Carlos Alcaraz enjoyed a solid week in Monte Carlo, but came unstuck in yesterday’s final.
Sadly, he simply was unable to deal with the windy conditions within Court Reiner III, whilst Jannik Sinner did. In the end, that, and the latter’s added consistency in the bigger moments, proved decisive.
However, there was arguably one area of the match that was more important than any other factor, which proved to be the truly pivotal, game-changing element.
And what is particularly frustrating about this is that Carlos Alcaraz had arguably perfected that part of his game before inexplicably changing it ahead of the 2026 season.
This is, of course, in reference to his serve.
Carlos Alcaraz should never have changed his serve
Back in September of last year, Alcaraz served his way to the US Open final.
Everyone knew that it would take something truly special to overcome Sinner on the hard courts, and in the build-up to the event, the focus therefore settled on the Spaniard’s serve.
Should Carlos Alcaraz hire another coach after his recent results?
If so, who should he hire? 🤔
He more than silenced those doubters, winning the tournament whilst being broken just three times and losing just one set, in the final.
Speaking afterwards, he admitted: “I was only broken three times, so it’s something that I didn’t expect to be honest. But I would say thanks to that, it helped me a lot to go to the return games with no pressure at all, playing with joy and no pressure because I felt really comfortable, and the confidence was really high with the serve.”
And yet, despite seemingly perfecting arguably the most important shot in the sport, Alcaraz completely altered his service motion in the off-season.
It helped him win the Australian Open, and for that, he will always be grateful. However, it was that particular shot which came unstuck yesterday, and could hamper him throughout the clay-court season.
The statistics behind Carlos Alcaraz’s loss in the Monte Carlo final
Crucially, in the final, Alcaraz had to save eight break points just to stay alive against Sinner. And, the three he failed to defend proved pivotal.
That is the most important statistic, and it was indicative of the constant pressure that the 24-year-old put on his serve.
For reference, in the US Open final, Alcaraz faced just one break point across four sets.
Whilst his serving statistics were not outwardly bad in the Monte Carlo Masters match yesterday, getting 58% of his first serve in, and winning 58% of points behind it, it was clear that Sinner had pulled ahead in this metric.
As such, he won 66% of points behind his first serve, and 65% behind his second, a huge improvement on the 56% success rate Alcaraz had on his second serve.
Is Jannik Sinner now the best server on the ATP Tour?
He won 18 points in a row on serve vs Jiri Lehecka…
Whilst Sinner has continued to serve with incredible consistency, Alcaraz’s alteration has clearly not helped him, particularly when dealing with such difficult conditions.
Perhaps his team made a mistake by pulling him away from what seemed like perfection in New York.
