MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) \u2014 Carlos Alcaraz thinks he might get a small kangaroo tattooed on one leg.<\/p>\n
It would be a lasting memento of his win over Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open men\u2019s final Sunday which made him the youngest male player at 22 to complete a career Grand Slam.<\/p>\n
\u201cI already know it\u2019s going to be a kangaroo. I just don\u2019t know the place,\u201d Alcaraz said. \u201cI\u2019m just thinking about the leg but I don\u2019t know which calf, whether it will be the right or left one.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alcaraz posed for photographers Monday with the ornate Australian Open trophy, looking casually stylish in black, in loafers and no socks. The photo shoot took place at the Royal Exhibition Building among gardens in central Melbourne.<\/p>\n
The women\u2019s singles winner Elena Rybakina was photographed with her trophy Saturday on the banks of the Yarra River, which runs through Melbourne.<\/p>\n
According to Australian media reports, Alcaraz spent the night after his victory with his family in his hotel suite, ordering pizza, beer and champagne.<\/p>\n
In a social media post to fans during the photo shoot, Alcaraz said \u201cI still can\u2019t believe that I just made it.<\/p>\n
\u201cA dream come true for me, a career Grand Slam. I\u2019m enjoying this amazing moment. I can\u2019t forget the support and the love I\u2019ve received.\u201d<\/p>\n
After completing a 2-6, 6-2, 6-3, 7-5 over Djokovic, a 10-time Australian Open champion, Alcaraz admitted \u201cI hate to lose.\u201d<\/p>\n
He explained his mindset at the moment of victory.<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore the last point … a lot of things came to my mind, to be honest,\u201d Alcaraz said. \u201cI was really nervous, I was shaking almost. So once I saw the ball go out, I was like \u2018alright, I made it.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a great feeling, thinking about my family and my team as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chasing completion<\/p>\n
He has now set his sights of winning every major prize in tennis: three Masters 1000 titles that have eluded him, a season-ending championship and a Davis Cup with Spain. He has won six of the nine Masters 1000 crowns but has yet to win the Canadian Open, Shanghai and the Paris Masters.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hate to lose, so that\u2019s my motivation. Trying to lose as less as I can,\u201d Alcaraz said. \u201cYeah, there are some tournaments that I really wanted to win at least once. A few Masters 1000 I just really wanted to complete all the Masters 1000, trying to win each one at least once.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously the ATP Finals and the Davis Cup is a goal as well. I really wanted to achieve that for my country, for Spain. I set up some other goals for the season and I will try to be ready for, or to try to get those goals.\u201d<\/p>\n
Joining the greats<\/p>\n
Alcaraz joined Don Budge, Fred Perry, Roy Emerson, Rod Laver, Andre Agassi, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Djokovic as only the ninth man to win all four Grand Slams. He was younger than Budge by 91 days and considerably younger than Nadal who was 24 and three months, Federer almost 28 and Djokovic 29.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m going to say tennis really beautiful but the bad part of tennis is we have tournaments week after week after week and sometimes you don\u2019t realize what you\u2019ve been doing lately,\u201d he said. \u201cBecause once you finish a tournament, you\u2019ve got to be prepared and your mind is about going to the next tournament.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I\u2019ve learned this year is to appreciate and enjoy every single second of the moment you\u2019re living. Not only lifting the trophies but playing tournaments, playing tennis, getting victories, getting losses. Whatever it is, just enjoy and appreciate the life you\u2019re living.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Alcaraz has acknowledged the 38-year-old Djokovic as an inspiration, he\u2019s not sure he will be as durable.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know, let\u2019s see how long I will be playing. Hopefully being in such a great shape at 38, competing and challenging the young players, and playing finals of grand slams.\u201d<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
AP tennis: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/tennis<\/p>\n
The Associated Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) \u2014 Carlos Alcaraz thinks he might get a small kangaroo tattooed on one leg. It…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":450078,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[49,48,82,593],"class_list":["post-450077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=450077"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450077\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/450078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=450077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=450077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=450077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}