Carlos Alcaraz lifts lid on 'special' moment with Rafael Nadal after breakthrough Australian Open win

Sitting on Nine's panel moments after his first Australian Open title win, Carlos Alcaraz lifted the lid on the "special" moment he shared with Rafael Nadal who watched on during his four-set victory.

Nadal was constantly captured on the big screen during the match, with Novak Djokovic even cheekily asking him if he wanted to play.

Djokovic gave special praise to Nadal during his post-match speech and described it as "very weird" to have the legendary left-hander in the stands and not on the court.

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Alcaraz had the same sentiment when he spoke on the podium before the two met in the inner sanctum and shared a quick word.

The new Australian Open champion spoke candidly about his admiration and the chat in Nine's interview.

"This moment is really special, having Rafa in the stands made it even more special," Alcaraz said.

"Lifting the trophy for the first time in Australia in front of Rafa was crazy to be honest."

Alcaraz then admitted he drew inspiration from Nadal and his heroics in 2009.

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Nadal beat countryman Fernando Verdasco in five sets in the semi final before achieving the same feat in the final against Roger Federer.

"After the semi final (against Alexander Zverev), I thought about his semi final in 2009 when he played against Fernando Verdasco, he came back physically and played such a great final against Federer and won," he said.

"I was thinking a little about it ... not thinking about how I feel physically, it's just about pushing through and having him there ... it gave me a good mindset."

Alcaraz has become the youngest player to ever achieve the Grand Slam - winning all four majors.

* The following is AI-generated 'What If' analysis that examines the most pivotal points in the match. It was provided courtesy of Infosys

The pursuit of 25: How a single shot shattered a milestone 

What if Novak Djokovic had kept that desperate forehand inside the baseline at 30-40 in the ninth game of the fourth set — the break point that could have shattered Alcaraz's serve and rewritten the ending of this Australian Open final?

The Serbian maestro had done everything right. After easily winning the first set 6-2, Djokovic watched helplessly as the young Spaniard found his rhythm winning consecutive three games in the second set. Yet Djokovic clawed back, his legendary resilience on full display as he pushed this fourth set to a knife-edge 4-4 stalemate —eight games of serve-holding chess where neither man dared blink. Then came the moment: sprinting from ad-court to deuce-court, loading up on a forehand that carried the weight of 24 Grand Slam titles, Djokovic swung for glory. The ball sailed long by inches. His shoulders dropped. The Melbourne crowd gasped at the cruelty of margins. 

From that fractured moment, the butterfly effect proved merciless. Djokovic held serve to force 5-5, then watched Alcaraz hold clinically to 6-5, needing just five points to slam the door on the Serbian's mounting pressure. In the 12th game, serving to stay alive, Djokovic found himself locked in a brutal 24-shot rally on the opening point — legs churning, racquet whipping, refusing to yield — only to watch Alcaraz's final shot find its mark.

The psychological tide turned irreversibly. When Alcaraz converted his first break point opportunity with surgical efficiency, the cruel mathematics of tennis compressed an entire championship into five devastating points. No deuces. No lifeline. Just the cold finality of 7-5. 

What haunts this final is the simplicity of the margin — one forehand at 30-40, one fractional miscalculation in the ninth game, and suddenly Djokovic's hopes of forcing a fifth set evaporated into the Melbourne night air. The 38-year-old had covered 2,710 meters across four sets, launched 48 desperate sprints, and saved 11 of 16 break points with the defiance of a champion.

Yet tennis offers no consolation prizes for almost. Somewhere in the multiverse of sport, Djokovic saves that break point, serves out the fourth set, and rides his experience through a fifth-set epic. In this reality, he walks off Rod Laver Arena wondering what might have been — his racquet finding the sky instead of the court at the moment that mattered most.