Carlos Alcaraz‘s ability to pick up victories while playing in “gear one or two” separates the world No. 1 from Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic, TNT Sports expert Mats Wilander said.Alcaraz reached the Australian Open semi-final with an ominously strong performance to dismiss home hope Alex de Minaur in straight sets on Tuesday.
He will face the strong-serving No. 3 seed Alexander Zverev for a spot in the final and Wilander feels it will be a “step up” for Alcaraz – who, after edging a competitive opening set against De Minaur 7-5, ran riot by dominating the second and third sets 6-2 6-1.
“He will probably go into fourth gear against Sacha Zverev,” Wilander said. “He probably needs to go into five and six, that’s for sure, because this is a step up against Zverev because he serves so much better than De Minaur and you’re going to have a problem returning that serve.”
Wilander, though, is confident Alcaraz can rise to the challenge, as he looks to continue his charge towards the Melbourne title which would make him the youngest man in history to complete the career Grand Slam.
“He’s got so many gears,” Wilander said. “And the thing is, with him, it’s not the same with Novak Djokovic or a Jannik Sinner as they don’t shift down to gear one or two.
Alcaraz says he had to win point ‘three or four times’ against De Minaur
Video credit: TNT Sports
“But Carlos sometimes goes down to one or two and he still gets away with it.”
Alcaraz making his first semi-final in Melbourne represents a somewhat surprising statistic given his dominance at the top of the sport with Sinner in recent years.
Wilander feels the record is only “strange” when placed in the context of the level Alcaraz is currently displaying on court.
“He should have [got to more AO semi-finals] but a lot of players have one place where they don’t feel that comfortable, and it could have something to do with the surface, something to do with the weather, something to do with the schedule,” Wilander said.
“I think a lot of guys didn’t do necessarily that well in Australia because it comes early in the year, and they might not be as prepared, or they need coffee.
“So, it’s not that strange to me, but when you see him playing like this, then suddenly, it is very strange.”
Wilander also hailed Alcaraz for the way in which he represents tennis – and feels the sport is “so lucky” to have him succeed the likes of Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, who had been the previous lead personalities.
Alcaraz semi-final is ‘acid test’ for Zverev – Murray
Video credit: TNT Sports
“We’ve just seen how gracious Carlos is when Jim [Courier] was speaking to him [in on-court interviews],” Wilander said. “The sportsmanship is unbelievable.
“He is such a good ambassador for our sport. The smile is just a million-dollar smile. I mean, he’s so good for our sport, Carlos Alcaraz. It’s incredible that we have him after ‘the Big Three’ – we suddenly get so lucky to have Carlitos Alcaraz as the number one in the world.”
‘Perfect performance’ from Alcaraz
Alcaraz handled the occasion of his quarter-final against home favourite De Minaur admirably, giving little away and excelling in all aspects to wear down the No. 6 seed’s renowned defence.
Jamie Murray said in the TNT Sports studio that there was little else De Minaur could do when facing such an imperious force.
“He’s [Alcaraz] such an explosive player, he can create power from nothing,” Murray said. “He started the match on fire, hit seven winners in the first three games.
“Alex fought back well but the start of the second set started to change, you could see the wind taken out of Alex’s sails, the crowd was a bit flat.
“It was a perfect performance from Alcaraz, I don’t think Alex could have done more with Carlos playing the level he was. It’s so impressive to watch. It’s a pleasure to come here and watch him play. It’s so much fun.”
Watch as Alcaraz wins incredible first set against De Minaur – ‘You have to feel for Australian’
Video credit: TNT Sports
While the second and third set saw De Minaur’s numbers fall unfavourably, Murray argued statistics such as unforced errors can be misleading when Alcaraz’s defence is so strong that you must play to the lines in order to try and get the better of him.
“He has to redline it in order to have a chance,” Murray said. “He’s playing at his absolute limits, Alcaraz is not playing at his absolute limits, so there’s naturally going to be more mistakes from Alex.
“I would never hold that against him. He needed to play that way, it didn’t work out for him. If he just dollies the ball into the court he’s going to get crushed. He has to do something different, tried it, but Alcaraz was on a different world.”
Henman agreed with Murray’s verdict, and ultimately felt that issue is the reason why nobody else in the men’s draw has been able to get close to Alcaraz and Sinner in their current era of domination.
‘So impressive’ – Murray praises ‘perfect performance’ from Alcaraz
Video credit: TNT Sports
“There’s two different elements to it,” Henman said. “De Minaur’s numbers are not great, but why is that? He only hit 16 winners, one ace. Why is that? So much of it is to do with his opponent.
“The unforced errors flow because he’s going close to the line, has to hit harder and harder. On one hand, you can say he didn’t play his best, could have played better, played better against [Alexander] Bublik [in the fourth round]. But it’s Bublik, not Alcaraz.
“That’s where De Minaur will be disappointed, he will feel he could have done things a little differently, but Alcaraz is just too good.
“This is the predicament for the other 126 people in the draw. When they come up against Alcaraz and Sinner, they have to get so far outside their comfort zone, and they haven’t got to do it for a set, they have to do it for three sets.
Alcaraz ‘a league above’ De Minaur as he books place in semi-finals
Video credit: TNT Sports
“That’s why [either] Alcaraz or Sinner have won the last eight Grand Slam finals, and you’d be a brave person to bet against them this fortnight.”
Sinner faces Ben Shelton in the evening session on Rod Laver Arena on Wednesday, with a semi-final against either 10-time Melbourne champion Djokovic or Lorenzo Musetti at stake.
Stream every match of the 2026 Australian Open live and on-demand on discovery+