Carlos Alcaraz received no sympathy from Serena Williams' former coach, Rennae Stubbs, after he criticized the pace of the court at last week's Paris Masters.
Alcaraz had struggled in his previous appearances at the tournament before this year. He has never progressed past the quarterfinals, including losing his opening match against Roman Safiullin in 2023.
Those losses from 2021-2023 were in pretty slow conditions at the venue in Bercy. The event significantly reduced the speed of the court in the previous few editions until 2023, meaning the court favored players who liked to extend the rallies.
Novak Djokovic, who withdrew from the ATP Finals, thrived at the tournament when the conditions were relatively slow. The Serbian is the best player in tennis history on slow hard courts and has won seven Paris Masters titles as a result.
However, the conditions were radically different this year. The courts in Paris were rated as the fastest on the ATP Tour in at least 10 years, the closest competitor being the 2016 Shanghai Masters.
Despite winning his opening match against Nicolas Jarry in two sets, Alcaraz expressed concerns about the court. He called it slippery and felt a slower court to generate more rallies would be better for fans.
Those criticisms were pronounced when Ugo Humbert beat him 6-1, 3-6, 7-5 in the following round. Alcaraz said the court being so much faster than in previous years meant he could not prepare properly and did not understand why the tournament had done it.
Speaking on the Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast, the Australian coach stated that Alcaraz needed to adjust his game to play on quicker courts and mentioned Rafael Nadal as an example to follow.
"If you have a fast court, you can come into the net because it's harder to adjust your position to hit a winning passing shot when you're getting rushed. So, fast courts indoors, sorry Carlos, you're going to have to adjust your game. If not, you're not gonna win indoors. It's the same as Rafa."
"Rafa had to adjust his style of tennis on grass back in the day when the grass was a little bit quicker. [when] it started slowing down, he started standing on the baseline, flattening out his forehand, flattening out his serve."
"Because he knew if 'I wanna win Wimbledon, I have to play to the grass' speed'. And he won Wimbledon! He was the type of player that adjusted his game to win on fast surfaces."
Stubbs argues there should be courts to reward those who play their best tennis in fast conditions and mentioned how most tournaments on the calendar are played on slower courts.
"And the first thing that Alcaraz said when he lost his match was, 'The courts were so fast, I didn't get here in time to practice. It was my fault, yada yada.' It's like, that's exactly what I'm talking about. Like, yeah, we have to have surfaces that reward players that play quick!"
"That play serve and volley tennis, that come into the net. Yeah, f**k you guys! Like 89% of the tour is played on a slow hardcourt, or clay, or grass, which by the way, has been slowed down to the wazoo."