Alcaraz and the reliability of the greatest in the ‘Grand Slam’

The Spanish tennis player Carlos Alcaraz lifted his seventh ‘Grand Slam’ at the Australian Open after beating the Serbian Novak Djokovic in the final, a victory that highlights the reliability of the Murcian in the title matches in the ‘big’, in which he has only fallen in one of them, data that even improves the ‘Big Three’.

Carlos Alcaraz’s seven ‘Grand Slams’ make him, at 22 years old, among the greatest in the history of tennis. Since the 2022 United States Open, a tournament that marked his first ‘big’ and becoming the youngest number one in history, the legend of the Murcian has only increased. Then came two Wimbledons, two Roland Garros and his first Australian Open, with which he would become the youngest tennis player to complete the ‘Career Slam’ at 22 years and 274 days.

Seven titles for which the current world number one has needed to play in eight finals, raising his reliability in the ‘Grand Slam’ finals played to 87.5 percent. Data identical to those of Roger Federer, although the Swiss would manage to win the first seven.

Now the challenge must be to prolong the effectiveness, as the Basel tennis player himself did, who managed to win 10 out of 11 in his beginnings. And very close to these records is the Spanish Rafa Nadal, who would win 10 of the first 12 plays, the same balance as Bjorn Borg. However, Serbian Novak Djokovic, the most successful in history, had a hard time getting started and would only win eight of his first 15 ‘Grand Slam’ finals.

But what is most striking is the maturity he exhibits when it comes to playing in tournaments at this level. Since making his debut in a final draw at the Australian Open in 2021, he has played 104 best-of-five-set matches, of which he has emerged victorious in 91 of them, which represents an 87.5 percent win rate. In fact, if their participations since the 2022 US Open are taken into account, the balance is 74 wins and six losses (92.5).

A statistic that, although slightly lower, is already on par with the members of the ‘Big Three’. Of them, Djokovic dominates with 88.1 percent of the 430 matches he has played and very close to those records is Nadal, with a 314-44 which represents 87.7 of wins, highlighting the 112-4 at Roland Garros, where he has won 14 of the 19 he has played. Federer’s is also superior to Alcaraz’s, who won 369 out of 69 (84.2).

Carlos Alcaraz’s level of effectiveness in lifting the title in the ‘Grand Slam’ is also at the level of the best. So far, the El Palmar tennis player has won seven of the 20 ‘big ones’ he has played, which represents 35 percent of titles, raising the percentage to 40 if it is about playing in the final. Numbers only surpassed, in the Open Era, by the Swede Born Borg, who lifted 11 of 28 (39.3).

After these two, the Australian Rod Laver, who won 33.3 percent of the 15 ‘bigs’ in which he participated, closes the podium, while Nadal (22/68) and Djokovic (24/81) appear behind him. In terms of disputed finals, Alcaraz’s numbers are almost identical to Federer’s 38.2 percent, although lower than the Balearic Islands’ 44.1, the Serbian’s 47.5 or Borg’s 59.3, who also heads this particular classification.

A solidity within reach of very few in ‘Grand Slam’ to which Carlos Alcaraz has reached thanks to his physical ability. And since 2021, his first as a professional, in the nine eliminations – three at the Australian Open, two at Roland Garros, two at Wimbledon and two at the US Open – in all of them in which he has not retired he has won at least one set.

On the other hand, Alcaraz has developed a very high level of resilience by bringing out his best tennis when the match is most tense. Proof of this was the semifinal of the Australian Open, where he turned around a match in which Alexander Zverev served to win, or in the final of Roland Garros 2025, in which, before taking the match in the tie-break of the fifth set, he saved three match points from Jannik Sinner in a memorable 0-40.

A fact that is demonstrated, at a quantitative level, in the statistics of matches won by Carlos Alcaraz in the fifth set. Only the Italian Matteo Berretini in the ‘super tie-break’ of the Australian Open 2022 has been able to defeat him. Since then, the balance is 13-0, including two finals: Wimbledon 2023 against Novak Djokovic (1-6, 7-6(6), 6-1, 3-6, 6-4) and Roland Garros 2025 (4-6, (4)6-7, 6-4, 7-6(3), 7-6(2)) against Sinner.