“I’ve seen both side by side, and yes, you can see a lot of similarity”: Alcaraz reflects on his new ‘Djokovic-inspired’ serve without copying

Carlos Alcaraz took an easy victory in the third round of the Australian Open against Corentin Moutet, in a match in which the Spaniard displayed some of his best shots to overcome the unpredictable style of his French opponent. It was a 6–2, 6–4, 6–1 win to advance to the fourth round and secure a meeting against Tommy Paul.

One element that has stood out about Alcaraz’s game during his week in Melbourne is the change in his serving mechanics, which he himself has revealed occurred organically, although it now differs from the posture he had in previous years. Many have even compared it to Novak Djokovic’s serve in terms of body positioning.

Djokovic himself sent a message to Alcaraz in recent days, in which he jokingly spoke about the copyright of the serve and teased that Alcaraz should pay him homage for imitating his serve, something that the current world No. 1 addressed this time. “Yes, I have the contract there in my bag, I’ve already signed it, I have to give it to you. But yes, we joked a little about the serving mechanics,” commented the Spaniard in press conference to Spanish journalists. “We haven’t talked much either, but he sent me a message and when I saw it in preseason it made me laugh.”

“One time here I saw both of them, they made the typical compilation of the two, side by side, and yes, you can see a lot of similarity. I can’t hide from the obvious, but well, I’ve said it: for me Djokovic serves very, very well and the motion he has is very simple and I have always liked how he has done it.”

However, the six-time Grand Slam champion assured that he did not specifically look at Nole to perfect his serve, but that it happened naturally as he made adjustments that made him feel comfortable. “That doesn’t mean I haven’t looked at him to do it, but simply by making changes I ended up feeling comfortable this way, and that’s how I do it now. But it wasn’t by copying Djokovic’s serve.”

The six-time major champion commented that although he feels comfortable with his serve so far — especially with increased first-serve consistency — he still believes there is much to improve. “Yes, I have a lot of room for improvement. The truth is the serve is going well, with a high percentage,” he commented. “I’m feeling very comfortable, which is important for me. But that doesn’t mean there’s not still a lot of room to improve. In every practice, in every warm-up, even in matches, I pay a lot of attention to doing it the right way.”

Alcaraz achieved a 71% first-serve rate against Moutet, winning 73% of them — numbers similar to those he had in his first rounds against Adam Walton and Yannick Hanfmann.

“As I’ve said, the good thing about such a smooth and clean mechanics, so easy, is that sometimes when I’m blocked on the serve and don’t know what to do, the clear thought is to keep it simple, do it simple. And that’s what most helps me recover the good feeling, and that’s why we’ve always aimed for such a simple motion.”

After a strong performance against Moutet, the Spaniard was asked if he plans to watch some of his best shots from the match afterward, or if he enjoys — just for fun — seeing the highlights of his own matches from a new angle. “Well, to tell you the truth, I’ve already watched a few,” Alcaraz said. “I like it because from the outside things look very different than how you feel inside.”

“Personally, I like to watch some points afterward, remember them, see how I felt, how they went,” he added. “And especially the same with points I played, but in other matches. Those moments amuse me, excite me, and honestly, I have a good time.”

“I saw the ‘Willy’ in front, after the serve, the one I did with a ‘Willy’, which then made him do the drop shot and I did the parallel backhand. And a few others that are already uploaded somewhere.”

Alcaraz will return to the court on Sunday, January 25, for the fourth round against Tommy Paul (19th seed). The Spaniard will seek to reach the quarter-finals of the Australian Open for the third consecutive year and extend his head-to-head advantage against Paul (5–2 so far). The American has been a real challenge for Alcaraz on hard courts, with a 2–2 record on the surface.