Carlos Alcaraz battled past a spirited Yannick Hanfmann to advance at the Australian Open on Wednesday.
Alcaraz rivalled Rafael Nadal and Bjorn Borg after his first-round win, and continued to illustrate why he is a major contender for the Australian Open title during his match against Hanfmann on Wednesday.
Alcaraz fell 1-3 behind in the first set but recovered quickly, before eventually winning the contest 7-6, 6-3, 6-2.
Alcaraz admitted to the on-court interviewer that he knew that Hanfmann ‘was going to play great’ after previously playing the German on the ATP Challenger Tour.
After the match, Alcaraz reflected on key alterations he has made to his game over; some of which may have aided his performance against Hanfmann.
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Carlos Alcaraz shares his technical and behavioural changes
When asked to share his ‘most valuable changes’ in the last year or two, Alcaraz told reporters: “Well, I mean, I don’t know. I would say probably technical part. I think the serve is a shot that I doing a lot of changes, you know, probably the last year.
“No other shot I’ve been changing anything or I’ve been putting so much attention on it.”
During the 2025 tennis off-season, Alcaraz was seen working on his ball toss with coach Samuel Lopez.
More recently, the Spaniard has made technical changes to the motion of his serve – changes that have resulted in Alcaraz’s serve being compared to Novak Djokovic’s.
The Spaniard, who will play Corentin Moutet in the Australian Open third round, also reflected on his behavioural changes and approach to matches.
He continued: “But outside in terms of shots, I just adjust myself about how you behave, how I talk to myself, how I just approach every match, how I approach every tournament, in some really difficult moments in the match, how I deal with them.
“Those adjustment I just try to made in the best way possible in the last year. It’s something that I’ve been so much focused on it.”
Alcaraz and Moutet’s Australian Open outlier
Carlos Alcaraz is set to play 32nd seed Corentin Moutet in the Australian Open third round.
As per OptaAce, since 32 seeds were introduced at Grand Slam events in 2001, Carlos Alcaraz’s meeting with Corentin Moutet will be only the second Men’s Singles match between the number one seed and number 32 seed.
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The only other Grand Slam men’s singles match of this kind occurred between Roger Federer and Nicolas Massu at the 2006 French Open.
Alcaraz, who is expected to walk onto court on Friday, has never played Moutet on the ATP Tour.
If Alcaraz defeats Moutet, he will play Tommy Paul or Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the fourth round.
