The 2026 Grand Slam calendar opened Down Under on Jan. 17 with the opening round of the Australian Open in Melbourne. Two weeks later, two new champions were crowned at Rod Laver Arena.

26 year-old phenom Elena Rybakina defeated Belarus’ Aryna Sabalenka 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 to claim her first Australian Open title and her second career Grand Slam title, nearly four years after her first came at Wimbledon in 2022. Sabalenka, a four-time Slam champion, including twice in Australia in 2023 and 2024, remains the number one player in the world after her defeat, while Rybakina rises back to world No. 3, the highest ranking of her career she first achieved in June 2023.

Sabalenka’s absolute dominance in hard-court tournaments makes Rybakina’s win somewhat of an upset. Each of Sabalenka’s four Slam titles have been on hard courts — two in Australia and two in the U.S. Open. On her road to the title, Rybakina defeated six-time Slam champion Iga Świątek in the quarterfinals.

Defending champion Madison Keys was ousted by fellow countrywoman Jessica Pegula in the fourth round.

The men’s side of the tournament brought the drama. The final day of the Happy Slam saw Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz defeated legendary Serbian Novak Djokovic 2-6, 6-2, 6-3, 7-5 to lift his first Norman Brooks Challenger Cup for his first Australian Open title and seventh major title overall.

With the win, Alcaraz completed the Career Grand Slam, having won each of the four Slam tournaments, at just 22-years-old. Alcaraz has already won each of the other three Slams (the French Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open) twice, and he became the second Spanish man to complete the Career Slam on Feb. 1, after 22-time Slam champion Rafael Nadal.

With his first-ever loss in an Australian Open final after winning ten titles in Melbourne, Djokovic was once again thwarted on his quest to win a record-setting 25th Grand Slam title at age 38. Sixteen years separate Alcaraz and Djokovic, and it has become clear who will sit at the top for the foreseeable future.

Djokovic’s road to his 11th Australian Open final was somewhat unorthodox. He did not play a fourth round match after his opponent Jakub Menšík withdrew with an injury. He was then down two sets in his quarterfinal match against Lorenzo Musetti before Musetti suffered an injury of his own and was forced to retire from the match.

Djokovic then made a statement in the semifinals, defeating two-time defending champion Jannik Sinner, who many had predicted to win a third straight title. Sinner and Alcaraz, while remaining friends off the court, have developed a rivalry in recent years as they have risen to the top of the men’s tennis circuit at the same time.

Tennis fans will have to wait a little while longer to see the next chapter of the Sinner-Alcaraz rivalry. Alcaraz, Sinner and Djokovic make up the top three in the men’s rankings following the Australian Open; two young guns and the elder statesman who still remains the greatest of all time.

The next major tournament on the calendar will be the French Open from May 24 – June 7. Alcaraz and Coco Gauff will look to defend their titles on the orange clay in Paris.