Carlos Alcaraz is into a second Queen’s semi-final in three years, with just Jiri Lehecka standing between him and another title.
It has been a mesmeric past few months for the 22-year-old, who has reached the final of every event he has entered since mid-March.
During that period he has won huge titles like Rome and Monte-Carlo, with his remarkable Roland Garros comeback the best of the bunch.
And yet, he is not opposed to change.
Always keen to get better, it’s this mindset which sets the Spaniard apart from most of those on the ATP tour, thus explaining why he has won 50% of the last six Grand Slams.
Even this week, as he has soared into another final, he’s been making huge changes to his game.
Carlos Alcaraz was not happy with his serve this week
Speaking after his semi-final triumph over his compatriot, Carlos Alcaraz was asked about how he managed to improve the serve around so quickly given how it troubled him earlier in the week.
His answer was simple: ‘Well, I have been really focused on that. Yeah, after Munar’s match, I felt that I had to change something on the serve. I just put extra focus on the warmups just to try to be better, to feel better on the serve.
‘As I say, every time that I am enjoying the practices, enjoying my warmups, I enjoy stepping on the court, I think everything goes much better. And I think that’s why I put Fran at the net, just to have fun, have a target on the serve. I think that helps a lot during the matches, just seeing in a certain way the target over there. So help me a lot to have that extra focus on the serve. I think that has been really, really helpful for me.
‘So once you put extra focus on something, you’ve got to do better. I’m just pleased about it.’
Carlos Alcaraz has spoken about the Queen’s crowd this week, as he seeks to win a second title at these grounds.
Carlos Alcaraz has the mindset needed to achieve greatness
In a recent interview, Darren Cahill praised Jannik Sinner’s mindset and acceptance of change.
Just a few years ago, the Australian coach insisted that their plans for his student would see them transform his serve at the end of the year after it had let him down at Roland Garros.
However, he was stunned to see the 23-year-old insist that they begin making that change immediately, reaping the rewards instantly at the following Wimbledon.
It takes a bold player to decide to completely overhaul a key area of their game mid-way through a season, and an even greater one to actually pull it off so quickly.
And, it seems like Alcaraz also boasts this same superb trait.
His willingness to make tweaks mid-tournament has proven effective in the past, but arguably none more so than this week, where he has been imperious ever since that marathon win over fellow Spaniard Jaume Munar.
There, he served nine double faults and got just 52% of his first serve in, in turn winning a mere 60% of points on his second serve.
For comparison, in his most recent win over Bautista Agut, he managed just a sole double fault, firing down 15 aces and improving his first serve success rate to 70%.
Perhaps most crucially, his win rate on his second serve shot to 81%, showing that the change and subsequent improvement are clear for all to see.
Alcaraz will now have a shot at the Queen’s title because of this tweak.
