Carlos Alcaraz's dip in form late in the 2023 season can be attributed to a focus on physical performance rather than technical tennis skills, according to retired ATP player Nikolay Davydenko.
Alcaraz had a blistering first half to 2023 and capped the first seven months of the campaign with a win at Wimbledon - his second career Grand Slam. Between January and July, despite missing out on the Australian Open due to injury, the Spanish player also won five other titles, including Indian Wells and the Madrid Open.
However, the 20-year-old was eventually unable to sustain such electric form for the remainder of the season after losing in the US Open semi-final and making just one final appearance in Cincinnati.
Looking back on Alcaraz's downward trend late in the season, retired Russian player Davydenko said, when speaking to Campionat, that the world number two's dip came as a symptom of too much physical work favored by Spanish players.
"For me, Alcaraz is very strange. Why is this happening? Because in the Spanish school of tennis there is very serious physical activity. They swing unrealistically, they have supernatural physical fitness."
Also, when speaking about how Alcaraz can get back to full speed ahead of the 2024 season, Davydenko believes that the 20-year-old has to focus more on perfecting his tennis game rather than on building elite-level fitness.
"They focus on this more than on tennis. For them, tennis is in the background. They say that first of all you need to run and not get tired, and then play on the other side of the court."
However, Alcaraz is still young, and maintaining the top level of performance consistently takes time to perfect. In contrast to Davydenko, other pundits have backed the Spanish player to return with a bang in 2024 and the coming years.
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