Andy Roddick says why Carlos Alcaraz left him ‘confused’ for three hours in his Australian Open loss to Novak Djokovic

Follow us on Google Discover

Carlos Alcaraz came up short once more against Novak Djokovic, with the Spaniard losing their Australian Open quarter-final clash despite taking the first set.

Djokovic is now into a 50th Grand Slam semi-final thanks to his win over Alcaraz, which ended 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 in his favour.

Alcaraz praised Djokovic before their match, during which the 37-year-old suffered physically before clinching his comeback victory.

ATP number three Alcaraz also fell at the Australian Open quarter-final stage last season before going on to win the French Open and Wimbledon.

Djokovic meanwhile lost in last year’s semi-final to eventual champion Jannik Sinner, having failed to win a Grand Slam title in 2024.

Andy Roddick puzzled by Carlos Alcaraz second serve positioning vs Novak Djokovic

But he now moves on to another semi-final, this time against Alexander Zverev after his win over Tommy Paul.

And while former US Open champion Andy Roddick is full of praise for Djokovic following his latest win, he has taken issue with one aspect of Alcaraz’s game.

“I couldn’t figure out why Alcaraz did not switch his return position on second serves earlier in the match,” he said on the Served with Andy Roddick podcast.

READ MORE: Australian Open 2025: How to watch, prize money, dates and everything you need to know

“Novak was able to go big on second serves, which he had to. For a while it looked like he was trying to shorten the points, when he broke early in the second set he hit three winners off of returns.

“At that point you felt he was making that adjustment because he was physically compromised. What he was also doing was going massive on the second serve and not hitting a lot of his bunny kicks, giving Carlos a canvas.

“When he has time, he becomes an artist. When he doesn’t have time it becomes a little more rushed, it’s like telling an artist you have to finish this painting in 30 minutes.

“When someone is going big on the second serve, normally if they are pulling it off, which Novak was – he had one double fault in four sets and he was going massive. So his second serve won him this match, no doubt.

“What it does is twofold. Carlos Alcaraz if he is in, is hitting pinched return. Novak is running it in on his body, running it out on the forehand, where even if he hits a good return and times it, that first ball, Novak’s shot tolerance is otherworldly.

“The best there has ever been in tennis. Novak was chucking that ball down, deep and middle and then Carlos could not create that set of angles.

“It wasn’t sideline to sideline, Novak was just drilling middle flat over and over again and daring Carlos to take chances from the middle of the court, where it is not as easy to create angles, especially when the ball flight is lower.”

Carlos Alcaraz leaves Andy Roddick ‘confused for three hours’

It was indeed Djokovic who outshone Alcaraz on second serve at Rod Laver Arena, winning 58% of points compared to 33%.

Alcaraz did manage to outclass his opponent with 50 winners to 31, but hit a huge 40 unforced errors compared to the 27 of Djokovic.

Continuing his analysis of the Australian Open epic, which lasted three hours and 37 minutes, Roddick said: “The other thing that I think Carlos maybe missed, was that Novak was cutting the corner during the rallies. Whenever Carlos tried to bleed him to the forehand side, Novak was cutting it off and going big middle.

READ MORE: Novak Djokovic gives his opinion on the atmosphere in his Australian Open match against Carlos Alcaraz as he calls it ‘curious’

“I thought there was some space for Carlos to set the table line, with that heavy one and then take his shot to the forehand but Novak did an unbelievable job of pinching Carlos on second serve returns over and over again.

“Carlos finally drifts back, I think Novak was serving 4-3 up in the fourth and he got a couple of looks at break points. Did it again in the last game and got a couple of shots where he was actually in it.

“If Carlos drifts back, one thing he can do, all of a sudden he can create height, line or cross and the second ball he is not pinched in the middle playing up to Novak. So I was confused for three hours as to why that adjustment wasn’t made.”