Like Tiger Woods, the best isn’t good enough for Carlos Alcaraz

Less catastrophic system updates have been installed in the settings, and became apparent during Alcaraz’s practice match with Alex de Minaur, and then again in his round-one win over another Australian, Adam Walton. The new service motion, for example, that is strikingly “Novak-esque” (Wally Masur), with that signature dip of the wrist and drop of the racket head; more spin and pace on the ball, more precise placement.

“Everyone has to make changes, small details,” Alcaraz said as he laughed off the similarities. “My serve is something I want to always improve, and I work on it constantly. Honestly, we did not plan to make changes during the pre-season, but that does not mean I have not.

“I have changed my movement a bit; I feel very comfortable and calmer, with a more fluid rhythm, which helps my serve improve. You will probably see more changes in my serve in a few months or at the end of the year. I make constant changes to every shot; the important thing is the details. I have not set out to make my serve the same as Novak’s but, ultimately, even I can see the similarities.”

It is particularly interesting because he had just finished refining his serve to be a standout facet of his game. Previously it was inconsistent. When he won his first US Open in 2022 he conceded 24 service games throughout the tournament. During the 2025 tournament, he conceded a total of three service games. Only Pete Sampras, at Wimbledon in 1997, has conceded fewer service games on his way to a grand slam title since 1991.

And you have to ask: if Alcaraz now possessed a serve so devastatingly effective it was part of what made Sinner – his only genuine rival in the post-Big Three era – appear out of his depth in that spectacularly one-sided 2025 US Open final, why not just serve that exact serve every time for the rest of your days?

For the same reason, presumably, that Woods abandoned the world’s best golf swing and rebuilt it. Having already rebuilt the world’s best swing before that, and the one before that. He showed us that he is the best, and that the best is still not good enough.

Woods changed what was perfect – and changed coaches, too – in pursuit of something superior to flawless; to evolve his style and strategy, and manage injuries and maintain dominance in a constantly advancing professional game. He has won 15 majors over 22 years.

Perhaps for the same reason also that Simone Biles repeatedly redefined the technical limits of gymnastics. Not content to make do with already-available routines, she unveiled new, wickedly difficult skills, of which five are eponymous.

Alcaraz, while in the infancy of his career, has also set himself a higher ceiling. After that triumph at Flushing Meadows, he said: “I feel I can do everything on court, to be honest – slices, drop shots, topspin, flat”. And yet, he spent the off-season remodelling.

His tweaks may be for himself, or they may be geared towards his sport-headlining rivalry with Sinner; evolving to one up the Italian world No.2. Sinner, certainly, has been making alterations of his own.

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“We worked a lot [in the off-season] on trying to make the transition to the net,” Sinner has said. “We changed a couple of things on serve. But [they’re] all small details. When you are at the top level, the small details make the difference.”

So small might the details be that they are not perceptibly advantageous until the pointy end of the tournament, potentially even another Alcaraz-Sinner epic to compare to the rest. Whether Alcaraz finally gets there at an Australian Open could offer a clue about the success or otherwise of his off-season renovations.

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