How Alcaraz’s Scintillating Serve Toppled Djokovic’s Return In The Wimbledon Final

Big serves win big titles.

Carlos Alcaraz defeated Novak Djokovic 1-6, 7-6(6), 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 on Sunday to win his first Wimbledon title on the back of a stunning serving performance. Alcaraz relied heavily on his first serve to close out the match, making six straight first serves at 5-4 in the fifth set to clinch the most significant victory of his career. He served 22 service games in the final, but none mattered more than the last one.

The following serve-related statistics identify that Alcaraz took his serve up a notch or two against Djokovic compared to his previous six matches to the final.

Average Serve Speed
Alcaraz served harder in the final with his first and second serves than in any match he played in the tournament. Djokovic’s potent return game required a serve recalibration.

Alcaraz Average First Serve Speed

• Rd 1 vs. J. Chardy – 118.4 mph
• Rd 2 vs. A. Muller – 119.8 mph
• Rd 3 vs. N. Jarry – 119 mph
• Rd 4 vs. M. Berrettini – 118 mph
• QF vs. H. Rune – 118.6 mph
• SF vs. D. Medvedev – 114.8 mph
• Final vs. N. Djokovic – 121.3 mph

Alcaraz failed to reach a first-serve average of 120 mph in any match to the final. Against Djokovic, he elevated to an average of 121.3 mph. Djokovic won 30 per cent (28/94) of first-serve return points for the match but only 26 per cent (5/19) in the deciding fifth set.

Alcaraz won 70 per cent (66/94) of his first-serve points in the final, which rose to 74 per cent (14/19) in the fifth set. That was the highest win percentage of any of the five sets. Alcaraz recognised what the moment called for.

Alcaraz Average Second Serve Speed

• Rd 1 vs. J. Chardy – 97.7 mph
• Rd 2 vs. A. Muller – 99.9 mph
• Rd 3 vs. N. Jarry – 101.8 mph
• Rd 4 vs. M. Berrettini – 100.3 mph
• QF vs. H. Rune – 101.5 mph
• SF vs. D. Medvedev – 97.5 mph
• Final vs. N. Djokovic – 102.5 mph

Alcaraz won 50 per cent (28/56) of his second-serve points in the final against Djokovic, which took it out of the liability column against arguably the best returner in the world. That’s a win in anyone’s book.

Alcaraz only won 14 per cent (1/7) of second-serve points in the opening set but finished strong, winning 70 per cent (7/10) in the fifth set. The extra speed on the second serve kept Djokovic from stepping in and forcing Alcaraz Serve +1 groundstroke errors.

Body First Serves
Alcaraz cleverly served a lot at Djokovic’s body in the final to give the Serbian a third location to defend against.

Alcaraz First Serve Direction (Deuce & Ad Courts)

• Wide = 34
• Body = 24
• T = 36

Djokovic First Serve Direction (Deuce & Ad Courts)

• Wide = 54
• Body = 8
• T = 56

Alcaraz served triple the amount of first serves at the body than Djokovic (24 to 8) to jam the Serbian and give him a third target area to worry about. It worked a treat. Overall, Alcaraz had 34 per cent (32/94) of his first serves unreturned, while Djokovic was significantly lower at 25 per cent (30/118).

The icing on the cake for Alcaraz was hitting nine aces to three against the Serbian. Three of those aces came in the fifth set. Alcaraz won all five service games he served in the fifth set, with only one of his service games reaching Deuce.

Overall, Alcaraz clubbed more than twice the amount of winners than Djokovic (66 to 32), but this match boiled down to a straightforward tennis equation of hold serve/break serve.

No shot helped Alcaraz put two hands on the golden trophy more than his scintillating serve.