Succession
Professional
There is a video during this AO in which Nole called Carlos ‘Titanito’. No shade here, they call each other Titan and Titanito
'little titan' Djoker can't help but throw shade at Lord Carlos! Very salty.
2026 Australian Open Final: Carlos Alcaraz [1] vs Novak Djokovic [4]
- Thread starter Im(moral) Winner
- Start date
Vincent-C
Legend
EddieChang
Semi-Pro
they couldnt even slide on hard courts. tennis has become more athletic I dont think that is a controversial statement lmao
Tennisgods
Hall of Fame
I think he would have done. He’d certainly have found the energy for one last burst, whether it would have been enough I don’t know.
jklos
Professional
Lol.
Tallawah Tennis
Professional
True man, well said.
Whilst I am delighted at Carlitos’ win as his fan, and at all it denotes in his young career, I’d like to spend a moment in congratulating Novak too. The context of this match had all the excitement and romance of a sports event that would elevate one of them to achieve a coveted personal milestone that would also be a key moment in the current sport.
For Novak to remain capable of / committed to competing at the highest level is in itself a remarkable achievement. For him to beat Jannik in a 5 setter in the sf, and then impose the need for a 4 set finals match upon Carlitos was nothing short of outstanding. These dudes are the 2 best players on the current tour, and Novak showed them his mastery of the game. He outplayed Jannik to win the sf and neutralised Carlitos in the 1st set of the final.
The prattling about Novak’s age is tedious. It appears to be beyond the wit of some to recognise that in any competitive sport, it is the required ability / prowess and acumen that is key, not the age if fit and healthy. Novak has adapted, and is astute enough to have tweaked his game to rely more upon the quality of his groundies/serve, than upon speed and movement.
It's astounding that Novak has improved on last year when he made all 4 GS semi’s, and has started this season by playing the final at the AO again. So is the fact that he has attained the number 3 ranking, by dislodging Zverev from that spot. Having been one of the historic Big 3 for some time, he is also one of the current Big 3, spanning generations at the highest level. Just stupendous. In his winners speech, Carlitos rightly pointed to the inspiration that Novak gives. He is an example - showing how to evolve and remain competitive with dedication and hard work. Chappeau.
Mickey Bricks
New User
Alcaraz is nowhere near his prime yet. What are u talking about? 22yo Djokovic would've lost this match 1, 3, and 0.
Angrybirdstar
Professional
hmm let me see if i can reverse engineer the logic. Federer stamina greater so he should have been relatively fine/better against Djokovic, he wasn't so he got outpeaked, but Djokovic wasn't even that good so Federer's peak must be even lower, + '26 Djokovic must have peaked even higher to keep up with a better Sinner with less stamina to rely upon? is that what you think i'm thinking? i was legit just thinking again about Federer's stamina, like how he replicated the Alcaraz feat i mentioned (playing 2 bo3 matches in 1 day), at 37!
i was talking about serve & return though. the respective Nadal and Sinner were comparable in their presence in break games and long rallies (and we can give Nadal a boost for Federer presenting stiffer opposition), but Sinner's serve + 1 was just much better regardless of the gaps in Federer and Djokovic's overall return performances, and consequently Sinner was better at dragging out his service games under pressure (even with his match-long lack of clutch)
because as i have said before, it's nonsensical to translate performances across vastly different conditions. in this case, attempting to compare Madrid-like clay conditions (due to summer heat), or even semi-covered, night session AO conditions, to 2nd week Wimbledon conditions. it's also a bit disingenuous to take a single weak bo3 1st return performance and try to extrapolate that one specifically to a weak bo5 performance.
despite him having technically improved his serve, pace absorption, passing, offensive and defensive strategy, and focus; played better on return; and only dropped off in terms of offensive ballstriking form? ok
"youth prevailed" = Alcaraz raising his level across the board, regardless of Djokovic's level falling off until the 4th...
the homophobic(/sexist) implication comes from the historical origin and usage of the word, and has a strong enough modern presence that it shows up in every definition, often even as the 1st variant. idk if it's a 2nd language thing or a reading it literally thing (since i believe that you don't need to hide your intentions lol), but there's really no reason to use "limp-wristed" specifically if not for the connotation (rather than weak, fallible, etc.). you can expect people to not have a reaction to certain words, but it'll still happen, and if you don't intend certain connotations then picking different words ultimately saves time
yep! https://hughclarke.substack.com/p/a...election=646f521c-95a0-4ffe-afd5-7eb9fff94b30
eb_tennis_247
Semi-Pro
Alcaraz is still maturing as a tennis player. He is nowhere his prime.
He has all the versatility in the world but what we just started seeing emerge in 2025 and now in early 2026 and this incredible AO win is:
- finding himself as an adult and self-directed player,
- an on court, real-time tactician who knows how to use his incredible arsenal, including knowing when to dial back and win with his play styles B, C, and D against supreme players,
- a beginning of emotional maturation which when absent in the past was often letting him down that as it shapes up now will take him far.
No one can tell me that 2025 RG warfare, 2025 USO stomps and 2026 battles of attritions are flukes.
They are the signs of genius.
He has all the versatility in the world but what we just started seeing emerge in 2025 and now in early 2026 and this incredible AO win is:
- finding himself as an adult and self-directed player,
- an on court, real-time tactician who knows how to use his incredible arsenal, including knowing when to dial back and win with his play styles B, C, and D against supreme players,
- a beginning of emotional maturation which when absent in the past was often letting him down that as it shapes up now will take him far.
No one can tell me that 2025 RG warfare, 2025 USO stomps and 2026 battles of attritions are flukes.
They are the signs of genius.
AnOctorokForDinner
Talk Tennis Guru
I like your ability/willingness to honestly construct/imagine how another person thinks, that's the primary sign of an open mind and you're doing it well. Got it quite right here.
Sinner obviously served better, but doubt on the +1. At any rate, Nadal's superiority outside serving may well be sufficient to prevail in this hypothetical.
I don't trust Alcaraz to do any better than even an underperforming Djokovic.
Is any of this true? Season long it must be given the marked improvement in Alcy's consistency, but comparing specific tournament runs (OLY 24 vs AO 26), is there any evidence?
That wasn't my impression at all. Alcaraz did improve his game somewhat after the first set - would be hard not to, given how feeble it was - but Djokovic's level drop was far more pronounced than that. If Djokovic were able to keep his first set level up (which wasn't even historically great), I reckon Alcaraz loses whatever he does.
Not interested. The "homophobic" insult is a secondary meaning historically, if anyone fails to differentiate it's on them. (The idea that a man being sexually interested in men makes him less manly is obviously false anyway.) Pandering to mugs only emboldens them in their disgraceful ways, this is why we can't have nice things really.
Angrybirdstar
Professional
what sort of evidence would qualify for you?
i started with technical changes because they haven't just been evidenced in Alcaraz's improved consistency - they should also be understood as base elements of current Alcaraz's game that reliably show up unless explicitly stated otherwise, and i saw those elements at play in the AO '26 F and not so much in the Olympics '24 F. additionally, the development of those technical changes has been documented, and his serving has statistically improved significantly (iirc most notably showing up at AO '26 vs Paul and Zv*rev). not many of those changes are publicly and statistically tracked, but i guess the passing might be a good proxy for most of those, and Alcaraz held Djokovic to 57% on approaches vs 70%, at similar volumes faced. typical disclaimer about different conditions and forms, especially with Djokovic's approaches at AO moreso being desperate finish attempts, whereas his approaches at Olympics were generally extensions of baselining edges that he had constructed.
for better return performance, i guess you could look at the gap between match-long or 4th set stats vs the full match or either of the Olympics sets, and see that the gap probably can't be wholly attributed to conditions change + drop in Djokovic's serving form.
hm why obviously false?
AnOctorokForDinner
Talk Tennis Guru
Footage analysis. Sure I know no one can be bothered to do that, myself included, because it's far too much work to compare hundreds of shots. It is the only reliable way though.
It's enough to cite something like Ancient Greek bands of warriors that were known for homosexual relationships within. It didn't impact their ability to fight, and physical fight/war is historically the quintessential manly activity for obvious reasons (men being much stronger physically than women, so men do all the fighting and fighting is seen as masculine). This serves to prove that a man engaging in homosex can be very much manly still.
Red Rick
Bionic Poster
Hard to see improvement over a small sample vs guys he should easily beat anyway and then a final vs Djokovic where he wins because Djokovic is jsut completely gassed.
Alcaraz hasn't gotten any criticism for his awful 1st set which is wild. How do you get the most basic game plan so wrong against Djokovic.
Alcaraz hasn't gotten any criticism for his awful 1st set which is wild. How do you get the most basic game plan so wrong against Djokovic.
eb_tennis_247
Semi-Pro
This is all true under that assumption that this all happened as an accident where a clueless young player walks onto a court with old master, old master kicks his **** in the first set and then old master gets so tired that the youngster wins.
Which is about absolutely opposite to what anyone has seen and what happened.
1. Alcaraz and Djokovic have been self-recognized rivals and Alcaraz has, just until recently, recognized Djokovic as his biggest rival because these two fight hard and try to outsmart each other every time. They had some of the most epic matches ever (Cincy final, Olympic final) and some previously seen clear dominance by Carlitos (US Open, Wimbledon).
2. Alcaraz did not play an awful first set, Djokovic played a superb all-new-Nole (Nole 3.0) game in the first set which previously beat the otherwise totally dominant player (Sinner).
3. Alcaraz clearly adjusted his game, playing ,previously unseen by him, a more defensive style, which a) deflated Nole’s aggression and b) wore Nole out. Pretty much beat Nole with his own Nole 2.0 style.
4. Nole could not sustain an uncharacteristically aggressive first set play. His level dropped, but it wasn’t diminished (see last set).
5. Alcaraz played a very smart game - technically and physically. Showed a clear tactical maturity.
McGradey
Hall of Fame
That was a real nice set from uncle Novak tbf. Charles did what he could to try and match him while he did his thing. It’s obvious he can’t play that game as well as Djokovic, but who can? May as well weather the storm and see what happens after.
Red Rick
Bionic Poster
How does it disprove my point that he had to make major adjustments after the 1st set? If anything it proves my point.
You go against a player who's 16 years older than you who played 5 sets 2 days before, and you go and ball bash and keep the points as short as Djokovic wants to. It's completely idiotic.
mightyjeditribble
Legend
I thought he was nervous. Which I find forgivable when he's playing his first AO final against the most successful player at the tournament ever. The fact is he regrouped and found the game to win. That's what champions do.
eb_tennis_247
Semi-Pro
I was reacting to:
“… small sample … guys he should easily beat … Djokovic is jsut completely gassed.
Alcaraz hasn't gotten any criticism for his awful 1st set which is wild.”
I completely disagree with these statements and I think any serious commentator does too.
Win over a local favorite and one of the hardest to beat retrievers (DeMinaur) and then the third longest AO match against world no. 3 (Zverev) are not guys that “he should easily beat”.
Djokovic had two pretty much bys, prior to Sinner.
Djokovic was not totally gassed. He was outplayed.
MichaelNadal
Bionic Poster
He clearly was gassed a bit and no wonder because at 38 playing a huge emotional and draining 5 setter in SF is really tough on body.
If he had been 3 or 4 years younger Novak would definitely have not run out of steam as much.
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