Alcaraz seeks to reach the ‘Grand Slam’

The Spanish tennis player Carlos Alcaraz will play this Friday the semifinal of the Australian Open, the first ‘Grand Slam’ of the season, against the German Alexander Zverev, a duel in which the Murcian will seek to get into the title match in Melbourne for the first time in his career against an opponent with whom he has a head-to-head tie and who has already knocked him out of the ‘Aussie’ tournament in 2024.

Alcaraz has already achieved his best performance in the tournament and now wants to go one step further and reach the fourth consecutive ‘major’ final after Roland Garros, Wimbledon and US Open. The Spaniard’s great start to 2026 will clash with a rival who is lively and aggressive in his game, a Zverev who is exhibiting a very high level.

The semi-final arouses maximum expectation for the tennis displayed by both in the Australian event. The Murcian reaches the semifinal playing one of the best tennis of his career, a lot to say when it comes to Alcaraz, with small changes compared to 2025, especially with his serve, with which he has only given up seven breaks. Against Zverev he will also have to maintain his level compared to the rest, since the player who has achieved the most direct aces in the tournament (20) is measured, to which is added more than 70% of firsts in play.

On the other hand, Alcaraz will also have to take advantage of his greater variety of shots from the back of the court. In fact, against an opponent that has shown its solidity in its last two games, in which it has added 51 unforced errors between them and an average of just over seven per set, it will be key. Of course, the match plan should be different from the one chosen against De Minaur, much faster and more agile, so, against Hamburg, the drop shot should be more present.

Furthermore, historically, the player from El Palmar has always struggled in direct duels against the German. Only Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime has a better face-to-face performance than Zverev against Carlos Alcaraz, having played at least four matches. So far, there are 12 duels in which the Spaniard and the German have faced each other with six wins for each one. Although, yes, three of the last four games have fallen on the side of the world number one.

As for precedents on hard courts, outdoors, Alcaraz has won the last two matches – Cincinnati 2025 and Indian Wells 2024 -, although the fact that Zverev clings to is that the only time they met at the Australian Open, victory fell to his side, in the quarterfinals of the 2024 edition (6-1, 6-3, (2)6-7, 6-4). In addition, in ‘Grand Slam’ matches, they would also win the round of 16 duel at Roland Garros 2022.

And if Alcaraz made it to the final, the winner of the Jannik Sinner – Novak Djokovic would be waiting for him there, in which the Italian starts as a big favorite. If both advance to the final, it would be the fourth consecutive final between El Palmar and San Candido, something that has only happened in the ‘Open Era’ with Djokovic and Alcaraz between Wimbledon 2011 and Roland Garros 2012.