Sinner sets new standard, Alcaraz forced to "upgrade" himself

(Dan Tri) - Coach Patrick Mouratoglou believes that Carlos Alcaraz can only dominate the 2026 season if he improves his serve and return skills, in the context that Jannik Sinner is at the top of both of these parameters.

Renowned coach Patrick Mouratoglou believes Carlos Alcaraz needs to improve his serve and return, describing Jannik Sinner's dominance in both areas as “something new in the history of tennis”.

Sinner currently leads the 2025 ATP Tour rankings in both serving and returning statistics, while Alcaraz is ranked 10th in serving efficiency and second in returning ability.

Alcaraz is far behind Sinner in serve and return (Photo: Getty).

The service rankings are built on the following metrics: first serve percentage, first serve points won, second serve points won, percentage of service games won, and average number of aces and double faults per game.

Returns ranking is calculated by: first serve points won, second serve points won, percentage of returned games won and percentage of successful breaks.

Sinner leads the ATP in first serve points won (79.5%), second serve points won (59.1%) and especially in service game winning percentage (92%).

The Italian also topped the percentage of return games won (32.6%) and second serve points won (57.8%), while ranking third in first serve points won (33.6%), behind Alcaraz (35.0%) and Mariano Navone (34.0%).

At the ATP Finals in Turin, Sinner defeated Alcaraz 7-6(4), 7-5 in the final, which was also their final match of the 2025 season. Mouratoglou commented: “Carlos was not at his best this week. He made too many unforced errors on his backhand, and sometimes lost focus on his forehand. Maybe it was end-of-season fatigue, or he just didn’t have the confidence he had when playing indoors.

But the answer is clear: if Alcaraz wants to dominate in 2026, he must improve on his first two shots, serve and return. Because Jannik is currently world number 1 on both serve +1 and return +1. This is unique. We have seen players dominate one of the two elements before – Roger Federer on serve +1, Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic on return – but no one has dominated both. This is new in the history of tennis.

2025 has brought us the competition everyone has been waiting for: six finals in a season, four on the biggest stages. Two legends in the making, pushing each other to improve month by month. Carlos finished the season as world number 1, Jannik finished with a Nitto Finals title and a strong momentum. 2026 is looking very exciting.”

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/sinner-thiet-lap-chuan-muc-moi-alcaraz-buoc-phai-nang-cap-ban-than-20251130074851090.htm