Carlos Alcaraz was unable to prevent Jannik Sinner from winning his fourth consecutive Masters 1000 title.
Sinner defeated Alcaraz 7-6, 6-3 in the Monte Carlo Masters final, reclaiming the world number one spot from Alcaraz in the process.
How would you rate that Monte Carlo final out of 10?
Both players struggled to adapt to the blustery conditions during the match, as noted by Andy Murray.
The pair also struggled on serve; both landed under 60 per cent of their first serves during the contest.
Rennae Stubbs, a former world number one in doubles, has taken particular issue with Alcaraz’s serve.
Rennae Stubbs says Carlos Alcaraz’s serve is ‘not doing enough damage’
Over the last few months, Alcaraz has made adjustments to his serve – which has drawn comparisons to that of Novak Djokovic.
The Spaniard’s adjustments initially paid off, as demonstrated by his excellent serving throughout his title-winning Australian Open campaign.
However, Rennae Stubbs believes Alcaraz’s serve is still inferior to Jannik Sinner’s.
“I feel like he’s (Sinner) hitting the ball a little bit bigger,” Stubbs [pictured below] said on The Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast. “I feel like Carlos’ serve is not doing enough damage.
“I know that he changed his serve at the start of the year, but you have to think maybe. He doesn’t quite have the same pop as Jannik.
“Clearly Jannik, you know, has just a little bit more firepower, not only in the serve, but— the forehand. He was just crushing balls all over the place and taking advantage of certain things.”
Alcaraz landed more first serves than Sinner during the Monte Carlo final. However, he won a lower percentage of points on his first and second serve than Sinner.
On the other hand, Alcaraz outperformed Sinner in the ace category, serving three to the Italian’s zero.
| Statistical Area | Carlos Alcaraz | Jannik Sinner |
| Aces | 3 | 0 |
| Double-faults | 5 | 2 |
| First-serve percentage | 58 | 51 |
| First-serve points won [%] | 58 | 66 |
| Second-serve points won [%] | 56 | 65 |
Alcaraz’s serve was certainly more effective during his first-round match at the Barcelona Open.
The Spaniard landed 67 per cent of his first serves, winning 64 per cent of those points.
The 22-year-old will hope to continue his good serving against Tomas Machac, whom he will play on Thursday.
Stubbs says Carlos Alcaraz ‘messed up’ his drop shots against Jannik Sinner
Stubbs also criticised Alcaraz’s use of the drop shot against Sinner, highlighting the Spaniard’s poor execution on big points.
“And the interesting thing is the variety that Carlos Alcaraz possesses, which makes him so good on clay and grass and all these sorts of things and natural surfaces because you do have to come up with some… a little bit more ingenuity, a little bit more sort of crafty stuff,” Stubbs began.
“It usually helps Carlos, but having said that, the dude kind of messed up with the drop shots.
Should Carlos Alcaraz hire another coach after his recent results?
If so, who should he hire? 🤔
“And as good as the drop shot is on occasion, oh my God, (when) he hits the forehand drop shot, it’s just like out of this world how good it is, and you have to be able to hit that shot on any surface really.
“But particularly on clay, because when players get so far behind the baseline, you know, it’s hard to hit through them, right?
“And it’s very hard to hit through someone like Jannik because he’s so good at moving from the back of the court. He slides really well. He, of course, can turn defence into offence so easily, so quickly.
“But Carlos kind of… there were some drop shots that got him into trouble.
“There was one, I believe it was two all in the first set tie break, (he) chose to hit the drop shot, did not hit a good one. Jannik runs up, wins the point, gets a mini break and then runs away with it.”
Stubbs compares Jannik Sinner to Novak Djokovic
“Jannik’s serving in tie breaks, and the way he’s playing tie breaks these days is just, it’s like Novak six years ago when he could barely lose a tie break,” Stubbs continued.
“It was just unbelievable how well he played that. And that’s a sign of confidence.
“That’s a sign of somebody who knows in the biggest occasions he can come up with the goods that he can play solid that he’ll beat somebody trying to be more creative or whatever it is.”
| Statistical Area | 2025 | 2026 |
| Ace rate [%] | 8.9 | 14.5 |
| Double fault rate [%] | 2 | 2 |
| First-serve percentage | 62 | 66.6 |
| First-serve points won [%] | 79.4 | 80.8 |
| Second-serve points won [%] | 59.1 | 58.8 |
Sinner’s next event is currently scheduled to be the Madrid Open. However, after the Monte Carlo final, the Italian indicated that he would take some time before deciding whether to participate in the event.
If Sinner were to take part and win the tournament, he would become the first man in tennis history to win five consecutive Masters 1000 events.
Remarkably, Sinner has only dropped one set across his past four Masters 1000 events: to Tomas Machac in the Monte Carlo Masters third round.
