Saturday, 02 April 2022 / Published in ATP Tour, Carlos Alcaraz, Miami

Understand Carlos Alcaraz in 3 GIFs & a Pic.

G’day,

As a preview to the 2022 Miami Open final between Carlos Alcaraz and Casper Ruud, I want to share the first time I saw Carlos Alcaraz play live.

DATE: August 24, 2021
LOCATION: Wake Forest University
EVENT: ATP250 Winston-Salem Open, North Carolina

It’s a warm, sticky evening on the campus of Wake Forest University. Carlos Alcaraz is ranked #73 in the world and is playing in the Winston-Salem Open, which is the week before the US Open. He has not yet set the tennis world on fire, but he is on everyone’s radar. On May 15th, just three months earlier, he was ranked outside the Top 100.

He is coming hard.

It’s the first round of the tournament and I am coaching his opponent, Alexei Popyrin. I started as Alexei’s coach the week before in Cincinnati.

Carlos won a superb, well-fought match 6-7(9), 6-1, 7-6(1). The victory was impressive. What I saw from his game was spectacular.

GIF 1

Let’s start with this gif below of a 2nd serve return. Watch it a few times and then I am going to give you specific things to focus on.

2021 Winston-Salem Open: Carlos Alcaraz 2nd Serve Return (1)

Shoes – Only look at his shoes. The footwork reminds me of Roger Federer. Simple, clean, and floating above the surface of the court. He is 100% organized with his split steps and adjusting steps. So nimble. No heavy steps into the cement court. Ankles doing a lot of the work.
Head – Now focus only on his head. It’s so still. His eyes quickly lock in on contact then he is looking down the court for clues where the ball is coming back.
Racquet – In the initial stage when he splits forward, it’s still and in front. Then the energy is sooooo clean through contact. It looks so effortless but the ball was coming off like a canon. Understand that he gave this return a ride. He hit it really well, but it looks like he did hardly anything at all.
Court Position – Alcaraz moves forward the ideal distance to the baseline to return serve. Then he is so quick to get back a couple of steps to defend the next shot if need be. This is being a master of court position. He is not waiting for the ball to come to him and staying at the same distance from the baseline as his ready position and contact. He is forward then back. He is working hard but making it look easy.

GIF 2

This gif is pretty remarkable. It’s worth watching for a minute so that you get a deeper understanding of how freakishly good he is.

2021 Winston-Salem Open: Carlos Alcaraz 2nd Serve Return (2)

Balance – he is going forward and back and up all at the same time. If he had a jug of water on his head, he would not spill a drop.
Technique – Like Novak Djokovic, Alcaraz has mastered the simplest, most efficient swing path for a backhand. How in the world is this going to break down? It’s not is the short answer. It’s so fluid, so quick, and comes off like a rocket.
Floating – Look at his right foot when he lands. Hardly any energy going into the court. His ankle controls the landing and quickly pushes off again, avoiding his whole foot going flat on the ground which would slow him down.

GIF 3

It’s tweener time.

Not only does he make this tweener, but he slides to a stop behind the baseline and is ready to sprint back to the net to get the drop shot.

The athleticism is off the charts. He is one of the quickest players to ever step foot on a tennis court. Period. And he can improvise. And he can chase balls down that you think he has no business chasing down.

Picture

The picture below is stunning in its simplicity. He is perfectlyyyy in place to hit this low backhand. Front knee bent at 90 degrees. Back knee bent at 90 degrees. His head is perfectly balanced. Contact was in the sweet spot of the racket.

Carlos Alcaraz is good because his preparation for the shot is other-worldly.

You can’t do any more to get into position than he is doing here. When you prepare this well for a shot, you literally can’t miss it. Nothing is left to chance here.

SUMMARY

Carlos Alcaraz is a once-in-a-generation player. Cut from the same cloth as Roger, Novak, and Rafa.

His attitude is exemplary, just like Rafa.

His technique is clean and ruthlessly efficient, just like Novak.

He floats around the court and has amazing instincts, just like Roger.

While comparing him to the “Big 3” is a fair and accurate thing to do, it’s important to note that he is also none of them. He is Carlos, or “Carlito”. He is his own 18-year-old man and he stands on his own pedastal.

He is the future of our sport. He does not smash rackets or abuse umpires. His sportsmanship is superb. I had a wonderful talk with Carlos and his coach, Juan Carlos Ferrero, after the match. The match was incredibly close, until Alcaraz pulled away 7-1 in the 3rd-set tie-break. Carlos is a great kid and Juan Carlos is an ideal coach for him. An ideal pairing.

Alcaraz may or may not defeat Casper in the Miami final. But one thing is for sure. He is about to elevate the level of our global sport on his very own teenage shoulders.

The practice court is clearly broken. Here’s the proof.

Points are "front loaded". By far the majority of the action, and the winning, takes place in THE FIRST 4 SHOTS. The practice court is full of long rallies. Matches are dominated by short rallies. There is a massive disconnect occurring.

We spend too much time grinding, banging balls up and down the middle of the court – that have no real benefit to winning tennis matches.

There are 3 specific rally lengths in tennis. Here is their percentage breakdown of total points.

0-4 Shots = 70%
5-8 Shots = 20%
9+ Shots = 10%

The First 4 Shots is specifically the serve, return, Serve +1 groundstroke and Return +1 groundstroke. Those are normally the shots that get practiced the least, but matter the most to winning tennis matches.

The net is an extremely high percentage place to be!

If you love playing tennis for fun, spend as much time at the baseline as you like. But if you compete – if the score matters – then you must turn your attention to the net to maximize your potential.

The “herd mentality” in tennis thinks it’s too tough to approach the net in today’s game. The conversation starts with improved string technology, more powerful rackets, and finishes with stronger, faster athletes. The herd think approaching is a relic of the past. The herd is WRONG!

AVERAGE WIN %
Baseline = 46%
Net = 66%

Data from ALL Grand Slams provides the facts about approach and volley, and the data is crystal clear – it’s immensely better than staying back at the baseline, grinding for a living.

The baseline is a tough place to create separation. Here's how to do it.

At the 2012 US Open, only 7 men and 14 women had a winning percentage from the baseline. At Wimbledon 2016, Andy Murray won the title only winning 52% of his baseline points - and he is one of the very best at it in the world!

Num3ers deeply explores the data that rules points, especially from the back of the court. Take a "deep dive" into all three rally lengths (0-4, 5-8, 9+), and winner and errors totals from the elite level of our game. The numbers will shock you!

All 4 Grand Slams

Forcing Errors = 41% Men / 37% Women
Winners = 32% Men / 29% Women
Unforced Errors = 27% Men / 34% Women

Num3ers is very much like putting a jigsaw puzzle together. It's about bringing together different data sets together to create the big picture.

Every recorded match from the 2015 Australian Open - Rd2 to the final.

There is a lot happening on a doubles court. Situations and strategies are constantly being adjusted to create mis-matches with court position. It's hard to keep track of - until now. Dou8les Num3ers is the most comprehensive analysis of doubles data in our sport. The focus is on how a point ends, and it's broken down eight ways to Sunday. Specifically, you find critical information on:

Winners rise to the #1 way a point ends (over forced & unforced errors)

- The last shot of the rally is overwhelmingly struck at the net.
- Center Window: the most important part of a doubles court to control.
- Stephen Huss: an in-depth interview on Wimbledon's Centre Court with the 2005 Wimbledon Doubles Champion.

Dou8les Num3ers leaves no stone unturned. Percentage breakdowns of how often the server or receiver hits the last shot highlight the dramatic influence of the serve. The last shot of the rally is significant, and is broken down into the following categories: volleys, overheads, passing shots, lobs and groundstrokes.

When you play a match, you actually play two matches.

When you walk out onto a tennis court, there are two matches that you are about to play. The first is during the point - a part of the match that you have spent a lot of time preparing for on the practice court. But there is a second match, that takes place in the 20 seconds between the points. This is where the mental and emotional aspects of our sport kick in.

Let's face it, there will be adversity in almost every tennis match that you play. The storm clouds are coming. How bug they are, and how long they last for, are up to you.

Between the points is very tennis specific. It provides a roadmap for the 20 seconds between the points, teaching how to handle the adversity that will surely come, and how to build on the successes that will also be present. Your mind is your biggest asset in a match, and Between the Points takes your hand off the self destruct button and stops you beating yourself.

You don't have to be good at everything, but you have got to be good at something.

You can break tennis down into four key elements - serving, returning, rallying and approaching. Each part has specific patterns of play that consistently deliver higher winning percentages than the others. No more guessing. No more opinions. All facets of our sport are covered in this exceptional product, clearly outlining what patterns to gravitate to, and how to best construct the practice court. Data comes primarily from the 2015 Australian Open.

Building Blocks

MEN = 70% errors / 30% winners
WOMEN = 74% errors / 26% winners

Forcing errors is the best way to construct a point.
You can simply break tennis down into primary and secondary patterns of play - and they are all covered here. Primary patterns include serve and return direction, forehands v backhands, and the best way to approach the net. Secondary patterns include drop shots, serve & volley and 1st volley options. If you play tournaments, this product will greatly help you simplify the singles court.

The conversation starts & ends with the Center Window.

The doubles court is like an hourglass. There are two big ends, but a small neck in the middle where all the action happens. Once you learn the power of the Center Window, where you stand to start the point will take on a lot more significance.

Doubles is a lot more about situations, with four people on the court all "dancing" with one another. Learn all the best doubles patterns, broken down for the server, returner, server's partner and the returner's partner.

Doubles Situations

The "J" - the most ideal movement for the returner's partner to attack the net.

The "V" - a better way of understanding where the server's partner should move to.

Volley Targets - there are four main areas to attack. Know which ones are higher percentage. Beach Volleyball - the idea of a "setter" and "spiker" is ideal for the doubles court.

There are certain parts of the court that the ball travels to a lot, and other low percentage areas that you really don't want to cover at all - like the alley! In general, the serving team wants to keep the ball in the middle of the court as much as possible (to help the server's partner), while the returning team benefits from hitting wider and creating more chaos in the point.

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