Alcaraz, at 22 years and 258 days old when AO 2026 started, would become the outright youngest of that crop to achieve the feat.
On the women’s side, six players have completed the career Slam in the Open era – Margaret Court, Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf, Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova. Billie Jean King also completed the set in 1972, though her sole Australian title was the last of the amateur era.
Graf was the youngest ever, at just 19 years old. What’s more, both Court and Graf, like Laver, did it in one single year – the coveted Grand Slam, or “calendar Slam”, regarded as the holy grail of tennis.
Alcaraz, in another scarcely believable possibility would have earned seven major singles titles in only 20 Grand Slam tournaments should he beat Djokovic on Sunday night.
