Carlos Alcaraz has made tennis history after winning the Australian Open title for the first time.
Alcaraz beat Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open final to become the youngest man in history to win all four major titles and therefore complete the Career Grand Slam.
This is something that only eight other men have achieved, with Alcaraz the first to do it since Djokovic in 2016.
As Alcaraz continues to track down Djokovic’s Grand Slam total, it has shown just how different their roads to the Career Slam have been.
How long did it take Novak Djokovic to complete the Career Slam?
Alcaraz beat Djokovic to overtake Don Budge as the youngest player to achieve the Career Grand Slam at just 22 years and 258 days old.
The Spaniard has done this in just his 20th main draw appearance at a Grand Slam, with Alcaraz now on seven major titles.
Who finishes their career on more majors – Alcaraz or Djokovic?
This is a very contrasting story to Djokovic, who completed the Career Slam at the 2016 French Open after beating Andy Murray in the final.
Djokovic was making his 46th Grand Slam main draw appearance at the French Open that year, meaning that it took him 26 more major tournaments to complete the Career Grand Slam than Alcaraz.
While this is quite a staggering difference between the two players, Djokovic has since gone on to complete both a second and third Career Grand Slam.
Djokovic remains as the only men’s singles player to have achieved the Career Grand Slam three times, but Alcaraz may already be eyeing a second run through the four majors.
Having already won the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open twice, Alcaraz could complete the Career Grand Slam for a second time at the Australian Open next year.
How long did it take Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer to complete the Career Grand Slam?
The aforementioned Don Budge was the overall record holder in terms of the youngest man to complete the Career Grand Slam prior to Alcaraz’s win, but the Open Era record was held by Rafael Nadal, who watched the Australian Open final inside Rod Laver Arena.
Nadal completed the Career Grand Slam at the 2010 US Open, which was his 26th Grand Slam main draw appearance.
The 22-time Grand Slam champion would complete the Career Grand Slam for a second time more recently, which came when Nadal won the 2022 Australian Open in a thrilling final against Daniil Medvedev.
Who is the greatest male tennis player of all time?
The only other ATP player to have completed the Career Grand Slam this century is Roger Federer, who achieved this feat in 2009.
In his 40th Grand Slam main draw appearance, Federer won the French Open for the first time to finally complete the Career Grand Slam after three previous final defeats to Nadal.
| ATP Players who completed the Career Grand Slam since 2000 | Number of Grand Slam main draw appearances it took them | Second Career Slam | Third Career Slam |
| Carlos Alcaraz | 20 | N/A | N/A |
| Rafael Nadal | 26 | 57 | N/A |
| Roger Federer | 40 | N/A | N/A |
| Novak Djokovic | 46 | 64 | 70 |
While he achieved the Career Grand Slam in fewer appearances than Djokovic, Federer only completed it once compared to the Serbian’s three times.
The two other men to have completed the Career Grand Slam in the Open Era are Rod Laver and Andre Agassi.
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