"I had a message from Djokovic saying, 'Alright, you have to pay me for the serve'" - Alcaraz says the 'contract is ready' amid fun joke about serve similarity to Djokovic

One part of the Carlos Alcaraz game has caught the attention of many tennis fans all around the world, and that his altered serving technique, changed over the off-season. The comparisons have been made towards 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic, with both players seeing the funny side of it.

They are both on a mission to win the Australian Open, but for different reasons. The world number one Alcaraz hopes to add the final trophy to the major collection as he hunts down the career Grand Slam. It is a place where he has not had much success in the past, especially compared to Djokovic. The Serbian has won 10 titles Down Under, more than anyone else. An 11th would also be significant with him looking for a unprecedented 25th Grand Slam to put him as the outright leader.

There is a long way to go before the final is competed, with a matchup between both players only possible if they can go all the way to the final. If so, then it will not be a hugely interesting and entertaining matchup with so much on the line, but the conversations about how similar their serves are will only continue.

In his press conference after defeating Pedro Martinez with an imperious serving display where he won 93% of first serve points and did not come across a single break point from his Spanish opponent, the 38-year-old had a light-hearted word about Alcaraz's new serving technique, jokingly asking for some of the credit.

“As soon as I saw it, I sent him a message. I said, we have to speak about the copyrights,” Djokovic said. “Then when I saw him here, I told him we have to talk about percentage of his winnings. Every ace I expect a tribute to me. Every ace that he makes here. Let's see if he's going to stick to the agreement.”

Alcaraz has so far hit 25 aces. This tally is less than the 29 aces Djokovic has racked up while playing one less game, showing that he is still the master. Serving has not always been Alcaraz's strongest part of his game. There have been signs of it on song, like in Queens last year where he was not broken on his serve enroute to a dominant title.

Earlier today, Alcaraz dumped out Tommy Paul to match his best ever result at the Australian Open, making the last-eight for the third consecutive year. Previous losses to Alexander Zverev and Djokovic last year have dented his progress in Melbourne, but it is yet to be seen whether he is over these yet.

After the match with the American, Jim Courier interviewed him on court in front of a packed Rod Laver Arena, ears on red alert to hear what he was going to talk about. He was asked about Djokovic's comments on his serve, which he responded in a joking manner.

"Yeah, I heard that. I have the contract ready, but I haven’t seen him yet," he laughed. "It was funny because during the preseason, some videos came up with the movement. I wasn’t really aware that it looked so similar to Novak’s serve."

Djokovic had clocked on to this much earlier than Alcaraz. "One day I woke up, checked my phone, and I had a message from Djokovic saying, 'Alright, you have to pay me for the serve before the season starts.' It was fun," he admitted. "These kinds of things in the locker room are nice, especially when it works and you’re serving better. His serve is one of the most accurate we’ve ever seen, so it’s a good one to copy."

Alcaraz will come up against either Alex de Minaur or Alexander Bublik in the quarter-finals, with Djokovic yet to book his place in that round, with Jakub Mensik still to traverse.