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Carlos Alcaraz revealed that he made a small change in his racket that has helped him improve his game this season. The Spaniard is currently defending his title at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.
Alcaraz took on Denis Shapovalov in the third round on Monday, March 10. The defending champion was clinical, taking only 84 minutes to dispatch the Canadian 6-2, 6-4.
During his post-match press conference, Alcaraz was asked if he added five grams of weight to his racket this season and the 21-year-old replied positively. In a follow-up question, he was asked about the thought process behind the decision and how it has helped him two months in.
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"Well, I think that I wasn't one of the players who play with less weight of the racquet. I think it was too low. So I just thought about try and let's see how it's gonna be. I just slagged it," Carlos Alcaraz said.
"I was looking for some specific moments of the match of shots that I thought I was able to improve my game a little bit when I was running or some specific shots. I felt really well on playing with those five grams more. I felt the ball. It was flying or it is flying kind of different with more strong. So I just started to play with it, and I think it was a great change for me," he added.
Alcaraz began his 2025 season at the Australian Open and reached the quarterfinals. A fortnight later, he played in Rotterdam and pulled off some fantastic performances to win the ATP 500 event. As the top seed at the Qatar Open, he added another quarterfinal run and is currently playing at Indian Wells.
Carlos Alcaraz to take on Grigor Dimitrov in the Indian Wells 2025 4R
In the fourth round of the 2025 BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, Carlos Alcaraz will face Grigor Dimitrov. The 14th seed's season has been marred by injuries as he has had to retire mid-match from three of the four events he played before Indian Wells in 2025.
At the Masters 1000 event in California, Dimitrov defeated Nuno Borges in the second round and Gael Monfils in the third to set up a sixth clash against the Spaniard on tour.
Alcaraz currently leads the head-to-head against Dimitrov 3-2 with their latest clash going the Bulgarian's way in Miami last year. The winner of their match will face the winner of Alex de Minaur and Francisco Cerundolo in the quarterfinal.
