MELBOURNE: Carlos Alcaraz says that his absolute hatred of losing drives him to keep making landmarks after becoming the youngest man to win all four Grand Slam tournaments.

The Spaniard beat Serbian great Novak Djokovic in four sets in Sunday’s Australian Open final, adding his first Melbourne crown to his Wimbledon, US Open and French Open titles.

In doing it at the age of 22 he surpassed legendary compatriot Rafael Nadal, who was 24 when he completed a career Grand Slam of all four majors.

The now-retired Nadal was at Rod Laver Arena to see the world number one beat Djokovic 2-6, 6-2, 6-3, 7-5, and Alcaraz said his presence helped inspire him to victory.

It was Alcaraz’s seventh major title and he will head to the other three Grand Slams in 2026 as the man to beat once more, with world number two Jannik Sinner his closest rival.

“I hate losing, so that’s my motivation,” said Alcaraz, who plans to have a tattoo of a kangaroo to mark his achievement.

He declined to say if a rare calendar Grand Slam — winning all four majors in the same year — was next on his hit-list.

“Well, it’s going to be a big challenge. Those are big words, to be honest. You know, I just want it to be one at a time,” he said.

But Alcaraz does want to win the season-ending ATP Finals, having been defea­ted by the Italian Sinner last year in the title decider.

And a Davis Cup crown with Spain is also on his radar.

Alcaraz surprisingly split with coach Juan Carlos Ferrero in December after seven hugely successful years together, with assistant coach Samuel Lopez taking over.

He has not divulged the reasons behind the change in any depth, but took satisfaction from triumphing in Melbourne given all the speculation beforehand.

“Just happy to prove all the people were wrong,” he said.

Published in Dawn, February 3rd, 2026