Alcaraz to secure Davis Cup for Spain<\/p>\n
While the career Grand Slam is already in the bag<\/a> at just 22 years old, Carlos Alcaraz<\/a> has wasted no time laying bare his next big-ticket items on the bucket list, none bigger than a Davis Cup for Spain.<\/p>\n Each member of the Big Three and his contemporary, Sinner, have all helped their respective nations share in team glory, yet Alcaraz \u2013 who played alongside Rafael Nadal in the Spanish great\u2019s final event two years ago \u2013 has yet to triumph.<\/p>\n The Spaniards managed to reach the final last year in Bologna without their top dog, so at full strength this year, it is likely their time to shine.<\/p>\n Sabalenka to secure year-end No.1 for third straight year<\/p>\n Despite the heartache of a second straight three-set Australian Open final defeat \u2013 this time to Elena Rybakina \u2013 Aryna Sabalenka<\/a> left Melbourne Park more upbeat than a year ago when she fell to Madison Keys.<\/p>\n The 27-year-old\u2019s search for consecutive Grand Slam titles endures, but her acceptance of the setback and determination to bounce back<\/a> after joking she\u2019ll give her team some space while she\u2019s \u201cnot really healthy to be around right now\u201d bodes well for the rest of 2026.<\/p>\n Sabalenka remains the leading player across all surfaces and, given her commanding lead atop the rankings, expect her to become the first woman since Ash Barty to finish as year-end No.1 for three straight seasons.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Swiatek to switch Grand Slam trophies<\/p>\n The dream of a career Grand Slam at AO 2026 fell short in the quarterfinals<\/a>, but world No.2 Iga Swiatek<\/a> vowed she would immediately consider changing up her schedule to allow time to iron out kinks in her game.<\/p>\n The silver lining to Aryna Sabalenka ending the Pole\u2019s four-year Roland Garros reign last year was more time to prepare on grass ahead of her maiden Wimbledon triumph a month later.<\/p>\n Back at her most dominant Slam in Paris, Swiatek will live up to title favouritism and recapture the crown. Defending her Wimbledon title to become the first woman since Serena Williams in 2015 to complete the Channel Slam will prove a bridge too far in 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alcaraz to secure Davis Cup for Spain While the career Grand Slam is already in the bag at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":457636,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[64,63,85,747],"class_list":{"0":"post-457635","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-tennis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=457635"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457635\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/457636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=457635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=457635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=457635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}