Rennae Stubbs believes that Carlos Alcaraz’s Novak Djokovic-esque serve motion played a big role in his wrist injury.

Ahead of this year’s Australian Open, even Alcaraz admitted his new serve was quite similar to 24-time major winner Djokovic’s.

When asked about it ahead of the tournament, the Spaniard quipped, “You wanted to say it’s really similar to Djokovic serve (smiling). I know you want to. I wasn’t thinking about making the same serve as Djokovic. But at the end, I can even see the similarities.

“I think everyone has to make changes, small details. For me, the serve is something that I really want to be better every year, in every tournament. I’m just putting constant work on the serve.”

It certainly seemed to help as Alcaraz beat Djokovic to claim his first Australian Open crown, as the Spaniard completed the career Grand Slam at the age of 22.

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A few months later, however, Alcaraz was struck down by a wrist injury and ended up missing the French Open and Wimbledon as part of a near five-month-long layoff.

A few weeks or so into his comeback, many have observed that the 23-year-old’s tweaked service motion, where he lowers the ball toss and lifts his toes on his front leg, isn’t as effective.

Indeed, he was broken multiple times during his title run at the Japan Open, as he largely had to rely on his powerful groundstrokes and variety to win the ATP 500 event in Tokyo.

Now, Serena Williams’ coach Stubbs has theorised that Alcaraz’s old service motion may have led to his wrist injury and predicted there will be more changes over the off-season.

The Australian said on The Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast, “I think one of the reasons why Alcaraz is struggling so much with the wrist is because he changed that service motion. He did that little dropped wrist like Novak Djokovic, and I do think that f***** up his wrist.

“I think those changes and iterations took its toll on his wrist. I think he will be struggling a little bit. I did say that at the US Open when he played in the mixed doubles with Serena, his serve didn’t have as much pop.

“I think that is something he will be working on in the off-season because he does need to improve the serve, particularly on a faster court, which this is in Asia. They are always fast courts, although he won last week.

“I think that is a part of his game he has to improve on if he wants to push Jannik [Sinner] when he makes it back and starts winning these slams again.”

Sinner himself has question marks over his physical fitness after being ruled out with a knee injury since winning Wimbledon in mid-July.

But going forward, few would predict that Sinner and Alcaraz, who lost to Zizou Bergs in straight sets on the fast courts of the Shanghai Open, are not the players to beat. But if the latter doesn’t improve his serve, he could become more vulnerable in the future.

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