If Carlos Alcaraz had made a sensational entrance on the circuit, he had above all impressed by the power of his shots and the commitment he put into the ball. Today, he is also proving to be an incredible touchdown player, and in particular a master of the drop shot, perhaps destined to become one of the young Spaniard’s major shots, which made it an attacking shot. which he uses more and more.
What if Carlos Alcaraz, who had made a name for himself at a young age by swinging cinder block on cinder block from the back of the court, while giving the feeling of playing his life there, became a king of touch? The last outings of the Spanish prodigy, winner of the Barcelona tournament on Sunday for the second year in a row (which he had never managed to do before) have indeed shown a champion who is still as talented but in addition to the palette still richer over the matches. Stefanos Tsitsipas, the latest victim of the youngest world number 1 in history (even if he is now number 2 in the standings), has seen it: “Carlitos” is no longer just an incredible puncher who gives everything on each of his shots and very often leaves his opponents two or three meters from the ball when he decides to conclude the points, including at the net if necessary.
In Barcelona, Tsitsipas preferred not even to run on Alcaraz’s drop shots
Today, the new phenomenon of world tennis who probably had to not win in Monte-Carlo only because he preferred not to line up so as not to aggravate his pain at the time, a hand and back, also became a master of drop shots. Juan Carlos Ferrero’s protege does not yet go so far as to abuse it as Frenchman Hugo Gaston or another Tricolore Benoît Paire could do, especially when he feels he has no other solution. Nevertheless, the more matches progress for Alcaraz (who has won 23 out of the 25 he has played this season) and the more the nugget of El Palmar seems to have decided to add this weapon – formidable when it is used as he knows how to do – to his many other assets to earn a point. And fascinate observers. Thus, in Miami, the former world number 3 Guillermo Coria said he was “impressed” by the quality of the amortization of the winner of Indian Wells a few days earlier.
Coria: “He hides them very well, that’s the most beautiful thing”
“He hits his drop shots when needed. He is always on his guard, and he hides them very well, that’s the most beautiful thing, “appreciated the current captain of the Argentina Davis Cup team, without knowing then that this blow was also going to be a misfortune. on clay. And if the opponents of Alcaraz, as was the case for Tsitsipas, Sunday in the final in Barcelona, start not even chasing the ball to try to put it back by dint of understanding that the gesture is so well executed that ‘they have nothing to look forward to, the 19-year-old who made it clear on the eve of the Madrid tournament that he was ‘not the replacement’ for Nadal may well seek to resort even more often to this attack. Especially since most of his amortizations, it is from the forehand of genius – his favorite shot – that they come from. And anyway, if ever the ball were to come back, Alcaraz is also an ace of the lob lined with a formidable passer. Because yes, this man knows how to do everything. And damn well more.