Why is Alcaraz not as good on fast courts?

[Break To Win]

Alcaraz has already won in medium-paced, low-bounce tournaments like Rotterdam and Wimbledon. But he suffers a lot in the current conditions of Shanghai, Bercy and the ATP Finals.

Why do you think Carlos is not that good on fast courts?

 

[GRASScaraz]

His shots have are underpowered. He only wins due to his speed and stamina

 

[Winner Sinner]

A topic of discussion that has already been discussed several times in the past.

On fast surfaces the service is more dominant, and his service is not at elite levels.
In addition to this, on fast surfaces he has less time to generate his devastating variations.
When Alcaraz is forced to hit with less time available, he becomes much more fouled.

That said, Alcaraz is also competitive on fast surfaces, it's simply proportionally much less competitive than it is on medium-slow surfaces.
But this peculiarity is and was valid for every tennis player, no one is able to maintain the same level of competitiveness regardless of the speed of the surface.

 

[Rosstour]

Carlos has an extremely "organic" game and it is optimized for natural surfaces

His swing is big and takes time. So on lightning-fast hard courts he is out of sorts. And his improvisational style is less effective.

Musetti is another one like this. Pigeonholed as a clay courter but won more matches on grass than anyone last year.

 

[nolefam_2024]

He is adding lead to his racket to adjust to fast courts. Something Rafael Nadal kept on doing throughout his life. He kept on adding more and more lead to adjust to the tour and alcaraz will do the same.

Right now his problem is his serve is not great , good for speed but not accuracy.

And his shots sit up and this isn't allowed on fast hard courts.

 

[NatF]

Swings and footwork aren't conducive or good enough for very quick courts.

 

[I Am Finnish]

Because he is too tiny @Lleytonstation

 

[Jonas78]

2×Wimbledon and Cincy final at age 21?

 

[Lleytonstation]

Because he is too tiny @Lleytonstation

Nope. His arms. They are too short. He needs longer arms to compete with the best.

 

[I Am Finnish]

Nope. His arms. They are too short. He needs longer arms to compete with the best.

Are you saying he isn't tiny ?

 

[Lleytonstation]

Are you saying he isn't tiny ?

 

[I Am Finnish]

 

[Rafa4LifeEver]

2×Wimbledon and Cincy final at age 21?

Cincy isn't fast anymore

 

[Rafa4LifeEver]

The simplest answer - serve, both 1st & 2nd deliveries.

 

[Sudacafan]

Nope. His arms. They are too short. He needs longer arms to compete with the best.

Has he also cheated reporting his arms length?

 

[Jonas78]

Cincy isn't fast anymore

What are fast?

 

[YellowFedBetter]

What are fast?

If changes every year. Cincy was the slowest in 2023, they sped it up a lot last year.

 

[YellowFedBetter]

It has more to do with the balls actually. As a Medvedev fan I actually disagree with his statement that the super heavy hard court balls introduced at the start of 2023 have helped him (though he’s definitely correct that they’ve helped Jannik), because look at his HC results the last two years compared to before.

He gets impatient when he can’t easily hit through his opponent and tries to rip the cover off it without using any spin. As far as the courts go, yes, players can expose him by rushing him more on faster courts, but the dead balls exacerbate this by skidding low instead of bouncing to a comfortable height and giving him easy shots to attack. If you pay close attention, he always does much worse at the end of ball cycles than at the start.

Oh clay/grass, the ball bounces higher, plus with the less felt used on them are also lighter=much more success.