"Carlos Alcaraz is f**king horrendous" - Andrea Petkovic opines what Spaniard lacks in comparison to Novak Djokovic, Jannik Sinner & others

Carlos Alcaraz is a tremendous tennis player who, by all accounts, had a fantastic 2024 season. His season might have been arguably overshadowed by Jannik Sinner, who had a historic season, but the Spaniard still won two Grand Slams in 2024 and inflicted half of Jannik Sinner's losses this year.

Even so, there are seemingly some obvious issues in his game that former players Rennae Stubbs and Andrea Petkovic talked about in the most recent episode of the Rennae Stubbs podcast. Petkovic, in particular, lamented about Alcaraz not really having a plan B in his game according to the former player. She said:

"The one quibble I have with Carlos is what the others don't have, Zverev doesn't have, even Taylor doesn't have, Jannik definitely doesn't have, Novak definitely doesn't have. When Carlos is bad, he is f*cking horrendous. He doesn't have a plan B." (40:30)

One such match cited to support the claim was the one he lost to Gael Monfils at the Cincinnati Masters. After going to the final the previous year, Alcaraz failed to make a similar impact, losing to Monfils in shocking fashion. His usual approach wasn't working very well, but Alcaraz never really adjusted.

He simply cruised straight into a loss, lamenting after the match about it as being 'the worst match he has ever played.' It's something that both Stubbs and Petkovic blamed on his relatively young age, further along in the podcast, as he's still one of the youngest players on Tour. In a couple of years, the Spaniard might truly well hit his peak, and nobody really knows what that looks like.

---

Carlos Alcaraz masterclass at 2024 Roland Garros

A counterpoint to that analysis by Stubbs and Petkovic could be provided by looking over how the 2024 Roland Garros unfolded. It was a masterclass by Carlos Alcaraz, though far from a smooth one.

He won both the semifinal against Sinner and the final against Zverev in five sets. He needed to problem-solve in both because in both he was down 2-1 after three sets. The one against Zverev in particular stands out as he basically beat him by employing moon balls, which isn't something too common in men's tennis these days.

Instead of sitting back and absorbing Alcaraz's baseline play, Zverev needed to step in and attack, but he wasn't able to do that. Zverev said after the 2024 Roland Garros final (via ATP Tour):

“Look, he played fantastic. He played better than me the fourth and fifth set. It's how it is. I felt like this Grand Slam final I did everything I could. At the US Open I kind of gave it away myself. It's a bit different.”

He gave this one away as well, but it was a direct consequence of a huge adjustment made by Alcaraz. An executed plan B, if you like.