Carlos
Alcaraz responded to
Andy Roddick's analysis of his serve. The American
criticized the 20-year-old player, stating that he hasn't significantly
improved his serve in the last two years and identified it as the aspect that
needs the most enhancement.
The former
world No. 1 suggested that Alcaraz's serve might have even regressed: "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," he said.
Andy Roddick's
advice
Roddick,
acknowledged as one of the best servers in history, outlined a couple of days
ago that the serve is a crucial aspect for 'Carlitos' to elevate his game even
further: “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 bit 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.
“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,”
Andy Roddick added.
Alcaraz's reaction:
The current
world No. 2 is in Buenos Aires for the
Argentina Open and responded in an
interview with Olé to the comments made by the 2003 US Open champion. Alcaraz
acknowledged that he has significantly improved his serve but recognizes the
ongoing need for further enhancement:
“I feel that the serve is something that
I have improved a lot, but I have to continue improving. And then I want to
work on how to deal in certain situations,” the 2-times Grand Slam champion said.
“I repeat,
I have improved a lot, but I actually have to continue improving and I still
have a lot to do. The reality is that I feel very confident, with a good level,
I come from playing well in Australia, I had good training on clay and
physically I am very well, at a very high level of tennis,” Alcaraz added.