Carlos Alcaraz has the chance to cement himself as one of the greatest of all time by winning a historic 'Golden Slam'.
On Sunday morning, tennis star Alcaraz impressed as he produced a dominant display against Novak Djokovic to win the 2026 Australian Open.
After surprisingly losing the first set 6-2, the Spaniard came back to win the next three sets 6-2 6-3 7-5, claiming the first tennis Grand Slam of the year.
In doing so, the Spaniard joined the exclusive list of players to win all four Grand Slam tournaments - the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US Open - becoming the youngest to do so.
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But there's one other historic achievement that the 22-year-old could still achieve that would see him surpass many of the best players in the history of the sport.
The Golden Slam is one of the most prestigious achievements in the entire sport of tennis, with only 13 players have managing to do so in their careers.
In order to achieve a Golden Slam, a player is said must have won all of the four Grand Slam titles as well as an Olympic gold medal.
The last player to do this was Djokovic, who added an Olympic gold medal to his 24-Grand Slam titles following his victory over Alcaraz in the final of the Paris 2024 Games.
This means that all that Alcaraz needs to do become the 14th player to claim a Golden Slam is go one step further than he did in 2024 and win gold when the Olympic Games return in Los Angeles in 2028.
However, he could even take things one step further if he is able to achieve something that only one other player in the history has done, the Calendar Golden Slam.
In order to do this, Alcaraz would need to win all four of the tennis Grand Slams in an Olympic year before going on to claim the gold medal once the Games begin in the summer.
Once again, 2028 would be the Spaniard's first opportunity to do this, but it would be far from his last chance as Alcaraz could feasibly be competing at the top of the sport for many more years to come.
If he maintains fitness and dodges injuries throughout his career, it's possible that Alcaraz could still be challenging for Grand Slam titles and a gold medal during the 2036 Olympic Games, currently expected to be held in Doha, Qatar.
Should Alcaraz manage to achieve a Calendar Golden Slam during his career, he be just the second player to do so after Steffi Graf achieved it in 1988 at just 19 years old.
The German her first Australian Open, Wimbledon and US Open women’s singles titles and her second French Open title in 1988 before going on to win gold in the Seoul Olympics.
Topics: Carlos Alcaraz, Tennis, Australian Open, Olympics
Ben McCrum