Carlos Alcaraz already has major plans for the start of the 2025 season as the Spanish tennis star aims to land his first Australian Open title and then get a tattoo of a kangaroo to celebrate the completion of a Career Grand Slam.
This year, the 22-year-old landed his maiden French Open main glory and also successfully defended his Wimbledon title. Previously, the Spaniard also won the 2022 US Open and currently has four Slams in his collection.
While Alcaraz quickly achieved major success at the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open, the Australian Open remains his kryptonite as he has yet to make it past the quarterfinal stage at the opening Slam of the year.
After losing in the Australian Open second round as a qualifier in his debut in 2021, the current world No. 3 exited the tournament in the third round the following year. Then, he was forced to miss the 2023 tournament edition because of a knee injury sustained during the preseason. At this year’s Australian Open, the former world No. 1 easily made the quarterfinal but then suffered a surprise defeat in the quarterfinal to Alexander Zverev.
But heading into 2025, Alcaraz wants to make it all the way at Melbourne Park and complete a Career Grand Slam.
“I have it in mind, I have in mind to get a tattoo of the kangaroo. I’m going to try to have a good holiday first. For me it’s super important to be able to disconnect from tennis. And to come back fresh for the pre-season so that it’s brilliant, brutal, to arrive in Australia in the best possible shape both tennis-wise, physically and mentally. The goal is to complete the Grand Slam in Melbourne,” the Spanish tennis star toldĀ Marca.
Alcaraz will address certain things in his game in the offseason
Considering that he captured two Grand Slam titles this year and also won the silver medal in his Olympic debut, it is safe to say that this was an extremely successful year for the Spaniard. But still, the 22-year-old believes there are still areas in his game that can be improved.
When asked about it, Alcaraz indicated that he and coach Juan Carlos Ferrero plan to sit down after his season finishes and lay out a clear plan on what to focus on during the offseason. However, the four-time Grand Slam champion already knows that he will try to do something with his serve.
“There are specific things. Of course I would like to improve my serve more, obviously I have to do that, and other things that I prefer not to say now because my rivals will know them. I am going to sit down with Juan Carlos and write down in a notebook, on paper, what things we are going to work on specifically during the preseason,” Alcaraz explained.
How Alcaraz felt about his 2024 Australian Open run?
After missing the 2023 Australian Open, the world No. 3 didn’t hide that he was determined to make a splash at Melbourne Park earlier this year. And through his first four matches, the Spaniard dropped just one set and routinely made the last-eight stage.
Going into the Zverev matchup, he was the clear favorite. But Alcaraz made a pretty slow start – and even though he managed to win the third set – he couldn’t complete a comeback as the German went on to win 6-1 6-3 6-7 (2) 6-4. Afterward, the Spanish tennis star admitted that he was “sad” with the level he showed against Zverev.
“Well, it has been a good tournament for me, making quarterfinals, playing good tennis. As I said, I’m sad with my level today, because I have been playing good tennis, you know, the round before this one with a lot of confidence. Serving pretty well that I didn’t show this good level of serves that I was showing before this match,” Alcaraz reflected.
“So but in general, you know, I leave the tournament happy. Forgetting about today’s level. But in general I think I did a pretty good tournament. You know, I played great matches. And obviously quarterfinal of a Grand Slam is good. Is not what I’m looking for, but is not bad, you know. Quarterfinal is a good run. But as I said, with the level that I was playing before, coming into this match with a lot of confidence, knowing that I’m playing good tennis is, it’s a shame that I started the match like the way that I did and ending the way that I did. But it’s tennis.”
If Alcaraz is healthy, there is no doubt that he will be a top contender for the 2025 Australian Open title.
