By Ian Ransom
MELBOURNE, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz meet in Sunday's Australian Open final with history in the balance, as the Serbian great chases a record 25th Grand Slam title and the Spanish dynamo bids to become the youngest man to win all four majors.
Modern men's tennis has not lacked for champions pushing for the next frontier of greatness but the stakes have rarely been higher in a single match.
With 24 major trophies and a record 10 at Melbourne Park, Djokovic's legacy
is already secure.
Few can argue there have been better players to grace the men's game.
And yet Djokovic's record remains bracketed with Australian icon Margaret Court, who also won 24 titles in the women's game, including 13 in the amateur era.
With different eras, opponents and technology, their records are as comparable as apples and oranges -- but fourth seed Djokovic has long craved the elusive 25th title to take top spot alone.
Clinching it at Melbourne Park, where he claimed his first major trophy in 2008, would be a fitting coup de grace for a 20-year career at the top.
Having taken Ken Rosewall's record as the oldest man to reach the final by beating defending champion Jannik Sinner, Djokovic can top the Australian again as the oldest to win any Grand Slam title.
SERBIAN FANATICS
No other man has dominated Melbourne like Djokovic, who has hoisted the trophy four times more than the next-best duo of Roy Emerson and Roger Federer.
The success has spoilt the city's strong Serbian community who reliably turn up in droves and bring football-like fanaticism to centre court and its surrounds.
Djokovic's dominance has not meant universal adulation from all at Melbourne Park in a country which, incredibly, once detained and deported him for not being vaccinated for COVID-19.
But judging by the deafening cheers at Rod Laver Arena on Friday when he knocked out Italian Sinner in a five-set classic, plenty of fans will be in the fourth-seeded Serb's corner.
He may need all their support as he looks to scale another Everest against world number one Alcaraz.
The 22-year-old Spaniard has had Melbourne on his mind since winning his second U.S. Open title last year.
He said he would gladly trade winning the three other majors this year if it meant hoisting the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup alone at the end of Sunday's final.
With two trophies at each of the French Open, Wimbledon and Flushing Meadows, victory over Djokovic would make Alcaraz the youngest man to complete the career Grand Slam, eclipsing Don Budge, who wrapped up his at the 1938 French Open two days before his 23rd birthday.
He would also become the first men's player under 23 to win seven Grand Slam titles, a tally that eluded Djokovic until he was 27.
Remarkably for such a young career, Alcaraz has already racked up a slew of classic matches against Djokovic, who holds a 5-4 record against him.
They have both inflicted bruising defeats, with Alcaraz denying Djokovic in back-to-back Wimbledon finals in 2023-24 and the Serb snatching the gold medal in the Paris Olympic final.
While Djokovic knocked Alcaraz out of last year's Australian Open quarter-finals, he was well-beaten the last time they faced on a Grand Slam hardcourt, losing 6-4 7-6(4) 6-2 in the U.S. Open semis.
Both enter Sunday's final after taxing, five-setters.
Alcaraz struggled with a cramp before edging third seed Alexander Zverev in five hours and 27 minutes, the tournament's longest-ever semi-final.
Djokovic needed a bit over four hours to see off Sinner.
Facing a man who will turn 39 in a few months, Alcaraz should be better equipped to handle a long slog.
With 18 fewer Grand Slam titles than Djokovic, he should be more hungry than the Serb.
Boasting incredible athleticism and arguably the game's purest shot-making, he should have faith that his talents will get the job done.
But try telling that to 24-year-old Sinner, whose hopes of a fifth Grand Slam title were crushed in the fifth set on Friday as Djokovic gave him a pummeling from the baseline.
Like Rafa Nadal at the French Open, there is something magical beneath Rod Laver Arena's blue centre court that only Djokovic can mine.
In all 10 of his previous finals, he has never exited without the trophy.
Alcaraz will fight to avoid joining the ranks of forlorn challengers who leave Melbourne Park feeling that destiny and Djokovic have conspired against them.
(Reporting by Ian Ransom in Melbourne; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)
