Australian Open: Alcaraz keeping his head up after losing Djokovic thriller

Carlos Alcaraz will leave Melbourne with his head held high after going down in a thrilling clash with Novak Djokovic.

Tuesday's titanic quarter-final tussle between two of the world's top players delivered at the Australian Open, with Djokovic prevailing 4-6 6-4 6-3 6-4.

Djokovic not only had to come from a set down, but also had to recover from an injury that led to a medical timeout towards the end of the opening set.

Alcaraz was aiming to become the youngest player to win a career grand slam, but his wait will roll on after losing in the Australian Open's last eight for the second straight year.

The 21-year-old, though, is not letting this latest loss to Djokovic get to him.

"We push each other to the limit," Alcaraz said.

"I think we've played great points, great rallies. It was really tight in the third and the fourth sets. The whole match, I guess.

"I'm just lucky to live this experience. I'm 21 years old. From these matches, I'm getting so much experience about how to deal with everything.

"I'm not going to hide. I've done great things in tennis already, but playing against one of the best in the history of our sport, these kind of matches help me a lot in the future to be better.

"I'm leaving here Australia with my head up."

Two phenomenal players, one special rivalry Thank you for putting on a show for us, Carlos and Novak #AO2025 pic.twitter.com/6j31ApJE0E

— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 21, 2025

Djokovic has now beaten Alcaraz five times, including in their last two meetings.

Asked what he had learned from his run to the last eight in Melbourne, Alcaraz added: "Something that I learned playing in grand slams is I have to save energy.

"There have been some moments, some matches that I didn't save energy, pumping myself, playing with the crowd, screaming 'Vamos' every time. I'm 100%.

"I struggled physically because of that. So I learned to save energy during the match, especially these kind of matches, which are really physically demanding.

"I'm going to say I think I did great, but probably I could do it a little bit more in specific moments. In the grand slams, I prefer to be calmer."