The two tactical changes Alcaraz makes to come back against Fritz

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Today's victory for Carlos Alcaraz against Taylor Fritz in the 2025 ATP Finals is one of those matches that toughen you up on a surface like this. From less to more, Carlitos gradually wore down the American's defense to the point of completely dismantling him through two tactical moves that the tournament's former finalist couldn't respond to.

Fritz mentioned before the match that to beat Alcaraz, he had to be very offensive, go all out, take away his initiative, and not allow him to breathe. Thus, Taylor stepped onto the court playing every second serve return and not letting Carlos feel comfortable either on serve or from the baseline.

A first set where Fritz was very aggressive

In the first set, we see Fritz approaching almost 50% of his shots in attack. In other words, nearly one out of every two shots was an offensive strike by Taylor. Alcaraz defended as best he could, relying on his backhand and serve to keep himself in the set. 

The player from Murcia had one of his worst sets with his forehand of the entire year, averaging a 5.0 rating with his right hand according to Insights. He could only hit one winner, accumulating 21 errors with this shot. This level was too poor to challenge Fritz on indoor hard court. Additionally, his tiebreak was quite bad, with several grotesque errors with his backhand, which filled him with doubts.

Alcaraz and his two tactical changes to turn the tide

Very few know how to read matches nowadays like Carlitos does. Most of the time, the player from Murcia can make adjustments to reverse a match if it goes against him, also with the help of his team from the bench. 

Feeling so bad on the return, where from midway through the first set to the start of the second set he was miles away, he decided to take several steps back and return very deep. His return position on the first serve placed him about 4-5 meters behind the baseline, but with Fritz's second serves, this position was even further back, positioning himself to return 5-6 meters behind, almost as if it were clay court.

With this adjustment, Carlitos had more time to catch Fritz's ball and make a deep shot to push him back and take away his initiative. While in the first set, he struggled too much with the ball even returning inside the court, from the second set, this tactical change allowed him to gain better feelings on the return. In fact, Alcaraz ends the match seriously troubling Fritz with every service game, with the American eventually struggling on all his service holds.

Fritz took several steps back; Alcaraz, forward

The American started the match by pushing forward and hitting within the court about 45% of the time. He was very offensive and almost every occasion relied on his forehand to put pressure on Alcaraz and suffocate him from the baseline, but Carlitos turned everything around thanks to his deep returns and by stepping forward on the court.

In the second set, Fritz dropped to hitting only 38% of points inside the court, and notably, he decreased further to just 30% inside the court in terms of points, indicating that he took several steps back, as the statistics showed he started hitting much more from 0-2 meters behind the baseline.

Fritz's hitting position against Alcaraz by set

On the other hand, Alcaraz began the match hitting only 27% of the time inside the court, rising to 32% in the second set and 33% in the third. Evidence that Carlos was more aggressive from the second set onwards and capitalized on Fritz stepping back to dominate more from the baseline and make more approaches to the net.

Alcaraz's hitting position against Fritz by set

Alcaraz finishes the match winning 23 out of 26 net points, compared to Fritz's 12 out of 30. He perfectly anticipated Taylor's struggles in running forward today (as usual, on the other hand) and exploited him with drop shots and balls near the net. It's a win-win. With Fritz moving back on the court, it became increasingly challenging for the American to reach Alcaraz's drop shots, and he grew more fatigued as time passed.

This is a clear example of what happens on this type of surface; taking a step back from the baseline while your opponent steps forward and gains the initiative puts you in a tough spot, making the match an uphill battle for you. Carlitos can go to bed tonight with the conviction of gaining significant experience on a court like this because turning around a match in what is considered his "worst" surface will only make him better for what lies ahead.

Data Source: Insights, by TennisViz.
 

This news is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Estos fueron los dos cambios tácticos que hizo Alcaraz para remontar a Fritz