Legendary coach Rick Macci believes there is a silver lining to Carlos Alcaraz’s slightly underpar serving displays since returning from injury.

Alcaraz was out for more than four months with a wrist injury, an issue that forced him to miss the French Open and Wimbledon.

The 23-year-old made his return at the US Open, where he lost to eventual finalist Ben Shelton in the quarter-finals.

While his wrist seems to be holding up well with his groundstrokes, many have noticed that, on average, his serve doesn’t have as much power on it.

Indeed, during his quarter-final win over Denis Shapovalov at the Japan Open, there were six breaks of serve in the opening set. Despite that, Alcaraz held his nerve and won 7-6 (3), 2-1, before the Canadian retired.

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After his last eight victory, he said, “It was a little bit frustrating with my serve. I couldn’t find a good way of serving: I was struggling almost every game on serve. But I’m just happy with the way I came back after every break. It was a great first set: Great points, great rallies.”

Now, Macci – who has coached the likes of Serena Williams, Andy Roddick, Maria Sharapova, and more – thinks Alcaraz’s serving shortfalls will make him even more determined to beat the opposition.

He tweeted on Sunday, “The Spanish Magician has been struggling with the first serve ever since the comeback. But I see it as a positive.

“Adversity breeds a ripple effect in other areas to find a way. He has to dig deeper even more. He has to play longer rallies with no free lunches. But most of all, he has to mentally handle frustration and that feeling: I KNOW AND I CAN serve better.

“But this negative of seeing a low % of the first serve and getting broken more cascades into him finding a way to go to a never-felt level mentally to try and save the day. Always remember, through failure comes more success.”

Despite not being at his best, Alcaraz is two matches away from defending his title in Tokyo. If he is to win the Japan Open, that would be an impressive return to action in only his second ATP Tour tournament back.

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