Carlos Alcaraz continues catching the tennis world’s attention following his historic win at the 2026 Australian Open. The 22-year-old defeated the 24-time Grand Slam Champion Novak Djokovic 2-6, 6-2, 6-3, 7-5 on Sunday, February 2, on the Rod Laver Arena to lift his first trophy at Melbourne Park.
Two days after winning the title, Alcaraz shared an Instagram post featuring random photos from his time in Australia, one of which caught the attention of former professional player Christopher Eubanks.
Carlos Alcaraz’s Unique Collection Catches Christopher Eubanks’ Attention
After winning his first-ever Australian Open title, Alcaraz completed his career Grand Slam at the age of 22. By doing so, he became the youngest player to achieve this feat, surpassing the American legend Don Budge, who had done this in 1938.
He also broke fellow Spaniard Rafael Nadal’s record of being the youngest player to win all four majors at least once in the Open Era, which he did at the age of 24. Now, Alcaraz is only the sixth player in the Open Era to win all four majors, after Rod Laver, Andre Agassi, Roger Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic.
The Spaniard added the seventh major title to his collection; however, another collection caught Eubanks’ attention. The ESPN analyst saw Alcaraz’s latest Instagram post, through which he shared random snaps from his life.
The post featured multiple images from the Australian Open, including his trophy, team, and coach wearing a gladiator face mask, playing golf with the Swiss legend Federer from his hotel room, and one of his shoe collections.
In the photograph, there were 22 pieces of footwear, including 21 shoes and one pair of slippers. Eubanks saw this image and immediately found an interesting pair of shoes, the Nike Air Jordan 11 ‘Gamma Blue,’ which can be seen right next to his green slippers in the image. The former tennis player wrote,
“The Gamma 11s 😮💨🔥🔥” mesmerized by the beauty of the Nike pair.
The shoes are a retro release of the 2013 non-OG colorway, released in December 2025, and since Alcaraz is being sponsored by Nike till 2035, it provides him with the latest pair despite them being out of stock on the official Nike website.
Alcaraz’s 2026 Australian Open Dominance
Alcaraz had never gotten past the quarterfinals at the Australian Open, with his best result being a final-eight appearance in 2024 and 2025, where he lost to Alexander Zverev and Djokovic, respectively. However, this year, he managed to defeat them both consecutively, not just reach the final, but also win the title.
He opened his campaign by defeating Australian Adam Walton in three sets, marking the start of a historic run. He then faced Yannick Hanfmann in the second round, which was the longest three-set match of his career in Grand Slams, lasting two hours and 44 minutes, with the first set lasting 78 minutes. He then faced the 32nd seed Corentin Moutet in the third round match and made his place in the fourth round with a 6-2, 6-4, 6-1 win.
In the Round of 16, Alcaraz faced the 19th seed, American Tommy Paul, who forced a tiebreak in the first set, but ultimately lost to the Spaniard in straight sets. He then faced the local favorite Alex De Minuar in the quarterfinals, securing another straight-sets win with a scoreline of 7-5, 6-2, 6-1.
Then came the strongest test of his entire campaign against the World No. 3 Alexander Zverev in a match that lasted five hours and 27 minutes, marking the third-longest match in the Australian Open’s history. After a gruelling five-set match, the Spaniard beat the German 6-4, 7-6(5), 6-7(3), 6-7(4), 7-5 to reach his first Australian Open final. He beat the 10-time Champion Djokovic to etch his name in tennis history.
