Carlos Alcaraz has been told what adjustments to make if he wants to win the Rotterdam Open.
The Spaniard is playing in his first tournament since January’s Australian Open, where he reached the quarter-finals.
Alcaraz, 21, is at the Rotterdam Open searching for not only the first title of 2025 but his first trophy indoors.
But a former Grand Slam semi-finalist does not think Alcaraz will be the last man standing at the end of the week unless he makes some smaller changes.
Carlos Alcaraz told what he must change to win the Rotterdam Open
Carlos Alcaraz is searching for his best tennis again following his failure to progress to the semi-finals of the ATP Finals in November.
In fact, since Alcaraz lost the Olympic gold medal match to Novak Djokovic, he has won just one tournament and lost before the semi-finals on six occasions.
The Rotterdam Open’s top seed came through a tricky encounter against Botic van de Zandschulp on Tuesday, despite not playing his best tennis throughout.
But Nicolas Escude, who made the last four at the 1998 Australian Open, thinks Alcaraz has plenty of work to do if he wants to become the Rotterdam Open champion.
“Carlos will have to correct a lot of things if he wants to go far in this tournament and he won’t have much time because he will quickly have high-level opponents,” he told Eurosport France.
“Before, in one shot, Carlos could put his opponent three meters away without him being able to react. This is no longer the case. He made too many forehand errors.
“On a lot of sequences, he played while being static while he is very effective when he is moving. So there are still adjustments to be made, that’s obvious.”
Who is Carlos Alcaraz’s next opponent at the Rotterdam Open?
After Alcaraz beat Van de Zandschulp, Alcaraz will take on Andrea Vavassori in the next round of the Rotterdam Open.
The Italian is predominantly a doubles player, and he finished runner-up at the Australian Open alongside Simone Bolelli.
His last singles event came on the Challenger tour in October 2024, and before that it was the US Open qualifiers.
But Vavassori successfully qualified for the Rotterdam Open and came through his first match in the main draw against Felix Auger-Alliasime, who retired with an injury with the score locked at a set apiece.
The pair’s only previous meeting came at the Argentina Open in 2024, which Alcaraz won 7-6(1) 6-1.
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