Carlos Alcaraz looks to be unstoppable at the moment, and is on an 18-match winning streak, which dates back to the beginning of the Italian Open in May.
Alcaraz won his second Queen’s title after defeating Jiri Lehecka in the final at the Andy Murray Arena, securing his 12th consecutive victory on grass.
The Spaniard’s last defeat on tour came in April, when he lost to Holger Rune in the Barcelona Open final, while struggling with an abductor injury.
Heading into Wimbledon, where he is in pursuit of a three-peat, Alcaraz is the man to beat, and continues to improve his game, which former US Open champion Andy Roddick noticed recently.
Andy Roddick pinpoints what Carlos Alcaraz has changed
Speaking to former WTA player Coco Vandeweghe on the Tennis Channel Live Podcast, Roddick said of Alcaraz: “He serves great on grass. This isn’t the first time. He dominated in the Wimbledon final last year against Novak.
“I kind of touched on it a little bit the other day, but they rounded out the bottom of his swing of his serve during the off-season.
“And I said he used to go up and down on like a jackknife right, which meant that that one wide on the deuce side, I don’t think it had as much tail away, right? As much sliced spin on it.
“Now he can spot serve all four corners, which is just brutal if you’re trying to return, because you know if you leave anything hanging at all in the middle of a court, it’s curtains.
“And also, Coco mentioned during the broadcast, but him going 117 [miles per hour] on a second [serve] into the body, right, forcing you to kind of go with that T Rex return where you get the little short arms.
“He’s choosing his spots and pitching a better ball game than he was even a year and a half or two years ago.”
Vandeweghe responded: “And that’s a crazy factor is that he is getting more confident in his game. Do we think he could get more confident?
“Do we think that he could get more mentally sound than he already was last year or the year before that? No, but here we are, and he is just absolutely blitzing people.
“And then on top of that, he makes so many returns back into play. He can put these guys in so much trouble on their first, on their second. There’s no breathing room when you play Carlos Alcaraz.”
Carlos Alcaraz becomes the third man to complete the Roland Garros-Queen’s feat
In his victory over Lehecka, Alcaraz became the third man in the Open Era to win Roland Garros and Queen’s in the same season.
He follows Ilie Nastase, and compatriot Rafael Nadal, who completed the feat in 1973 and 2008, respectively.
Nadal won four grass-court titles over the course of his career, a tally which Alcaraz has already matched at 22 years of age.
The world number two has clinched two Queen’s titles and two crowns at Wimbledon, where he’ll look to add a third to his name in July.
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