Though fans did not get to see another Grand Slam final between Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, the ‘new two’ both enjoyed lengthy campaigns Down Under.
Sinner reached the quarterfinal stage at Melbourne Park, where his title defence ultimately came to an end against Novak Djokovic in a five-set classic.
Alcaraz, however, went all the way and defeated the Serb in the final to become the youngest player ever to complete the Career Grand Slam, aged 22.
Will Carlos Alcaraz win the Calendar Slam in 2026?
If not, which Grand Slam is he going to fail to win?
The Spaniard and the Italian remain atop the ATP rankings, with points tallies north of 10,000, and look set to dominate at majors for the foreseeable future.
There are several stars looking to close the gap on Alcaraz and Sinner in 2026, including Alexander Bublik, who recently revealed how the rest of the ATP locker room views the top two players in the world.
Alexander Bublik discusses Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner
In an episode of ‘Nothing Major‘, former American star Sam Querrey asked Bublik: “Do you and others feel like, oh, someone can maybe win one of these majors with them [Alcaraz and Sinner] in it, or one of them can get upset, or someone needs to be sick or something like that?”
The Kazakh star responded: “Most of us [think] like this. I mean, I haven’t heard anyone bragging about winning a slam or even putting that into words and being like ‘I can do that’ or something.
“For me, I think the aura in the locker room is like, we try to get us close to the title, but I think eventually we’re gonna go down to one of those [two], but I think the worst moment.
Who surprised you the most at the Australian Open this year?
Did they surprise you in a positive or negative way?
“I mean if I am top 10 player and I would play and I would be playing hopefully good, and then if Alcaraz and Sinner are both out by some crazy occasion and we’re all in the quarterfinals, that will be a mess.
“Imagine Wimbledon, Djokovic is out, Sinner is out, and Alcaraz is out, and we are in the quarterfinals with the other guys.”
Alexander Bublik’s campaign at the 2026 Australian Open
After enjoying the best campaign of his career in 2025, Bublik was looking for a strong start to the Grand Slam season at the Australian Open.
He was largely untroubled in his first two matches at the tournament, which he clinched in straight sets against Jenson Brooksby and Marton Fucsovics.
In round three, Bublik was tested by Tomas Martin Etcheverry, who forced him to two tiebreaks, but the tenth seed ultimately came out on top in straight sets.
Bublik’s Australian Open exit came in the fourth round, where he was dominated by home hope Alex de Minaur.
De Minaur beat Bublik 6-4, 6-1, 6-1 to advance to the quarterfinals, where he was then knocked out by Alcaraz.
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