GABRIEL ROMERO / CONTRIBUTOR

The prominent Australian Open tennis tournament recently concluded with the winners  Carlos Alcaraz from the men’s side and Elena Rybakina from the women’s side. The Australian Open is considered one of the sport’s most prestigious tournaments and is held annually in Melbourne in January. Along with the French Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open it is one of the four major Grand Slam tournaments played year-round in the tennis world. 

This particular competition is played on hard courts, as players are drawn into a knockout bracket and have to win seven consecutive matches to be crowned champion. Players who entered the main draw through a separate qualifying tournament must win an additional three matches beforehand.

Alcaraz completed his first career grand slam, which is the accomplishment of winning each of the four major tournaments in one’s career. He won his first of many grand slam titles in the 2022 U.S. Open as a teenager, before following that up the next summer winning the 2023 Wimbledon tournament. The following year was even more dominating, as he won the 2024 French Open and defended his Wimbledon trophy. That recent success led to coming in as the tournament’s No. 1 ranked player beating Novak Djokovic in four sets, which was highlighted by losing the first then winning the next three 6-2, 6-3, and 7-5. Throughout his tournament play, Alcaraz had won in straight sets during each match leading up to the semi-final, where he found himself in a match lasting five hours and twenty-six minutes. Alcaraz is the ninth and youngest male tennis player to ever achieve the career grand slam. 

USD first-year Chase Parker acknowledged just how impressive it is to see how long these   tennis matches can go on for. 

“It is impressive how short the points seem for how long the matches last,” Parker said. “It looks like they are playing defense and offense in the same swing, which must be how it’s so hard for these athletes to break down.”

As for Rybakina, in her junior career she showed her potential breaking out in 2020 when she played in five finals, which was the most of any player that year. She eventually won her first major  title in 2022 at Wimbledon in the summer, reaching the final in  the 2023 Australian Open. She rose to the world No. 3 for the first time later that year, after joining the professionals just nine years prior in 2014. She cruised through to the later part of the bracket in this year’s Australian Open, winning in straight sets in each match leading up to the final. Having her work cut out for her in the final, traded off 6-4 set finishes with the tournament’s No. 1 ranked female player. Rybakina won the first set 6-4 before dropping the  second set 4-6 and found herself behind three games in the final deciding set. Rybakina proceeded to respond with five straight games and eventually won the final set 6-4 to crown her second Grand Slam title.

Elena Rybakina kissing the Australian Open trophy after victory. Photo courtesy of @lenarybakina/Instagram