The two-time Grand Slam champion, Carlos Alcaraz has struggled to meet his high expectations in the last few months. A few days back the 20YO got knocked out of the Australian Open at the hands of Alexander Zverev in the QF at Melbourne Park. Consequently, Andy Roddick bashed Carlos Alcaraz, highlighting how the absence of coach Carlos Ferrero‘s ‘feedback’ impacted his game at the Australian Open this year.
Recently, American tennis legend Andy Roddick joined a podcast with renowned tennis journalist Jon Wertheim at the inaugural episode of ‘Served with Andy Roddick’. Apart from Roddick, several other experts poured their opinions on the young Spaniard.
Andy Roddick says Carlos Alcaraz still has a lot to improve
Carlos Alcaraz suffered a damaging loss ahead of the first Grand Slam of the season when it was announced that his coach Juan Carlos Ferrero would not travel to Australia. The Spanish coach is currently recovering from an arthroscopy on his left knee. According to Roddick, Ferrero’s absence played a major role in the horrendous run of Alcaraz at the AO.
Andy Roddick was asked whether he was concerned with Alcaraz’s disappointing run in the last 6 months. To this, he replied, “Long term, not massive. But like listen, when you had a former world number one in your corner able to talk to you during the matches from the time you were 15 years old. And, then you go play a major without that immediate feedback and that voice.
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Further describing his point, Roddick said, “It manifests in maybe some suspects, and decision-making. Maybe not being able to adjust to the flights not going into the lockdown mode. If I had those legs, Jon, I’d be running everywhere.“
The 41-year-old American then went on to add that Alcaraz needs to work a bit on his speed and his first-serve return. He said Alcaraz was serving at 135 mph a couple of years back but now it has dropped down to 127 mph. Roddick sees this as a concern and mentions that the Spaniard needs to work on this to improve in the future.
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Several experts have started to pour in their opinions on the recent performance of Alcaraz at the AO
Alcaraz was happy with the way he started this tournament, as he played some ‘good tennis.’ But he feels that it’s a ‘shame’ to have ended his run this way. The former British tennis player, Tim Henman feels it could be a mistake for the Spaniard to abandon his style. The style which gave him success over the last few years. He said, “We need to be careful of what we wish for” after Alcaraz drew a fair bit of criticism over his aggressive style of play in the AO.
Another British former tennis player, Laura Robson said, “There’s no panic for Carlos because he’s having a bit of a slump. I wouldn’t even call it that – post-Wimbledon.” Alcaraz will now travel to Buenos Aires to take part in the Argentina Open which kick starts on 12 February. Can the Spaniard get back to his winning ways in South America?