John Isner claims Carlos Alcaraz isn’t a ‘top 10’ player in one key area, ‘He can get better’

Carlos Alcaraz recently won back-to-back titles in Vienna and Paris.

After winning the Vienna Open, Alcaraz won his first Paris Masters title, defeating Alex Michelsen, Taylor Fritz, Casper Ruud, and Ben Shelton in the French capital. The win took his Masters 1000 tally to nine, one behind his rival Jannik Sinner.

Alcaraz is undoubtedly one of the greatest players of his generation; however, according to former Grand Slam semi-finalist John Isner, there is still room to improve. The American believes Alcaraz isn’t a ‘top-10’ player in one key area.

John Isner doesn’t think Carlos Alcaraz has a ‘top 10’ serve

“He can get better. His serve can still get better. I still think his serve can improve so much. You saw Novak [Djokovic] improve his serve in the middle towards late on in his career, and he just went boom,” said Isner during the latest episode of ‘Nothing Major‘.

“Carlos’ serve, for as incredible as he is, his serve is not a top-10 serve by any means. When you watch him from the back of the court, it is like, ‘How can anyone play this sport better?”

Isner doesn’t think Alcaraz has a top-10 serve, but do the statistics back up his claim? In short, yes, they do. Alcaraz ranks 13th for ‘Serve Rating’ over the past 52 weeks on the ATP Tour.

He ranks inside the top 10 for three key serving metrics, ‘1st Serve % (7th)’, ‘% 2nd Serve points won (8th)’, and ‘% Service games won (6th)’, but is ranked outside the top 50 in others, like ‘% 1st Serve points won (39th)’ and ‘Average aces per match (59th)’.

Carlos Alcaraz’s serving stats (Last 52 weeks)

• Serve Rating – 287.1 (13th on ATP Tour)

• 1st Serve % – 67.9% (7th on ATP Tour)

• % 1st Serve points won – 73.2% (39th on ATP Tour)

• % 2nd Serve points won – 55.3% (8th on ATP Tour)

• % Service games won – 88.1% (6th on ATP Tour)

• Average aces per match – 4.8 (59th on ATP Tour)

• Average double faults per match – 2.2 (55th on ATP Tour)

The good news for Alcaraz is that while his serve isn’t the best, his return is. He has the best return on tour by some distance, and the numbers back it up. Alcaraz has the best Return Rating in men’s tennis (161.5).

Carlos Alcaraz’s return stats (Last 52 weeks)

• Return Rating – 161.5 (1st on ATP Tour)

• % 1st Serve return points won – 34.4% (1st on ATP Tour)

• % 2nd Serve return points won – 53.9% (3rd on ATP Tour)

• % Return games won – 29.7% (1st on ATP Tour)

• % Break points converted – 43.5% (5th on ATP Tour)

So when Alcaraz and his coaching team begin training for the 2027 season, there is one clear area for them to focus on: the serve. If Alcaraz can develop an elite top-10 serve, he could return to world number one in the new year…

Where is Carlos Alcaraz ranked now?

Alcaraz is the current world number three, trailing Sinner and Alexander Zverev by over 2,000 points. He could close the gap at the upcoming ATP Finals, though, especially with Sinner missing due to injury.

Sinner, who beat Alcaraz to win last year’s ATP Finals, will drop 1,500 points from his tally, while Alcaraz could add another 500 to his. The Spaniard cannot finish 2026 ranked ahead of Sinner, but he could move to within touching distance of the Italian heading into the new year.

Official ATP Rankings

Official ATP Rankings

Alcaraz will also be keen to stop Zverev from winning the title. The German recently ascended to number one, partly thanks to the injuries Alcaraz and Sinner sustained this year. If he can remain fit in 2027, Alcaraz will surely fancy his chances of returning to the top spot, but he can’t afford to let Zverev extend the gap in Turin.

The 2026 ATP Finals in Turin begin on November 15. Alcaraz will be joined by Zverev, Ben Shelton, Daniil Medvedev, Flavio Cobolli, Arthur Fils, Frances Tiafoe, and Rafael Jodar.

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