Emma McKeon reacts to Carlos Alcaraz’s interaction with fan. Photo: Both from Getty

Emma McKeon reacts to Carlos Alcaraz’s adorable interaction with young fan after reaching Australian Open 2025 quarterfinals

Modified Jan 19, 2025 15:45 GMT

Emma McKeon, the most decorated Australian Olympian, has reacted to Carlos Alcaraz’s interaction with a young fan, John, after advancing to the quarter-finals of the 2025 Australian Open. The Spaniard reached the quarters after opponent Jack Draper retired due to an injury.

Following this, Alcaraz met John and gave him a behind-the-scenes tour. The Australian Open shared the interaction on their Instagram account. As shown in the video shared below, John joined the tennis star as Alcaraz asked him if he wanted to attend his press conference. The tennis star then asked John where he was from:

“From here from Melbourne or?”

To this, John replied:

“Yeah, I'm from Melbourne.”

Carolos Alcaraz then told John, who was attending his first press conference, that tennis players have to attend them regardless of whether they win or lose. During the press conference, John was spotted in the front row. Afterwards, Alcaraz told John that he hoped to see him play one day at the Rod Laver Arena, saying:

“I wish to see you, you know, playing on this beautiful court one day”

The 30-year-old retired swimmer reacted to the adorable conversation between Alcaraz and John, captioning the post:

“🥹🥰”

Screenshot of Emma McKeon’s Instagram story. Credits - IG/ emmamckeon

Emma McKeon opens up on surpassing legendary Ian Thorpe’s Olympic gold medals at Paris Olympics

Emma McKeon at Tokyo Olympics. Photo: Getty Images

Emma McKeon reflected on surpassing legendary swimmer Ian Thorpe’s record at the 2024 Paris Olympics. With her gold in the women’s 4x100m freestyle event during last year’s quadrennial games, she accomplished the incredible feat, having already become the most decorated Australian Olympian in history at the Tokyo Olympics.

In an interview with GQ in December 2024, she spoke about her feat:

“I don’t really think about it, to be honest. It still hasn’t really sunk in. It’s probably sunk in as much as it’s ever going to. It just makes me look back on when I was 15; you couldn’t have told me that I was going to go on and do what I’ve done. It’s a bit of a ‘pinch me’ type of thing.”

Right after Emma McKeon achieved the feat in Paris, Ian Thorpe was asked about her surpassing his record. He reacted, saying (via nine.com.au):

“That was how I felt - we were equal on gold and she had one more silver or something like that. So I counted it the normal way so I thought she was already there…I couldn't think of anyone better to have that title.”

At the Tokyo Olympics, McKeon had taken her Olympic medal tally to 11 medals, including five gold, two silver, and four bronze medals. In Paris, she added three more Olympic medals -- one gold, one silver and one bronze.