Carlos Alcaraz has started the clay court season in impressive fashion.
After missing the majority of this portion of the campaign a year ago, a fit and healthy Alcaraz is looking to dominate the dirt in 2025.
The 21-year-old made the best start by clinching the Monte Carlo Masters title, which is the first title of his career on clay at Masters 1000 title.
The Spaniard is thrilled to be back on clay and he is certainly making the most of it and he builds towards his French Open title defence.
Andy Roddick explains why Carlos Alcaraz is good on clay
Alcaraz captured the eighth clay court title of his career when he beat Lorenzo Musetti to win the Monte Carlo Masters.
Despite having a slow start in some of his matches, Alcaraz overturned a one-set deficit on three occasions on his way to lifting the championship.
Alcaraz’s ability to adapt his explosivity and flamboyant game for the clay and the ability to use drop shots and add plenty of disguise, is why Andy Roddick thinks he is an adept clay court player.
“What he does phenomenally well and it works better when people don’t have sure footing, so outside of hard courts,” Roddick said via his ‘Served’ podcast.
“He is so good at playing against people’s movement. Imagine you are playing Carlos Alcaraz and you leave a backhand which you don’t hit perfectly firm cross court, so you are seeing him wind up for that forehand.
“A couple of things you have to defend that point is your weak side, which I’m assuming is your backhand, where you need to cheat to that side a little bit all the while knowing this wonderkid can go just as big to your forehand. Oh and by the way you have to guard against the tear drop, drop shot which barely clears the net and you have to go forward.
“So in one second, once you realise you don’t hit the ball perfectly cross court to find his backhand, you are having to retreat both ways potentially because of the speed of shot which is available to him and all of a sudden bring the drop shot in, off of a slippery start.
“Carlos is so good once he gets you pulled, he can pull that drop shot out and you are playing against your movement and trying to get forward.”
How does Andy Roddick think Carlos Alcaraz is different from Jannik Sinner?
Roddick also took some time to explain the difference between Alcaraz’s playing style and that of Jannik Sinner. The Italian has not played since January’s Australian Open, where she successfully defended the title.
His calmer on-court persona and high level of inconsistency is often compared to the more outwardly intense and fiery on court personality of Alcaraz, whose level of play tends to fluctuate more.
Offering his own views on the differences between the two players, Roddick shared: “I think that is the biggest thing when you see him on grass and clay right now vs hard.
“Where I think he is still one of the best in the world, but when his fluency of movement and his creativity can expose your movement and make you have to move against the grain constantly it does two things.
“One you’re on ice skates and two you can’t get a clean hit on the ball. And he can create as much speed as anyone in the world.
“The flip side of that is Sinner is almost like an algorithm. You feel like you are watching a ball machine drill where he is going speed both sides. But he wants that clarity of step
“He wants to be firm each time he hits the ball. When you add a little bit of uncertainty beneath your feet, that actually affects him negatively.
“I think it just screws people because you’re having to guard against four different options all the time over the course of three hours or even five hours if it’s three out of five sets.”
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