Alcaraz's new serve mechanics change for 2026

Iker Jiménez | 29 Dec 2025 | 22.03

Alcaraz debuts serve technique for the 2026 season. Source: Getty

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Carlos Alcaraz continues to refine his tennis game ahead of the start of the 2026 season. With the Australian Open as his main goal, the player from Murcia seeks to take care of every detail of his game, and this time we have been able to see how he tries to perfect his serving technique. The method used by Samu López to work on the serve was already tested by Carlitos in the last preseason, coinciding with the arrival of the coach to his team. The evolution of the Murcian's serve during 2025 has been evident, confirming that the approach has been successful. The main objective of these exercises is to improve the ball toss, a key aspect to connect a good serve.

However, the most relevant aspect of the video has almost gone unnoticed. Alcaraz has introduced a new gesture in the serve preparation: he now raises the ball to chest level, almost to the throat, before starting the motion. This preparation is very similar to the one used by Novak Djokovic and represents a change from the mechanics he used during the 2025 season. The gesture is repeated in all serves of the video, and the intention seems clear: to achieve a completely smooth preparation from the start of the motion and introduce this new mechanic definitively for 2026.

If you have come across this video of Alcaraz training his serve with Samu López, there are several things that you may have overlooked.

I'll explain it to you.

Also aimed at the "clever" ones who are laughing at Samu's method.pic.twitter.com/DVnt7aoN2X
— José Morón (@jmgmoron) December 29, 2025