Why the Australian Open is finally seeing the very best of Carlos Alcaraz

For a player whose trajectory puts him on course with some of the greatest of all time, the Australian Open once stood as a scene of relative underachievement for Carlos Alcaraz. After becoming a two-time champion at Wimbledon, Roland Garros and the US Open by the age of 22, Alcaraz had yet to advance past the quarter-finals in Melbourne in four previous attempts. At the start of his latest bid, he declared winning the Australian Open, a title that would also complete a historic career grand slam, as his “main goal” for the year.

The world No 1 moved a step closer to accomplishing that with a 7-5 6-2 6-1 victory over Alex de Minaur, a victory that saw the Spaniard raise his level and break new ground by advancing to his first semi-final at this tournament. After quarter-final defeats to Alexander Zverev in 2024 and Novak Djokovic last year, Alcaraz becomes the third-youngest man in the Open era to reach at least the semi-finals of all four majors, after Djokovic and Rafael Nadal.

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After starting the year with such clear intentions, Alcaraz is entering the business end of the tournament having found his stride. He reckons his form is close to the level it reached at the US Open in September, when he completed a truly dominant summer with the “perfect” performance against his rival Jannik Sinner in the final. Like he was in New York, Alcaraz has been locked in from the start. He has marched through the draw without any dips and is yet to drop a set.

And, in another sign of how mature and consistent a performer the Spaniard has become in the 12 months since he lost his concentration in a distracted performance against Djokovic, Alcaraz said the key to his run in Melbourne has been how he has built through the tournament.

“This is my first official tournament of the year, but for me sometimes I'm not that patient,” he said. “In the first match, I just really want to play at my best level. This is almost impossible. You have to get the rhythm of the competition again.

“I left the court in the first round happy with my level, how I just felt on the court. My team told me, be patient. Your level, the level you want to play is going to come, for sure. You got to just keep trying, keep pushing yourself, and you will get where you want to be.

“I think it's been a great work so far of patience, of trying, of pushing yourself and just I’m happy to see where my level is right now.”

For De Minaur, who carried Australia’s hopes once again into the quarter-finals, the sixth seed was left to deal with running into an opponent who was too strong. Alcaraz came out of the blocks to hit eight winners in three games. De Minaur deserved credit for a matching Alcaraz and making the first set as competitive as it was, but the top seed was unrelenting once he broke clear and sucked the life out of his opponent’s challenge.

“When I played him in the exhibition just before the tournament, I thought his level was freakishly good,” De Minaur said. “Tonight was pretty similar. I do think he's playing at a very high level. Ultimately, he’s No 1 in the world for a reason.”

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Alcaraz will have the chance to show how far he has come when he faces Zverev in the semi-finals on Friday. They played a practice set before the tournament, won by Alcaraz 7-6 and described as a “high level of tennis, high level of intensity”, but their head-to-head on the tour stands at six wins each.

Their last meeting at a grand slam came in the 2024 French Open final, where Alcaraz won from two sets down. Before then, Zverev also jumped into a commanding two-set lead in the Australian Open quarter-final, before holding off the Spaniard’s charge late into the night.

The version Alcaraz that is now through to the semi-finals is not offering those same opportunities. His progress in Melbourne has been defined by its efficiency as much as its electric shot-making. For the first time, the Australian Open is seeing the very best of him.

“I could say the level of US Open is higher than the level that I'm playing right now, but it's pretty close,” Alcaraz smiled. “The level that I was serving, the way that I was doing everything in the US Open, for me, I think it was unmatchable. I’m just happy. I'm proud about how I am playing here.”