Imitating Djokovic could harm Alcaraz's wrist

Carlos Alcaraz started 2026 with a significant change in his game: the serve. The Spanish tennis player modified his mechanics during the preseason, and many found quite a few similarities between his new serve and that of Novak Djokovic, something that the Murcian player himself even acknowledged. However, Rennae Stubbs believes that this decision might have caused the serious wrist injury he suffered last April.

The coach of Serena Williams has studied Alcaraz's new serve, and considers that the change in wrist rotation during the serve could have been the cause of this setback that kept Carlos away from the circuit for almost 5 months, missing tournaments like Roland Garros or Wimbledon. In fact, she has also mentioned in her own podcast that his serve has not been the same since his return, as it has less power, and explained the reasoning behind her opinion.

“I think one of the reasons Alcaraz is having so many problems with his wrist is because he changed that serving motion. He made that small downward wrist movement like Novak Djokovic, and I think that messed up his wrist. Those changes and variations took a toll on his wrist. I think he will have some difficulties. I already mentioned that at the US Open, when he played mixed doubles with Serena, his serve didn't have as much power,” she stated.

The key for Alcaraz to face Sinner

Obviously, Stubbs knows there is room for improvement in this aspect and considers that it is something Alcaraz will focus on with his team ahead of 2027. In fact, for her it is a key factor to be able to challenge Sinner on fast courts, as with his current serving capabilities, she sees the Italian above him on this type of surface.

“It is something he will work on during the preseason because he needs to improve his serve, especially on a fast court like this one in Asia. They are always fast courts, even though he won last week. It's an aspect of his game that he has to improve if he wants to compete with Jannik Sinner when he returns and starts winning these Grand Slams again," she concluded.

Despite Carlos winning the title in Tokyo, it is true that in almost all his matches he has shown how his serve was broken and displayed much fragility. Therefore, he must step up to regain dominance with his serve if he does not want to suffer excessively at the start of 2027, where the hard court will be the surface on which the competitions are played and he must step up to defend the title in Australia and continue adding major titles to his record.

This is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, "Imitar a Djokovic pudo dañar la muñeca de Alcaraz"