might not be fading anytime soon. More than anything, he broke some records that stood for a long time and many of them were held by his idol Rafael Nadal. Now, the young Spaniard is all set to register another record to his name and he has the next 3 years to achieve it.
At age 21, Carlos Alcaraz became the youngest men’s player to complete the Surface Slam. He won the US Open in 2022 (hard), Wimbledon in 2023 (grass), and the French Open in 2024 (clay). In comparison, Rafael Nadal was aged 23 when he completed the Surface Slam.
By the end of 2022, 19-year-old Alcaraz became the youngest World No.1 in the history of the ATP Tour. As for Nadal, he first achieved the World No.1 ranking in 2008, after winning the Olympic gold medal. He was 22 by then.
With a few more records to his name, Carlos Alcaraz is now set to become the youngest male tennis player in history to complete the epic Career Slam. All he has to do is win the Australian Open in either of 2025, 2026 or 2027. In other words, if Alcaraz manages to conquer the Happy Slam in Melbourne even once in his next 3 attempts (presuming he plays in all of them), he will still be 23 years old and thus, the youngest to achieve the feat.
At the moment, Rafael Nadal is the youngest male player to complete a Career Slam at age 24. He completed it in 2010 when he won the US Open for the first time. When he was 21 back in 2007, Nadal had only won the French Open thrice but hadn’t still won Wimbledon, the Australian Open or the US Open. Therefore, he wasn’t nearly as versatile as Alcaraz is currently.
Roland Garros just finished, BUT:
IF Alcaraz wins the Australian Open in 2025, 2026, or 2027, he would become the youngest male singles player ever to win all four Majors.
Rafael Nadal currently holds the record at 24 years old pic.twitter.com/Qbnu0iy2Jb
— Olly (@Olly_Tennis_) June 9, 2024
From a different perspective, the hard-court Grand Slams have eluded both Carlos Alcaraz and Rafael Nadal in their early careers. While the Australian Open has been the ‘Achilles Heel’ for Alcaraz in a way, it was the US Open for Rafael Nadal.
Many consider Carlos Alcaraz the better player of the two due to his athleticism, pace, and the variety of shots in the book. However, being very injury prone and seeing the rise of hard court specialists like Jannik Sinner, Daniil Medvedev and so on, could make Alcaraz’s job harder at the Australian Open in the coming years.
Not Only Nadal, but Carlos Alcaraz Could Break Another Player’s Record Too
While Rafael Nadal is the youngest player to achieve a Career Slam at the moment, he did it in the Open Era. But before the Open Era, it was US player Don Budge who held that record at the age of 23.
Open Era or not, Don Budge is still the youngest ever to reach that milestone. And he first achieved that feat in 1938. Budge won the Wimbledon and the US Open in 1937, and the Australian Open and Wimbledon in 1938. He also defended his Wimbledon and US Open titles in 1938.
Carlos Alcaraz has the greatest chance to break not only Nadal’s Open Era record but also Don Budge’s record. For that, he has to either win the AO 2025 or AO 2026. This added prospect has gotten Alcaraz fans excited and delighted at the same time. They are ready to hail him as someone on the verge of becoming the greatest tennis player of all time.
