Carlos Alcaraz‘s serve leaves a lot to be desired, according to former ATP player and world no. 1, Andy Roddick.
The 20-year-old is one of the best full-stop players in the world. Is he the most complete tennis player right now? The Spaniard has a complete game, but some things aren’t that much of a strength.
The serve, as one of the main weapons in modern tennis, is vital for all players. Unfortunately for Alcaraz, his service truly isn’t something to be jealous of. It’s a major problem because, with a powerful serve, the Spaniard could power through matches where his baseline play is lacking.
An example is the loss to Alexander Zverev at the 2024 Australian Open. With a better serve, Alcaraz could have possibly gotten out of it.
For Roddick, who spoke on his new ‘Served with Andy Roddick’ podcast, the serve is mostly an issue because it hasn’t improved at all. It’s the same service he had two years ago, and he should really work on it.
“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.”
“There’s not a lot of motion to it, right? There are big servers, who serve straight through the court. And so, they’re are the type of servers that serve 136, but if you get a racket on it, you can square it up a little bit.”
Roddick further spoke about the serve, admitting that players know it as well. If he had more power on it, he could be far more devastating than he is now.
“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.”
For the former player, it’s a key area that needs to improve, especially because it’s lacking behind the rest of the ATP Tour. He should improve it every year, so going two years without any kind of improvement is unacceptable for a player who is by many considered the one who could challenge the Big Three’s legacy.
“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 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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