Carlos Alcaraz has managed to gain a foothold in the tennis elite after his great start to the season endorsed with his first Masters 1,000 title in Miami despite being only 18 years old. A success that has put the young Spanish tennis player in the showcase thanks to his self-confidence and his talent on the court. One of the keys to Carlos Alcaraz’s game is to look for the rival through the drops left on the net. A technique that, together with his great forehand, has allowed him to lift the title in Miami.
On the occasion of this milestone, the ATP has published on its website the effectiveness of Alcaraz with his ‘drop shots’ (left) in the Miami Masters 1,000. A blow that caught many of his rivals by surprise, since he scored the point in 35 of the 50 he made and in his first four games he won 18 of the 19 drop shots made (16 of them consecutively) achieving 3 of 4 against Marton Fucsovics, 5 of 5 against Marin Cilic, 7 of 7 against Stefanos Tsitsipas and 11 of 16 against Miomir Kecmanovic in the quarterfinals. Dropshots also helped Alcaraz during the semifinals against Hurkacz (5 out of 7) although they came out somewhat worse in the final against Ruud, winning only 4 out of 11.
Another peculiarity of Alcaraz is how the Murcian executes these dropshots, since while most players do them with their backhand, Alcaraz made 30 of his drop shots with his right hand, winning 22 of them (73%). In fact, the ATP highlights that much of Alcaraz’s success is thanks to a great previous forehand which then allows him to make a drop shot tricking the opponent.
The ATP also points out that Alcaraz usually makes these dropshots to a greater extent on serve (34 of 50), than the rest (16), winning 74% of them when he had a turn to serve and 63% if it was the turn of the rest to do them.
The drop shots have also gotten Alcaraz out of trouble in difficult moments, such as in his quarter-final match against Kecmanovic, where in the third set he made 10 drop shots, winning 6 of them and 3 of 4 in the tie-break of the decisive set. The left ones have become a life insurance for Alcaraz with which he intends to continue surprising his rivals… or with his powerful right hand.