Young tennis star Carlos Alcaraz has been winning titles on grass courts, making him one of the athletes to beat on this type of playing surface. However, the Spaniard is having a difficult time playing on other surfaces, specifically in an indoor setting — and netizens are curious to know why.
On Reddit, one netizen asked in a post: “Why does Alcaraz struggle on indoor hard courts?”
The netizen also stated: “He is very good on outdoor hard, world class on clay and grass, what does he lack to be successful on indoor hard?… It’s not the speed of the indoor game, I guess, the grass can be equally fast as well. Is it because of his movement technique? Maybe forehand grip? A lack of killer serving? Maybe dropshots are not as effective indoors as on other surfaces?”
This sparked an interesting conversation between tennis enthusiasts in the comments section. One fan discussed a personal theory and stated: “I don’t know if there’s a singular reason, but some theories of mine: 1. Dropshots are more effective on the natural surfaces than on hardcourt. 2. Big servers are harder to break in indoor conditions. Even at Wimbledon, the wind and sun can disrupt a little. 3. The bulk of the indoor tournaments he plays are at the end of the season after he has played deep at a lot of tournaments over the spring/summer. I think he just gets mentally exhausted towards the end of the season.”
A few Redditors compared him to the legendary Rafael Nadal, who had the same problem. One commented: “Similar reason to Nadal… Doesn’t have the serve to get free points… His strokes have (relatively) large preparation so he gets rushed easier…. The surface is one of the worst in terms of rewarding variety (fed excelled on indoor because of his serve and compact strokes…not his variety. That was more on grass) . Alcaraz has a potent slice and drop shots both of which do very well on the low bouncing grass courts… In general, I feel like off the return, kick serves on grass are in Alcaraz’s strike zone…he returns substantially better on grass than HC.”
Another Redditor said: “Same reasons as nadal really. Indoor courts are faster and more dead, neutralizing forehands with long wind ups… Serves are accentuated so if you have a mid serve (nadal) or mid match blips (alcaraz), getting that break back is harder… Also indoor is at the end of season so those with more physical games will be more battle worn.”
More netizens gave their opinions. “His aggressive play is more about the preparation of the shot, and on hard courts you have less time to prepare”, said one. “It’s the Bounce …he needs the ball to Bounce high to get his shots especially FH right ….also his serve needs to improve, it’s bit predictable on HCs”, opined another. “Ball takes less spin indoors for some reason. Slips off the racquet. Loses feel and control of the ball. That’s about it,” commented a third netizen.
Carlos Alcaraz recently claimed his fifth Grand Slam title at the Roland-Garros after winning against World No. 1 Jannik Sinner with a final score of 4-6, 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-6(3), 7-6(10-2). Now, he is preparing for a mixed doubles tournament with Emma Raducanu as his partner. Read more here.