The Australian Open 2026 starts this Sunday for the main draw, and Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz are the top contenders to win the first Grand Slam of the year. Roger Federer, the former Swiss player who won the Australian Open six times between 2004 and 2018 (which ended up being his last Grand Slam) visited the Australian Open and was interviewed about this new era of tennis, hailing the Italian and Spaniard's rivalry as "wonderful", seeing how "everybody is trying to keep up and they're trying to pull away".
However, Federer has sided with one of them for the upcoming tournament: Carlos Alcaraz. The Spaniard will turn 23 on May, and if he wins Australian Open 2026 he would complete the "Career Grand Slam" (winning Australian Open, Roland Garros, Wimbledon, and US Open) at only 22.
"At his young age, completing the career Grand Slam would be crazy. Let's see if he is able to do crazy this week. I hope he does because for the game it would be unbelievably special moment."
Further reading: The theory that could predict that Carlos Alcaraz will win Australian Open 2026
Federer won his first Grand Slams at 21 (Wimbledon 2003) but didn't complete the career Grand Slam until 2009, when he won his only Roland Garros, at the age of 27.
Rafa Nadal remains the youngest player to complete the career Grand Slam in the open era, when he won the US Open in 2010. He was 24 at the time (Nadal won his first Grand Slam, Roland Garros 2005, at the age of 19 year and 3 days.
Jannik Sinner was 22 when he won his first Grand Slam, Australian Open 2024. He will turn 25 in August, which means he could win Roland Garros, his only Grand Slam missing, before that...