Carlos Alcaraz has burst onto the pro scene and reached the highest levels of the game. His drop shot is superb and has been a major contributor to his recent success. We have never seen a player recently with such great creativity and skill on the drop shot—except perhaps Roger Federer.
Let's explore the drop shot of Alcaraz both technically and tactically and use the drop shot of Roger Federer for comparison and contrast.
The Forehand Grips
On the forehand wing, both Roger and Carlos, interestingly, have similar grip structures for their topspin strokes, closer to an eastern or composite eastern. In a personal interview, Antonio Cascales, founder and head of the JC Ferrero Equelite Academy where Alcaraz trains, says that Alcaraz has a conservative grip very close to Federer. That's important because it means that when Carlos attempts a drop shot he does not have to change his forehand grip much—if any—to facilitate the underspin shot.
Carlos and Roger have similar grips for the forehand drop shot.
Chris Lewit, former #1 for Cornell and Pro Circuit player, has coached numerous top 10 nationally ranked juniors and is a leading coach, educator, and author. He has written two best-selling books, The Secrets of Spanish Tennis and The Tennis Technique Bible.
Chris runs a popular high performance summer tennis camp in the beautiful mountains of Vermont and coaches players world-wide through his virtual school, CLTA Online (CLTA.teachable.com).
Chris also produces a weekly high performance tennis video talk show and podcast, The Prodigy Maker Show, which is available on Apple Podcasts and all other podcasting directories. All shows can be accessed at ProdigyMaker.com.
Check out Chris's blog, also at ProdigyMaker.com for free articles on high performance junior development and Spanish training. Learn about his camp at ChrisLewit.com or visit the online academy at CLTA.teachable.com
The Secrets of Spanish Tennis
What makes Spanish tennis so unique and successful? What exactly are those Spanish coaches doing so differently to develop superstars like Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer that other systems are not doing? These and other questions are answered in The Secrets of Spanish Tennis, the culmination of five years of study on the Spanish way of training by USTA High Performance Coach Chris Lewit.
