Carlos Alcaraz notched up his 15th consecutive Grand Slam win as he opened his 2024 US Open account with a four-set victory over Li Tu.
Having won the French Open and Wimbledon this year, Alcaraz is now just six wins away from an incredible feat that will see him join Rod Laver and Rafael Nadal in a very exclusive club.
Tennis legends Laver and Nadal are the only two men to have won the French Open, Wimbledon and US Open in the same year in the Open Era with the Australian accomplishing the achievement during his historic calendar Grand Slam feat while Nadal did it in 2010.
Laver won the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US Open in 1969 and it would take another four decades before Nadal made it a two-man club as he became the second man to win titles at Roland Garros, SW19 and Flushing Meadows in the same year.
Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic have won three Grand Slams in a calendar year on multiple occasions, but they didn’t achieve the Australian Open-French Open-US Open hat-trick.
Federer won in Melbourne, Wimbledon and New York in 2006 and 2007, but finished runner-up at Roland Garros while Djokovic reached all four Grand Slam finals in 2015, 2021 and 2023, but missed out on the French Open in 2015, US Open in 2021 and Wimbledon last year.
When asked on ESPN about possibly joining Laver and Nadal in the exclusive club, Alcaraz replied: “Well after this interview I’m gonna clear my mind and try to pretend I never heard that obviously it would be a great achievement if I make it.
“But I have six matches ahead. Every round is against a better opponent. It’s gonna be difficult. The Slam is two weeks. Staying 100% focused every day makes it really tough. So I’m trying to think every day to just try to feel better each day in practice and in matches. Let’s see if I’m still alive in two weeks.”
World No 186 Tu came through qualifying to reach the main draw and he managed to test Alcaraz, especially in the second set before the Spaniard notched up the 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 victory.
The four-time major winner, who won the title at Flushing Meadows in 2022, admits he has some work to do.
“The first set, I made just two unforced errors. The second set I made 18. That was the huge difference for me,” the third seed, who faces Botic van de Zandschulp in the second round, said.
“He started to play better, obviously serving better, playing more aggressive and not making a lot of mistakes that he did in the first set. But talking about myself, it was from two to 18 unforced errors, a huge difference for me.”
He added: “[There are] a few things that I have to improve if I want to keep going in the draw, but obviously I have to give credit to him as well. He played really good tennis and surprised me a little bit in the second set. I leave the court happy with my performance.”