Carlos Alcaraz is currently preparing for the clay-court swing in Murcia, Spain.
After being stunned by Sebastian Korda in the Miami Open third round, the Spaniard has turned his attention towards an important period in the calendar.
Alcaraz has over 3,000 ATP ranking points to defend across the clay-court swing, and the 22-year-old has already taken steps to prepare for the upcoming tournaments.
Despite his status as the world’s best player, Alcaraz is still looking for areas in which to improve his game.
Samuel Lopez, Alcaraz’s coach, has discussed these areas ahead of the Spaniard’s next event in Monte-Carlo.
Will Jannik Sinner overtake Carlos Alcaraz and become world number one? 🤔
If so, when will he do it?
Samu Lopez discusses Carlos Alcaraz’s training focuses
“Yes, without a doubt tennis has evolved a lot around the first shots — the serve and the plus one, and the return and the plus one,” Lopez said in an interview with Eurosport.
“Carlos is a very lively player on court, who likes to move forward a lot, and we’re also working a lot on that, on continuing to develop it.
“We’re also working on incorporating shots where he has more control, the slice, for better defense or changes of rhythm. There are always things to improve.
“But I would say one thing: the serve, of course, has improved, but it still needs to keep improving, not in terms of power, but in terms of precision and percentages. And on the return it’s the same.
“Today there are all kinds of statistics and on return he’s number one or number two, while on serve he’s quite a bit further behind.
“So we need to improve especially on the serve, without trying to have a serve like Isner’s, but improving in those aspects.”
Alcaraz’s next event is set to be the Monte-Carlo Masters, which begins on April 5.
Alcaraz is defending 1,000 ATP ranking points at this year’s event after defeating Lorenzo Musetti in the 2025 final.
What do you think is Carlos Alcaraz’s best surface and why?
After Monte-Carlo, Alcaraz is expected to travel to Spain for events in Barcelona and Madrid, before heading to Rome for the Italian Open.
He will then make his way to Paris for the French Open.
The Spaniard is entering into a crucial period of his 2026 campaign. With over 3,000 ATP ranking points to defend over the clay-court swing, Alcaraz could soon surrender the world number one spot to Jannik Sinner.
The current ATP top five and their ranking points
- Carlos Alcaraz [13,590]
- Jannik Sinner [12,400]
- Alexander Zverev [5,205]
- Novak Djokovic [4,720]
- Lorenzo Musetti [4,265]
Carlos Alcaraz has made the right choice by working on his return game
In the 2025 US Open final, Jannik Sinner’s serving let him down.
The Italian made only 48 per cent of his first serves and hit four double faults on his way to a four-set loss to Carlos Alcaraz.
Since then, Sinner has drastically improved his serving output.
The 23-year-old Italian is arguably the best server on the Tour right now, as demonstrated by his performance in the Miami Open final, during which he hit 10 aces and won 92 per cent of his first-serve points.
Therefore, with Sinner improving his serve, Alcaraz’s return game will need to be at its best moving forward.
