Mar 21, 2025; Miami, FL, USA; Carlos Alcaraz (ESP) reaches for a backhand against David Goffin (BEL)(not pictured) on day four of the Miami Open at Hard Rock Stadium.

tennis

Andy Roddick Feels Carlos Alcaraz Needs To Change This Aspect of His Game

Carlos Alcaraz heads into the clay season after a disappointing Miami Masters

Mar 21, 2025; Miami, FL, USA; Carlos Alcaraz (ESP) reaches for a backhand against David Goffin (BEL)(not pictured) on day four of the Miami Open at Hard Rock Stadium.

Following the early first-round loss of current World number 3 Carlos Alcaraz at the hands of 35-year-old veteran David Goffin at the Miami Masters, several fans and some tennis commentators seem to believe that the youngster is struggling on the court. Granted, he has lost some tough matches so far this season, with his only title coming at the Rotterdam Open in an indoor hard-court tournament about 2 months ago. But even then, it is a stretch to say that Alcaraz is off his game.

Alcaraz has a 15-4 record in the 5 tournaments he has participated in this year, but he reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open where he lost to Novak Djokovic. His other losses this year include another quarterfinal loss to Jiří Lehečka at the Qatar Open, followed by a semifinal loss to Jack Draper at Indian Wells, and the latest setback from Miami.

If this were any other player, then these results would be considered more than decent and we wouldn’t be having this conversation. The fact of the matter is that Alcaraz has demonstrated such a high level of tennis throughout his young career that the few downs of his game are more than enough to start doubting his form. Interestingly, though, Andy Roddick on his ‘Served’ podcast had some fascinating observations which he shared pertaining to Alcaraz’s game.

The Change Andy Roddick Would Like To See in Alcaraz’s Game

While discussing tennis on his ‘Served’ podcast, former Grand Slam Champion, Andy Roddick had an interesting point of view with the way Alcaraz has been playing his tennis lately. Roddick is of the view that the Spanish national likes to be aggressive and dictate play to his opponents. And when he is not playing so well as is the case right now, he tends to become even more aggressive which is a hard thing to do.

“What I want to see from Carlos, and you won’t find a bigger fan than me, he’s my favorite player to watch. His inconsistency sometimes almost makes him relatable. And you can see him kind of churning the wheels of decision-making in real-time. Right now, when he’s not playing well or not feeling comfortable, he goes more aggressive. That’s hard and most of the greats throughout history tend to dial it back, find some margin, and then all of a sudden you’re consistent enough where you can take more risks and it’s not irresponsible.”

Also Read: ATP Tennis Schedule for April 2025 – What Tournaments Are Scheduled for This Month?

The 2003 US Open Champion believes that Alcaraz should play a more patient game, and ease into rallies as that suits his game. Alcaraz knows he has the ability to outrun his opponents so he should make his opponents beat him with winners. Roddick also touched upon the notion that perhaps the 21-year-old feels bored to be out on the court winning with his usual style of play and therefore, being more aggressive is what is costing him his matches.

“It’s when he’s not feeling perfect, it almost feels like he gets more aggressive um and I almost want him to go into a match and say “Okay for the first six games I’m literally going to take this person’s legs out and I’m just my ball is heavier than theirs they’re going to have to hit winners for six games.” I don’t think he likes getting winners hit on him. I think he likes to be the one that dictates and that’s his superpower and sometimes our superpowers can also be weaknesses when not used in the right moment. Right, and I think as soon as he gets comfortable knowing that you know what…I can get into a 10 or 12-ball rally and they can’t really go anywhere, I’m that fast, I can create that much speed from the baseline, it’s probably too boring for him. Like honestly, like I think he needs to be bored sometimes uh when he’s playing.”

Next up though is the clay court season and this time the Spaniard would like to get as many matches under his belt before the start of the French Open. Last year Alcaraz missed out on both the Monte Carlo Masters and the Barcelona Open due to an injury to his right arm.

Even though he took part in the Madrid Open, losing to Andrey Rublev in the quarterfinals, Alcaraz skipped the Italian Open due to continuing discomfort in his arm. However, Alcaraz went on to win his first French Open title despite missing most of the clay court season.

Andy Roddick

Carlos Alcaraz

Miami Open

Tennis

Devavrat Kulkarni

nfl

I am a content writer for the NFL team, and joined The Playoffs after working with Sportskeeda and NFL Analysis as an NFL writer. After starting my professional career as a French-to-English translator, working as a content writer is a new adventure for me. I started out in the sports media field for two main reasons: my love for sports in general, especially the NFL, NBA, and Tennis, as well as my passion for writing. The best part of this job is that I get to write a variety of pieces with the freedom to explore content from various angles. It also enables me to stay up to date with the sporting world, which otherwise can be difficult to do in the day-to-day grind. In a world full of chaos, sports unite and entertain like nothing else!