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Andy Roddick has a new podcast on YouTube and launches with his player insights on Alcaraz, why his serve results are declining, by comparing his serve to what it's like returning Fed's and Pistol Pete's
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Last July, Alcaraz was on top of the tennis world. He physically bullied his way through the Wimbledon final to dethrone Djokovic taking a tiebreak and the fifth set -- 16 76(6) 61 36 64 -- and hasn't won a title at any level since. Carlos lost the Rogers Cup final to Tommy Paul from a set up, then appeared to have the upper hand vs Djokovic in the Cincinnati final, a main run-up to the US Open, but lost from a set up by dropping two tiebreaks: 7-6, 6-7(7), 6-7(4). Some would claim Alcaraz hasn't played his A game in 5 months since.
The 20 year old didn't seem himself in what I saw of him at the Australian. His touch shot magic was MIA. His fearsome forehand was missing, and he seemed uncertain of his shots, tentative ... something is off. In a lethargic, quarterfinal loss to Zverev, Alcaraz was broken seven (7) times. Vultures are circling and explanations abound. Tim Henman says it's shot selection. Another former ATP pro (forgive me not recalling his name), said last week that Alcaraz is faster and more skilled than Sinner but "nowhere near Sinner in mental toughness." In fairness, Sinner is over 2 years older than the Spaniard, who was tough enough to win 2 slams already. Another said that perhaps Alcaraz played too much tennis too soon and was simply burned out. Quite possible.
Andy Roddick jumped in with a lengthy discussion on his new podcast on YouTube. Andy started by noting something I've mentioned here, that Carlos' first serve seems to have lost some pop and isn't nearly as effective as back even when he made his first run at the US Open. Since Andy agrees with me, we're both not only right but geniuses! But Andy knows a whole lot more about serves than me so he has some other analysis I haven't seen tackled elsewhere.
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Andy: “I think his serve leaves a lot to be desired. That is the one thing that I don’t think has really improved much at all in the last two years. I remember watching him, kinda his breakout – we knew about him – but winning Miami a couple of years ago and he was serving 135, and now I feel like he’s serving 127.
The former world No 1 declared that Alcaraz’s serve is “the one thing that I don’t think has really improved much at all in the last two years” and feels there is “not a lot of motion” to his delivery. {Meaning, his delivery doesn't put spin other than topspin on the ball, I believe.} The world No 2 sits ninth in the overall ATP serve rating leaderboard for the past 52 weeks, but has the lowest average aces per match (4.1) among the top 41 ranked servers.
“I don’t think it’s gonna be super smooth sailing, I think the tournaments that are coming up, obviously Indian Wells is a great surface for him because the ball jumps up and away, that’s gonna give him some love on the kick serve,” the 2003 US Open winner said.
“There’s not a lot of motion to it, right? There are big servers, who serve straight through the court. And so, they’re the type of servers that serve 136, but if you get a racket on it, you can square it up a little bit. “And then there’s like the Roger [Federer] type servers that can serve 118 and the ball’s sliding against your racket and it just feels a little bit squirrely – so where you’re kind of hitting foul balls off the serve.
“Alcaraz, if he’s not hitting that kick serve – that’s getting you up and away and out of the zone – it feels like people are able to firm up his first serve when he goes after it. You need to create a little motion on that serve, he needs to create a little it of tail. “Especially with how good he is on that first ball and how much he can bully you. Right now, even his slice serve feels like it kind of goes straight. It doesn’t have that like (Pete] Sampras swing on it where it’s tailing away from you and you’re kind of having to chase it.
“Especially with how good he is on that first ball and how much he can bully you. Right now, even his slice serve feels like it kind of goes straight. It doesn’t have that like (Pete] Sampras swing on it where it’s tailing away from you and you’re kind of having to chase it. “It’s like, if you read it right, you can kind of square it up and get that good pop sound to it. So I think the serve is the most obvious place to improve with Alcaraz.”
~~~~~~~~~
Last July, Alcaraz was on top of the tennis world. He physically bullied his way through the Wimbledon final to dethrone Djokovic taking a tiebreak and the fifth set -- 16 76(6) 61 36 64 -- and hasn't won a title at any level since. Carlos lost the Rogers Cup final to Tommy Paul from a set up, then appeared to have the upper hand vs Djokovic in the Cincinnati final, a main run-up to the US Open, but lost from a set up by dropping two tiebreaks: 7-6, 6-7(7), 6-7(4). Some would claim Alcaraz hasn't played his A game in 5 months since.
The 20 year old didn't seem himself in what I saw of him at the Australian. His touch shot magic was MIA. His fearsome forehand was missing, and he seemed uncertain of his shots, tentative ... something is off. In a lethargic, quarterfinal loss to Zverev, Alcaraz was broken seven (7) times. Vultures are circling and explanations abound. Tim Henman says it's shot selection. Another former ATP pro (forgive me not recalling his name), said last week that Alcaraz is faster and more skilled than Sinner but "nowhere near Sinner in mental toughness." In fairness, Sinner is over 2 years older than the Spaniard, who was tough enough to win 2 slams already. Another said that perhaps Alcaraz played too much tennis too soon and was simply burned out. Quite possible.
Andy Roddick jumped in with a lengthy discussion on his new podcast on YouTube. Andy started by noting something I've mentioned here, that Carlos' first serve seems to have lost some pop and isn't nearly as effective as back even when he made his first run at the US Open. Since Andy agrees with me, we're both not only right but geniuses! But Andy knows a whole lot more about serves than me so he has some other analysis I haven't seen tackled elsewhere.
filedata/fetch?id=103342&d=1707500985&type=thumb
Andy: “I think his serve leaves a lot to be desired. That is the one thing that I don’t think has really improved much at all in the last two years. I remember watching him, kinda his breakout – we knew about him – but winning Miami a couple of years ago and he was serving 135, and now I feel like he’s serving 127.
The former world No 1 declared that Alcaraz’s serve is “the one thing that I don’t think has really improved much at all in the last two years” and feels there is “not a lot of motion” to his delivery. {Meaning, his delivery doesn't put spin other than topspin on the ball, I believe.} The world No 2 sits ninth in the overall ATP serve rating leaderboard for the past 52 weeks, but has the lowest average aces per match (4.1) among the top 41 ranked servers.
“I don’t think it’s gonna be super smooth sailing, I think the tournaments that are coming up, obviously Indian Wells is a great surface for him because the ball jumps up and away, that’s gonna give him some love on the kick serve,” the 2003 US Open winner said.
“There’s not a lot of motion to it, right? There are big servers, who serve straight through the court. And so, they’re the type of servers that serve 136, but if you get a racket on it, you can square it up a little bit. “And then there’s like the Roger [Federer] type servers that can serve 118 and the ball’s sliding against your racket and it just feels a little bit squirrely – so where you’re kind of hitting foul balls off the serve.
“Alcaraz, if he’s not hitting that kick serve – that’s getting you up and away and out of the zone – it feels like people are able to firm up his first serve when he goes after it. You need to create a little motion on that serve, he needs to create a little it of tail. “Especially with how good he is on that first ball and how much he can bully you. Right now, even his slice serve feels like it kind of goes straight. It doesn’t have that like (Pete] Sampras swing on it where it’s tailing away from you and you’re kind of having to chase it.
“Especially with how good he is on that first ball and how much he can bully you. Right now, even his slice serve feels like it kind of goes straight. It doesn’t have that like (Pete] Sampras swing on it where it’s tailing away from you and you’re kind of having to chase it. “It’s like, if you read it right, you can kind of square it up and get that good pop sound to it. So I think the serve is the most obvious place to improve with Alcaraz.”
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