Carlos Alcaraz is on the verge of making history at the 2026 Australian Open after already becoming the youngest star in the Open Era to reach the finals of all Grand Slams. The World No. 1 just overcame the gruelling five-hour 27-minute battle against World No. 3 Alexander Zverev to reach his maiden final in Melbourne.
Seeing this historic feat, the 24-time Grand Slam Champion Novak Djokovic couldn’t stop himself from congratulating the Spaniard in-person after the match.
Novak Djokovic Congratulates Carlos Alcaraz After Reaching the 2026 Australian Open Final
Alcaraz and Zverev made history at this year’s edition of the Australian Open, engaging in the third-longest match in Melbourne at five hours and 27-minutes. The entire Rod Laver Arena was on its feet to acknowledge the Spaniard’s accomplishment, who battled through muscle cramps to secure his spot in the final on Sunday, February 1.
After the match, when Alcaraz was in the player’s gym, cooling down after an epic battle, the Serbian legend, Djokovic, went over to congratulate the Spaniard for his impressive performance. He greeted the Spaniard’s entire coaching team, and then went over to Alcaraz himself and exchanged a few words with him before patting his shoulders to let him know about his on-court mastery.
Novak Djokovic walked over to congratulate Carlos Alcaraz on his incredible 5-set win over Zverev at the Australian Open.
Nice. ❤️
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) January 30, 2026
The footage of this lovely exchange between these two stars quickly went viral on social media, highlighting their sportsmanship and respect for each other. Alcaraz looked a bit surprised, given that Djokovic himself has a mammoth task of taking down the two-time defending champion Jannik Sinner in the semifinals later that evening.
During his post-match on-court interview, Alcaraz revealed that “believe” was the key behind taking down Zverev, showing his champion mentality and resilience. He also thanked the Australian crowd for showing immense support during his entire campaign, which helped him take down his opponents.
This semifinal match is now the longest in this year’s first Grand Slam, overtaking the second-round match between the Swiss legend, Stan Wawrinka, and Arthur Gea by almost one hour, which lasted for four hours and 33 minutes.
The Epic 2026 Australian Open Semifinal Between Alcaraz and Zverev
Zverev showed impressive serving skills in the match since the first point, but it wasn’t enough to take down the Spaniard. Alcaraz broke Zverev late in the first set to take it 6-4, before Zverev broke Alcaraz in the second set to take a 5-2 lead.
However, the Spaniard broke back to force a tiebreak and took the set 7-6(5). The pace of the match changed dramatically in the third set as Alcaraz started struggling with muscle cramps while Zverev improved his serving game even more. Both players held their serves to force a tiebreak, which the German won dominantly.
Alcaraz again struggled in the fourth set early on, as Zverev made his serve nearly perfect, landing 80% of his first serves and winning 82% of those points. The set ended similarly to the third set, with both players holding their serves till the end to force another tiebreak, which Zverev won.
In the decisive set, both players delivered nearly similar performances, with the World No. 3 breaking Alcaraz to take an early 4-2 lead. However, Alcaraz showed his A-game by breaking Zverev twice and winning four consecutive points to win the match 6-4, 7-6(5), 6-7(3), 6-7(4), 7-5.
Alcaraz will now compete in his career’s first Australian Open final, after quarterfinal exits in 2024 and 2025, losing to Zverev and Djokovic, respectively.
He will either face the two-time defending champion Jannik Sinner, against whom he has around 40% chances of winning, or the Serbian legend Djokovic, with around 70% chances, according to PFSN’s exclusive interactive simulator.
