Alcaraz, the all-terrain wonder still has an Achilles heel: indoor tennis
Carlos Alcaraz is the youngest player in history to win Grand Slam tournaments on three different surfaces. But the Spaniard cultivates a paradox: he is still playing below his best on indoor courts
Carlos Alcaraz loses to Humbert at the 2024 Rolex Paris Masters | © Federico Pestellini / Panoramic
Of course, he is sick at the ongoing ATP Finals. At the Rolex Paris Masters, he was surprised by the fastest surface of the season. There are a few withdrawals in the archives. But we specifically note this: Carlos Alcaraz, the youngest player to have won Grand Slam tournaments on three different surfaces, has not been playing at his best indoors, especially since 2022, when his return to the indoor courts was a disaster against David Goffin in Astana (7-5, 6-3) right after a triumphant run at the US Open.
No titles, except the 2021 NextGen Masters, no finals, and a lot of painful memories whenever he’s managed to reach the final four indoors, that’s what the world No 3’s record on indoor courts gives. Same was the case at the 2023 ATP Finals where he was outclassed by Novak Djokovic and 2022 Swiss Indoors where Felix Auger-Aliassime dominated him completely.
The Spaniard assured Bercy three weeks ago that he was capable of winning the Paris Masters 1000, where he became the favourite after Jannik Sinner’s withdrawal, but lost in his second match against Ugo Humbert.
Indoors, Alcaraz is simply a more “beatable” and less “sovereign” player: “I wouldn’t say that I play so badly indoors, but you can name many players who are better than me,” sums up Juan Carlos Ferrero’s protege.
Alcaraz: “I have to do better”
Oddly enough, this trend is absent in team competitions: the Spaniard has won in both his Davis Cup appearances (vs Humbert and Machac) and Laver Cup (vs Shelton and Fritz, without losing a set) this year. But unless Alcaraz sets a precedent at the ATP Finals by winning the big title for the first time, he remains a more fragile player when he is not playing in the open. His group match, decisive for qualification, at 2 p.m. (CET) against Alexander Zverev, will give an exact idea of his current level.
It’s a complex problem, he acknowledged in essence in Turin after losing against Casper Ruud in his opener: “It’s difficult for me to answer this question as well as I would like.” But the Murcian drew up a fairly simple reality — indoor is an unknown territory for him as it was for the likes of Djokovic and Federer, who grew up in territories with biting winters where indoor courts are the norm, or closer to us, Ruud, Rune or Humbert.
I was able to train indoors but I ultimately have few competitive matches under my belt.”
“I have no experience on indoor courts,” Alcaraz said on Monday. “I was able to train indoors but I ultimately have few competitive matches under my belt. I don’t know… it’s all a question of practice, repetition, experience. I have to do better at this time of the season.”
“This time of the season” — It is difficult to judge if Carlos Alcaraz possesses a less effective skillset for indoor tennis and the fact that he is less good, because he is dull at the very end of the year.
Roger Federer had to wait until he was 23 (in 2004), Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic until they were 24 (in 2010 and 2011, respectively) to acquire the mental and physical endurance necessary to maintain their level of excellence throughout a season. At 21, Alcaraz is still on the hunt.
It’s impossible to know what his level indoors is like at the beginning of the year. We have never seen him in Rotterdam or Montpellier but on the clay of Buenos Aires or Rio in February.
Alcaraz incredible outdoors
Alcaraz has no reason, a priori, not to excel on indoor courts, where the absence of weather constraints would make his shots and versatility even more clinical. But it may be the opposite process that is at work according to Patrick Mouratoglou, Naomi Osaka’s coach and co-founder of Tennis Majors.
“Alcaraz is incredibly good outdoors. What bothers most players, the wind, the sun, ultimately has no hold on him and his physical qualities, his power and his touch. He cannot use this asset indoors, this advantage is neutralised there.
“He is also a player who likes to control the game,” Mouratoglou emphasises. “He knows how to defend, but it is more difficult for him to control on indoor courts, because everyone serves well, and because everyone’s game is, as it were, sublimated indoors.”
The numbers recorded by the data collection and visualisation company Tennis Viz perfectly illustrates this state of affairs.
