Alcaraz's best first serve in 10 years

A player has four ways to first touch the racket in a phase: serve one, serve two, return serve one and return serve two.

In terms of points win percentage when returning first serve, Alcaraz leads the ATP Tour with 36.87%. He ranked second in the percentage of winning points when returning the second serve (54.33%), third in the percentage of two serving points (55.95%). As for the one-point serve rate, Alcaraz is only ranked 21st, with 72.75%.

In 2023, Alcaraz won six titles, won 47 matches and lost only four. In which, he had to return one serve 2506 times, winning 924 points. The win rate of 36.87% in this parameter of the 20-year-old tennis player is far ahead of the following people, respectively Novak Djokovic (34.47%), Francesco Cerundolo (34.36%) and Daniil Medvedev (34%), respectively. 22%).

Alcaraz's secret to a good return lies in his ability to choose the most suitable standing position for each surface. Take for example the three championships he won this season. At the Queen's Championships on grass, Alcaraz returned to serve an average of 1.49 meters from the bottom line. In the ATP 1000 hard court tournament at Indian Wells, the world number one stood 1.71 m from the baseline. This figure in the Madrid Open on clay is 4.84 m. In which, in the semi-final with Borna Coric, he stood to return the service an average of 5.77 m from the end of the field.

The neat, simple, powerful and effective ball handling technique is also considered as a factor to help Alcaraz neutralize the opponent's first serve. The ability of the Spaniard to return will be tested in the second round of the Rogers Cup, with strong serve opponent Ben Shelton.

The battle of Alcaraz - Shelton took place at 6:00 am on August 10, Hanoi time.