Recharged Alcaraz starts career Slam bid with win

Carlos Alcaraz mentally recharged during the off-season before making another attempt to win the Australian Open, spending time at home with family members, and playing board games.

The Spaniard, who has already won each of the other three majors twice, would win a victory in Melbourne to complete his career Grand Slam.

If he did, Roger Federer, the six-time Australian Open champion, would join him as the 22-year-old becomes the youngest player overall and the only player to surpass the milestone in the men’s singles.

Alcaraz overcame Australia’s Adam Walton 6-3 7-6 (7-2) 6-2 despite taking a nine-week break from competitive tennis following a historic 2025 season that saw him win eight titles, including the French Open and US Open, and finish as year-end number one.

Alcaraz remarked, “It was a really long season, a tough one, lots of tough moments, lots of good moments.”

“I took a two-week vacation.” We had a good time in Miami with a large group of friends, and then we spent a second week in Turks and Caicos to unwind.

He went into more detail about his daily pre-season routine, saying, “I used to practice the entire morning at 9:00 and finish at 14:00 or even 15:00. The entire morning consists of physical and mental conditioning.

“I took almost every afternoon off after that to do whatever I wanted to do: play board games, chill out at home, or stay with my family or friends.

Staying at home with the people you love is a better way to recharge your batteries.

Alcaraz has only made the final two appearances at the Australian Open, and despite his best showings in the quarter-finals of 2024 and 2025, he advanced in a comfortable fight against Walton.

Alcaraz, who was playing his first Grand Slam game since splitting with long-time coach Juan Carlos Ferrero, had to wait until the eighth game of the opening set before cutting off a break point, which he also had to do in the second, but he quickly recovered with a break of his own and was too strong in the crucial moments, pulling away in the tie-break tie-break tie to win it 7-2.

However, his 38 winners almost matched his 36 unforced errors, and he only managed to convert four of his 10 break points, which he will be eager to improve in his second-round encounter with Germany’s Yannick Hanfmann.

It was challenging to locate the good spot [against Walton] and “added Alcaraz.” He made a significant improvement over me. He was always strong from the beginning, strong, and in a good position. I occasionally found his flat ball to be very challenging.

Third seed Alexander Zverev and 2025 runner-up Gabriel Diallo defeated Gabriel Diallo in four sets elsewhere in the men’s draw on day one.

The Germans only conceded seven games in the first set to set up a second-round meeting with either Alexei Popyrin or Alexandre Muller, who lost the tie-break 7-1.