Winning a career Grand Slam (achieving all four majors at least once) is one measure of a complete tennis player. Two players will get a chance to do so at the 2026 Australian Open, starting this Sunday. Carlos Alcaraz and Iga Swiatek will be seeking their first title in Melbourne, adding to the six majors they have won elsewhere. In his quest to become the youngest man to complete a career Slam in the Open Era (since 1968), the World No. 1 Spaniard is expected to face a tough test from two-time defending champion Jannik Sinner. Furthermore, Alcaraz’s best result is the quarterfinals (2024 and 2025), and the 22-year-old no longer has Juan Carlos Ferrero, the trusted mentor with whom he parted ways after seven rewarding years. The 24-year-old Sinner will be on a mission of his own – to become the only man, other than the great Novak Djokovic, to achieve a hat-trick of Australian Open titles in the Open era. For Swiatek, a clay-court great and 2025 Wimbledon champion, the next two weeks offer a chance to develop further. However, the 24-year-old will face a major challenge from No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, with the Belarusian’s power-packed game and remarkable consistency – four wins from her last 12 major appearances, three finals and four semi-finals – making her the player to beat.
How 24-time Slam winner Djokovic performs will also be watched with interest. The 38-year-old, who has won the title a record 10 times in Australia, has not won a major title since the 2023 US Open. Although he reached the semi-finals of all Slams in 2025, he was largely uncompetitive in those events. In this edition, he is in the same half as Sinner, to whom he has lost five consecutive matches. The Serbs will need a tough effort to weaken the Alcaraz-Sinner hegemony that has seen them win the last eight Grand Slam tournaments. Although this kind of dominance doesn’t define women’s tennis, players like Coco Gauff and Amanda Anisimova have a reputation for knocking down doors again and again. Gauff, despite her limited play, is a two-time major winner, and Anisimova recently made the finals of both Wimbledon and the US Open. Equally, surprise title runs such as the American Madison Keys at Melbourne Park in 2025 cannot be ignored. This will be the first Slam for India after the retirement of doubles star Rohan Bopanna. The country no longer has an active Major champion, and this will be the fourth consecutive Slam without singles representation. In the doubles, the responsibility of raising the flag will be on Yuki Bhambri, ranked 21st.
published – January 17, 2026 12:10 am IST