Carlos Alcaraz is gearing up to put up an intense fight in the first Grand Slam of 2026, which is the only Major missing from his trophy cabinet.
Alcaraz has reached the quarterfinals at Melbourne Park twice, which remains his best result at the Australian Open. He has won the other three Majors twice each.
Alcaraz kicked off the new year by sweating it out in a training session in Murcia, Spain, where he plans on staying for a week before jetting off to Seoul, South Korea, to take on Jannik Sinner in an exhibition game on Jan. 10. The top two seeds are then expected to land in Melbourne and begin proceedings for the 2026 Australian Open.
During the recent training session, fans witnessed the Spaniard’s new serve motion, which many claimed bore an eerie resemblance to that of the 24-time Grand Slam champion, Novak Djokovic.
Fans online voiced their comments at Alcaraz’s new serve motion.
“He is so blatant…not even trying to hide,” one fan commented.
“The serve is becoming more like Djokovic’s,” another fan commented.
“It’s looking very similar to Djokovic’s serve, which was improved by the great Goran,” yet another fan commented.
One fan shared his viewpoint on the striking similarity between the serve motions of both players by sharing a slow-motion video excerpt of Djokovic’s serve mechanism.
“Pretty much just copied Djokovic’s motion…which is not the worst idea in the world,” commented a fan.
“Every time I’ve seen his serve this offseason it reminds me more and more of Novak’s,” commented another fan.
“Next gen deada** just taking pages out of Novak’s book everyone knows Federer and Nadal’s style of play doesn’t translate in winning tennis in today’s era,” commented yet another fan.
Carlos Alcaraz Won Stella ATP Perfect Serve of the Year in 2025
On Dec. 31, tennis fans voted Alcaraz for the Stella ATP Perfect Serve of the Year. It was a three-way battle till the end between the Spaniard, Jannik Sinner, and Taylor Fritz, but Alcaraz won the fans’ vote on the back of an amazing serving display at the Cincinnati Masters.
Now, the 22-year-old Spaniard will be aiming to kick-start the new season on a high note by putting up a tough fight against Sinner in Seoul before setting his eyes on the elusive Australian Open title.
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