Carlos Alcaraz has been deservedly heralded over the past year, for evolving into the outright best player on the men’s circuit.
Where it once seemed like Jannik Sinner was destined to reign over the ATP Tour, the Spaniard has evolved in seemingly every area of his game, adding much-needed consistency to his unpredictable excellence.
However, arguably his biggest improvement has been on the serve, which was the shot that fired him to major titles in both New York and Melbourne.
The changes have been overwhelming, but many have also pointed to Novak Djokovic as a potential source of inspiration.
Andy Roddick could not disagree more with this notion.
Andy Roddick on comparisons between Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic
Speaking during a Q&A for his Served with Andy Roddick podcast, the American began by discussing the differences between a platform stance serve and bringing the back foot up to serve.
However, he swiftly turned it into an opportunity to explain why those comparing Carlos Alcaraz’s serve with Djokovic’s were wrong, noting: I mean, Novak serves off of two feet, he’s a platform server, and Alcaraz doesn’t, so that’s not accurate.
Which member of the ‘Big Three’ is Carlos Alcaraz most similar to? Let us know why below👇
“Now, the takeback, like Novak used to kind of take a full big swing and, like, his service motion, people forget, like, it wasn’t great when he won his first major, it was like he was throwing grenades on the second serve.
“Like, it was from here, and the way that he’s tightened it up and rounded out the bottom of it, which is what we’ve talked about with Alcaraz before. So maybe the start point in, like, kind of how you get to the trophy position looks like Novak, but their feet are not similar at all.
“It has to be [upper-body], because the lower body is, like, completely different.”
The serving statistics from Alcaraz’s win over Djokovic in the Australian Open final tell a story of two supreme servers, with the 22-year-old coming out on top with a shot that many compared to the Serbian’s.
What Novak Djokovic said about Carlos Alcaraz copying his serve
It’s ironic that Roddick disagrees so passionately, given that Djokovic has spoken about Alcaraz copying his serve in jest.
Speaking after the first major of the year had just begun, the 39-year-old spoke after footage surfaced of the Spaniard’s new-look serve.
Do you believe Carlos Alcaraz is already the greatest tennis player of all time?
Djokovic smiled as he stated: “As soon as I saw it, I sent him a message. I said, we have to speak about the copyrights.
“Then when I saw him here, I told him we have to talk about percentage of his winnings. Every ace I expect, you know, a tribute to me. Every ace that he makes here. Let’s see if he’s going to stick to the agreement.”
Alcaraz laughed when told about this, adding: “I wasn’t thinking about making the same serve as Djokovic. But at the end, I can even see the similarities.”
