Carlos Alcaraz is undeniably one of the greatest young talents we have ever seen on the men’s tour, and continues to shatter records from the greats that came before him.
He remains firmly on track to become one of the very best ever to play the sport, but there is still so much time left in his career.
Whilst he will view that as a positive, as he should, for others, that means there is time for things to go wrong.
Injuries and a loss of form are commonplace in a sport as physically and mentally fatiguing as tennis, and although he is yet to suffer either on a huge scale, the fear is always there.
And yet, it was not that which worried John McEnroe most when discussing Carlos Alcaraz just over a year ago.
John McEnroe’s ‘worry’ about Carlos Alcaraz in 2024
In fact, the American actually outlined one particular type of player who he predicted would trouble Alcaraz in the future.
It almost seems crazy to think this was ever a fear, given how he has brushed almost everyone aside in 2025, but McEnroe still claimed: “This guy is the greatest talent I’ve seen in the last 20 years and he is the best to watch.
“You look at the guys (his rivals) and they are all so tall… do they have the explosive speed of Alcaraz? No, but I worry that because he is only six feet and a half an inch tall, they are going to drive him absolutely nuts.
“He’s going to play these guys that serve out of a mountain and (Alcaraz) will get frustrated. This is what happened at the end of last year and it happened on a handful of occasions.
“I hope that I’m wrong about Alcaraz and that he is not going to be able to keep this up.
“I still think he is going to get ten of them (Grand Slams), which would be unbelievable!”
Whilst commentating on the recent US Open final, John McEnroe shared what Alcaraz did which he thought ‘rattled’ Jannik Sinner.
Carlos Alcaraz’s record vs the ATP Tour’s biggest servers
When comparing Alcaraz’s record against the ATP Tour’s biggest servers this year, McEnroe’s fear seems even more ridiculous.
According to the ATP website, there are eight players who boast a better ‘serve rating’ than the Spaniard himself.
The top of that ranking is, unsurprisingly, Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard. Alcaraz has won their only ever meeting, last year in Beijing.
Second is Sinner, who has just one win over his generation rival from their three meetings this year, with Taylor Fritz, in third, another who has lost his only match against Alcaraz this year, and actually never beaten him in his career.
| Player | Serve Rating | Record vs Alcaraz (in 2025) | Record vs Alcaraz (all-time) |
| 1. Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard | 297.3 | 0-1 | 0-1 |
| 2. Jannik Sinner | 296.3 | 1-4 | 5-10 |
| 3. Taylor Fritz | 296.2 | 0-1 | 0-3 |
| 4. Alexander Zverev | 295.2 | 0-1 | 6-6 |
| 5. Novak Djokovic | 294.0 | 1-1 | 5-4 |
| 6. Matteo Berrettini | 292.2 | 0-0 | 1-3 |
| 7. Reilly Opelka | 291.9 | 0-1 | 0-1 |
Alexander Zverev is tied at 6-6 in the head-to-head against the new world number one and sits fourth on this serving list. Alas, he too lost their only meeting of 2025 in Cincinnati.
Novak Djokovic, in fifth, is the only man out of the eight above Alcaraz on the serving list who does not have a negative record against him in 2025, but was most recently dismantled in the US Open semi-final in straight sets.
Ben Shelton and Reilly Opelka have both also lost their only match of the year against Alcaraz.
