It was on Monday, December 9, after a trip within the Dominican Republic and two exhibitions in the USA, when Carlos Alcaraz started his preseason with a view to his first main goal of the season: the Australian Open. He has been coaching at each the Ferrero Tennis Academy in Villena and the Membership de Campo de Murcia
The Spaniard aspires on the courts of Melbourne Park to change into the youngest participant to finish the poker of Grand Slam titles. The historic report is held by his compatriot Rafael Nadal
The four-time main champion has barely given himself a break on Sundays and holidays earlier than setting off on January 4 for the antipodes. “I’ve it in thoughts, I take into consideration to tattoo the kangaroo,” he mentioned.
Juan Carlos Ferrero was clear that they needed to exploit the strengths of his pupil. And that meant producing extra pace together with his forehand. That’s the reason they labored with a number of Babolat rackets with totally different weights within the neck of the racket till they discovered essentially the most appropriate one. This, in accordance with MARCA, is 5 grams extra, distributed by lead tapes.
“It is an additional assist in the stroke. With that acceleration he has, he’ll acquire in energy and weight of the ball. Along with his high quality of influence, with a racket with extra weight, simply touching the ball in entrance you reap the benefits of the pressure of the way it involves you. It’s being seen rather a lot today in the remaining,” explains Samuel Lopez, the coach who has joined Alcaraz’s bench. In the identical means, totally different strings have additionally been examined. All the pieces is an additional weapon to counteract the sport of rivals akin to Jannik Sinner and Alexander Zverev, amongst others
With the standard of the influence, with a heavier racket, hitting the ball in entrance you reap the benefits of the pressure of the way it involves you
Putting extra weight in that impartial a part of the racket is extra widespread in gamers who hit flat. Some examples are the American Sebastian Korda and the Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor
Alcaraz has additionally made a second modification to his serving mechanics. Coinciding with the beginning of the final clay courtroom tour, the tennis participant made two stops when he threw his racket backwards. He went to at least one and now he has eradicated them (he stopped on the backside) to achieve rhythm in the meanwhile of service. The irregularity with the serve precipitated him to lose it 105 instances final season, with 119 double faults. “I wish to enhance my serve. It is apparent that I’ve to do it,” he mentioned after leaving the ATP Finals in Turin. Mentioned and achieved