Carlos Alcaraz is an applied student. And he takes advantage of any circumstance to put into practice the lessons that Juan Carlos Ferrero instilled in him. He admitted in the opening match of the Australian Open against Alexander Shevchenko that he still had to think too many things when executing that modified serve in the preseason. He added six aces, committed four double faults and his percentage of points with that first hit did not reach 70%. Just one match later, against Yoshihito Nishioka, 29 years old and 65th in the world, Alcaraz has raised the score in that regard. It is true that the Japanese was a good opponent for solving problems and perfecting movements, soft on the debris and at any other point on the court, but the good work of the Murcian cannot be hidden, who committed three double faults and completed 14 direct aces, with 89% of points won. «The serve is gaining a lot of strength and a very high level of importance today in tennis, and I have won a lot (compared to the serve I had) and in the end in tennis you have to evolve and, little by little, you have to change things like everyone else has done. I think it will be better to spend less time on the court in Grand Slam. I am very happy with my serve today, I have worked on it a lot in preseason. I hope that in the following rounds it will be even better,” he later explained why this improvement. Today’s tennis goes through that first whiplash, with an increasingly higher average speed and increasingly specialized tennis players. Related News standard No Djokovic defeats Faria in the second round of Melbourne and achieves the record for most Grand Slam matches The Serbian, who is seeking his 25th Grand Slam, defeated the 21-year-old Portuguese. The rest is also progressing, although with less room for improvement because on the right, for example, he performed wonderfully in the debut against the Kazakh. He almost repeated the number of winning shots (36, compared to 38 against Shevchenko), and greatly limited unforced errors: 16 in this second round compared to 26 on the first day. 18 minutes With that cocktail in the duel against the Japanese he solved it at the speed he imposed on his serve, with a speed of 210 kilometers per hour and an average of 188 with the first. In one hour and 21 minutes he solved the match 6-0, 6-1 and 6-4 (in one hour and 21 minutes) with a particular record under his belt: the fastest set in a Grand Slam in his professional career: 18 minutes, and with only four points against. It is the fourteenth ‘rosco’, according to ATP statistics, that he has endorsed in his career; and sixth in a large tournament: to Gojowczyk at the 2021 US Open (5-7, 6-1, 5-7, 6-2 and 6-0), to Londero at Roland Garros 2022 (6-4, 6-2 and 6-0), to Cobolli at Roland Garros 2023 (6-0, 6-2 and 7-5), to Chardy at Wimbledon 2023 (6-0, 6-2 and 7-5), and Kecmanovic at the 2024 US Open (6-4, 6-4 and 6-0). There was also no room for confusion; those that he knows are still there, so much a part of himself with the leftovers, and those that succumbed at the premiere, but not to the Japanese. «There is no easy match and I have to be alert for what can happen in all types of matches, but today I felt very good from the beginning to the end. I didn’t give him the option to enter the game, which made it seem like I had it easy. I had a high level of concentration, not letting a ball pass and doing the things I had done regularly in the first game. In the end, that concentration and those small details show that it was not an easy game. I am very happy with the match I played, I improved my serve, which is what I was aiming to improve. So I’m proud of what I’ve done today,” he admitted into the Eurosport microphone. The Murcian is happy, he has rhythm and desire and shows threats everywhere. In the next round, Nuno Borges, who beat the local Jordan Thompson 6-3, 6-2 and 6-4.
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