Carlos Alcaraz has enjoyed a strong start to his 2025 campaign, picking up his first title of the year earlier this month.
The world number three began the year in Melbourne, at the Australian Open, where he reached the quarter-finals for the second year running.
It was there that he fell to defeat, as Alcaraz lost to Novak Djokovic in straight sets, 6-4, 4-6, 3-6, 4-6, suffering his fifth career loss against the Serb.
Looking to bounce back from defeat down under, Alcaraz headed to the Netherlands for the year’s first ATP 500 tournament.
Beating Alex de Minaur in the final, Alcaraz won the Rotterdam Open, lifting a trophy for the 17th time in his young career.
A shock defeat to Jiri Lehecka in Doha followed, as the Spaniard now prepares for the two American Masters 1000 tournaments next month.
The 21-year-old’s serve has been a major topic of discussion on the ATP Tour in 2025, as one top tennis coach now gives his thoughts on the changes Alcaraz has made this year.
Patrick Mouratoglou thinks Carlos Alcaraz’s serve is ‘great’ after changes he’s made recently
Speaking on Instagram, Naomi Osaka’s coach, Patrick Mouratoglou delivered his verdict on Alcaraz’s serve.
“I see two things on that photo of Carlos Alcaraz,” said Mouratoglou.
“First thing, the right leg which is going so far up, and the second thing I see is his left arm, which is going so far back also after the serve.
“What does it say? It says one big thing, how loose he is, how relaxed.
“There is no muscular tension that prevents his leg from going so far back and high.
“There is no muscular tension that prevents his left arm from going far to the left.”
Mouratoglou then rated Alcaraz’s serve, as he seemed impressed by the Spaniard’s efforts so far this year.
“How good is it? It’s great,” he said.
“If you want to create power, you need looseness.
“That’s one of the reasons why he has so much power in his game.
“I like the left arm because I’ve always said it’s very important to let the left arm go to the side when you serve because it creates natural rotation of the body, and natural rotation of the body creates natural power.
“You need that rotation.”
Alcaraz made a big change to his serve during the off-season, as he explained the struggles he was having ahead of the 2025 Australian Open.
“I just worked as much as I could during the pre-season to do a good serve,” he said.
“Right now I am still thinking about it, I am still reminding myself how I have to do it.
“I think there are times that I feel there is a problem with it, because sometimes in the matches that I played or in the practice I am not doing the right things, so I have to keep thinking about it.”
The Spaniard put those problems behind him in the second round of the Australian Open, serving at his brilliant best in a three-set win over Yoshihito Nishioka.
- Aces – 14
- First serve percentage – 60%
- Win percentage on first serve – 89%
- Win percentage on second serve – 81%
How does Carlos Alcaraz’s serve compare to the rest of the ATP Tour?
Alcaraz’s serve has improved dramatically over the past 12 months and is now considered to be one of the best on the ATP Tour.
The Spaniard’s ‘Serve Rating’, a statistic that combines measures such as first serve % and average number of aces per match, currently sits at 283.5, a number bettered by just nine players in men’s tennis.
| Rank | Name | Serve Rating | % First serve | % First serve points won | % Second serve points won | % Service games won | Average aces/match | Average double faults/match |
| 1 | Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard | 302.1 | 64.8 | 79.7 | 53.8 | 90.0 | 19.3 | 5.5 |
| 2 | Alexander Zverev | 298.1 | 70.4 | 76.9 | 54.2 | 89.7 | 9.2 | 2.3 |
| 3 | Matteo Berrettini | 297.3 | 68.3 | 77.5 | 53.2 | 89.8 | 10.1 | 1.6 |
| 4 | Jannik Sinner | 296.5 | 61.1 | 79.8 | 58.5 | 91.4 | 7.6 | 1.9 |
| 5 | Taylor Fritz | 295.3 | 62.7 | 79.1 | 55.7 | 89.2 | 10.4 | 1.8 |
| 6 | Ben Shelton | 294.5 | 68.2 | 76.0 | 54.9 | 89.5 | 9.3 | 3.4 |
| 7 | Hubert Hurkacz | 293.4 | 63.4 | 77.1 | 54.1 | 87.9 | 12.5 | 1.6 |
| 8 | Brandon Nakashima | 292.6 | 66.2 | 74.8 | 56.2 | 87.9 | 8.2 | 1.2 |
| 9 | Novak Djokovic | 285.7 | 63.9 | 75.0 | 55.7 | 86.6 | 7.1 | 2.6 |
| 10 | Carlos Alcaraz | 283.5 | 64.6 | 73.5 | 56.9 | 85.8 | 5.0 | 2.3 |
Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard currently holds the top spot, thanks to his excellent serving performances during his 2024 breakout season.
Alcaraz will look to chase down Mpetshi Perricard and climb the rankings further when he returns to action in Indian Wells, on March 3.
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