Carlos Alcaraz becomes youngest man to complete a career Grand Slam. Is a calendar Slam next?

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Carlos Alcaraz had Novak Djokovic across the net from him and Rafael Nadal watching from above in Rod Laver Arena.

His inspiration, and his idol.

Alcaraz had visions of this as a kid — not entirely long ago, in the scheme of things — so there was no better time to show them what he'd learned from watching the two all-time greats, or borrowed from their aura.

He had a comeback, four-set win over Djokovic and walked away from the Australian Open final Sunday as the youngest man ever to complete a career Grand Slam — that's winning all four of the tennis majors.

At 22 and 272 days of age, he's considerably younger than Nadal (24) and Djokovic (29) were when they achieved that milestone, lowering a mark that Don Budge set in 1938 when he was a couple of days shy of his 23rd birthday.

No sooner had he completed the career Slam — adding his first victory in Australia to his two each at Wimbledon, Roland Garros and the U.S. Open — than the question was posed about a run at the calendar Grand Slam. That's all four major titles in one season, something no man has achieved since Rod Laver in 1969.

“Those are big words, to be honest,” said Alcaraz, the two-time defending champion at Roland Garros. "You know, I just want it to be one at a time. Right now next one is French Open. I have great memories in that tournament. I feel really special every time that I go there.

“I don’t want to put myself in a really pressure position to have to do it, but you know, it’s going to be great. Right now I will try to be ready ... to play a good tournament in the next Grand Slam.”

A set down after Djokovic’s opening salvo, Alcaraz channeled the legends and changed up his game to upset the rhythm. It worked. He's now the only man to capture seven major titles before his 23rd birthday.

Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner have dominated the majors since Djokovic won the last of his 24 Grand Slam titles at the 2023 U.S. Open, with one or the other winning the last nine.

Sinner was aiming for a third consecutive title in Australia, but lost in five sets to 10-time Australian champion Djokovic in the semifinals.

There were many who questioned the decision when Alcaraz and long-time coach Juan Carlos Ferrero parted ways after the young Spaniard won the last U.S. Open, and who doubted his chances of being ready to win a first title in Australia.

Samuel Lopez stepped up to head the team, and Alcaraz admitted the pre-season had been “a roller coaster for me emotionally.”

“A lot of people were having doubts about my level in this tournament,” he said. “Every year that I came here to Australia I was thinking about getting the trophy (but) couldn’t go further than quarterfinals.”

In 2026, he said he arrived at Melbourne Park “hungry for more, ambitious for getting the trophy, and being strong mentally enough, not hearing anything or any words” from critics.

“And then just playing good tennis in this tournament means a lot, means the world to me," he said, "and it is a dream come true for me.”

With his latest bid for an unprecedented 25th Grand Slam singles title stymied, Djokovic could at least joke about the 16-year age gap between himself and Alcaraz.

“Well, first time I played him, he was, what, 11 or 12 years old?” he said, smiling. "No, he was, I think, 18 or 19. You could already see that he’s destined for great things.

“He has improved physically, mentally, game-wise. I mean, he’s constantly looking to innovate himself and his game, which is exactly the kind of mentality that needs to be nurtured for a champion.”

Asked about the potential for Alcaraz to be ranked among the greats of the sport, Djokovic said the career Grand Slam is “a testament to his already stellar career.”

AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis

Carlos Alcaraz of Spain, left, celebrates with his team after defeating Novak Djokovic of Serbia in the men's singles final at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake)

Carlos Alcaraz of Spain celebrates after defeating Novak Djokovic of Serbia in the men's singles final at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake)

Rafael Nadal, left, and his agent Carlos Costa watch the men's single final between Carlos Alcaraz of Spain and Novak Djokovic of Serbia at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)

Carlos Alcaraz, left, of Spain holds the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup after defeating Novak Djokovic of Serbia in the men's singles final at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Carlos Alcaraz of Spain holds the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup after defeating Novak Djokovic of Serbia in the men's singles final at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Russian drone strike on the Ukrainian city of Dnipro hit a bus carrying mineworkers and killed at least a dozen people, Ukrainian authorities said Sunday, hours after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that the next round of peace talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations will take place on Wednesday and Thursday.

The strike injured several more people and sparked a fire that was subsequently put out, according to the emergency services.

DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private energy company, said it owned the bus and accused Russia of carrying out “a large-scale terrorist attack on DTEK mines in the Dnipropetrovsk region,” whose capital is Dnipro.

“The epicenter of one of the attacks was a company bus transporting miners from the enterprise after a shift in the Dnipropetrovsk region,” the company said in a Telegram post.

The strike came days after U.S. President Donald Trump said the Kremlin had agreed to temporarily halt the targeting of the Ukrainian capital and other cities, as the region suffers under freezing temperatures that have brought widespread hardship to Ukrainians.

Ukrainian Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal on Sunday called the strike in Dnipro “a cynical and targeted attack on energy sector workers," and said it occured near the Ternivska mine east of the city.

Hours earlier, Ukraine's emergency services reported that Russian attack drones injured six people at a maternity hospital in Zaporizhzhia, southern Ukraine, on Sunday morning.

Meanwhile, envoys from Russia, Ukraine and the U.S. had been expected to meet Sunday in Abu Dhabi to continue negotiations aimed at ending Moscow’s all-out invasion of its neighbor. But on Sunday morning, Zelenskyy announced that they would take place next week instead.

“We have just had a report from our negotiating team. The dates for the next trilateral meetings have been set: Feb. 4 and 5 in Abu Dhabi. Ukraine is ready for substantive talks, and we are interested in an outcome that will bring us closer to a real and dignified end to the war,” Zelenskyy said in a Telegram post.

There was no immediate comment from U.S. or Russian officials.

On Saturday afternoon, top Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev said he had held a “constructive meeting with the U.S. peacemaking delegation” in Florida.

Officials have so far revealed few details of the talks in Abu Dhabi, which are part of a yearlong effort by the Trump administration to steer the sides toward a peace deal and end almost four years of all-out war.

While Ukrainian and Russian officials have agreed in principle with Washington’s calls for a compromise, Moscow and Kyiv differ deeply over what an agreement should look like.

A central issue is whether Russia should keep or withdraw from areas of Ukraine its forces have occupied, especially Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland called the Donbas, and whether it should get land there that it hasn’t yet captured.

Earlier on Sunday, Russian attack drones struck a maternity hospital in southern Ukraine, the Ukrainian emergency service reported.

In a Telegram post, it said the strike wounded three women in the hospital in Zaporizhzhia, and also sparked a fire in the gynecology reception area that was later extinguished. Regional administration head Ivan Fedorov later said the number of injured had risen to six.

The Kremlin confirmed Friday it agreed to hold off striking Kyiv until Sunday, but refused to reveal any details, making it difficult for an independent assessment of whether the conciliatory step had indeed taken place.

In the past week, Russia has struck energy assets in the southern Ukrainian city of Odesa and in Kharkiv in the northeast. It also hit the Kyiv region on Wednesday, killing two people and injuring four.

Overnight into Sunday, Russia launched 90 attack drones, with 14 striking nine locations, Ukraine’s air force said in a Telegram post. A woman and a man were killed in an overnight drone strike in Dnipro, according to local administration head Oleksandr Hanzha.

Russian shelling also hit central Kherson, a city in southern Ukraine, soon after 7 a.m., seriously wounding a 59-year-old woman, according to a Facebook post by the municipal military administration.

Russia's Defense Ministry on Sunday morning said its forces had used operational-tactical aviation, attack drones, missile forces and artillery to strike transport infrastructure used by Ukrainian forces.

In a separate post Sunday, it said that Russian air defenses shot down 21 Ukrainian drones flying over southwestern and western Russia. It did not mention any casualties or damage.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

Veterans of the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade of Ukraine's Armed Forces serve free hot meals in a residential neighborhood for people without power in their homes in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026.(AP Photo/Vladyslav Musiienko)

Putin's envoy Kirill Dmitriev, left, gestures speaking to U.S. President Donald Trump's envoy Jared Kushner prior to their meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Senate Palace of the Kremlin, in Moscow, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (Alexander Kazakov/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

U.S. President Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff, left, Kremlin foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov, second left, Putin's envoy Kirill Dmitriev, second right, and Trump's envoy Jared Kushner talk to each other prior to their meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Senate Palace of the Kremlin, in Moscow, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (Alexander Kazakov/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks during a joint press conference with Lithuania's President Gitanas Nauseda and Polish President Karol Nawrocki, at the Presidential palace in Vilnius, Lithuania, Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis)