Carlos Alcaraz’s serve wobble exposed by Jannik Sinner, Rennae Stubbs warns

Alcaraz found it difficult to stop Sinner, who captured his fourth straight Masters 1000 title.

Sinner’s 7-6, 6-3 win over Alcaraz in the Monte Carlo Masters final not only extended his winning run but also moved him back into the top spot of the world rankings.

Conditions were tough throughout the match. Winds made life hard for both players, something Andy Murray picked up on during his commentary.

Serving was an issue for both players. Neither managed to reach a 60 per cent success rate on their first serve.

And while Sinner is known more for his groundstrokes than his serve, he still held a clear edge in this area. This didn’t go unnoticed by Rennae Stubbs, the former world number one in doubles, who took specific aim at Alcaraz’s serve.

Rennae Stubbs says Carlos Alcaraz’s serve is ‘not doing enough damage’

Over the past few months, Alcaraz has made changes to his serve, which have led to comparisons with Novak Djokovic.

Early signs were positive, particularly during his run to the Australian Open title. But Rennae Stubbs doesn’t think he’s quite on par with Sinner yet.

“I feel like he’s (Sinner) hitting the ball a little bit bigger,” Stubbs said on The Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast. “I feel like Carlos’ serve is not doing enough damage.

“I know that he changed his serve at the start of the year, but you have to think maybe. He doesn’t quite have the same pop as Jannik.

Stubbs added: “Clearly, Jannik, you know, has just a little bit more firepower, not only in the serve but— the forehand. He was just crushing balls all over the place and taking advantage of certain things.”

Alcaraz did have more aces than Sinner during their Monte Carlo meeting – three to zero – although he won a lower percentage of points on both first and second serves.

Rennae Stubbs comments on Carlos Alcaraz’s drop shots against Jannik Sinner

Stubbs also questioned Alcaraz’s use of the drop shot against Sinner, noting the Spaniard’s poor execution in key moments.

“And the interesting thing is the variety that Carlos Alcaraz possesses, which makes him so good on clay and grass and all these sorts of things and natural surfaces because you do have to come up with some… a little bit more ingenuity, a little bit more sort of crafty stuff,” Stubbs began.

“It usually helps Carlos, but having said that, the dude kind of messed up with the drop shots. He just made bad choices on when to use them. They weren’t effective.”

“And as good as the drop shot is on occasion, oh my God, (when) he hits the forehand drop shot, it’s just like out of this world how good it is, and you have to be able to hit that shot on any surface really.

“But particularly on clay, because when players get so far behind the baseline, you know, it’s hard to hit through them, right?

“And it’s very hard to hit through someone like Jannik because he’s so good at moving from the back of the court. He slides really well. He, of course, can turn defence into offence so easily, so quickly.

“But Carlos kind of… there were some drop shots that got him into trouble.

“There was one, I believe it was two all in the first set tie break, (he) chose to hit the drop shot, did not hit a good one. Jannik runs up, wins the point, gets a mini break and then runs away with it.”

Sinner is unbeaten in 25 matches this year and has only lost one match since November 2023.

The Italian now holds a dominant 6-1 record over Alcaraz in their head-to-head encounters.

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