How Alcaraz has served a perfect start to his 2026 season
Carlos Alcaraz is serving his way to success.
Already the No. 1 player in the PIF ATP Rankings, the Spaniard has made the best start to a season in his career. Alcaraz is a perfect 12-0 and has already lifted trophies at the Australian Open and in Doha.
An Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers analysis shows that improved serving has underpinned the 22-year-old’s success, helping him race out of the 2026 gate.
That is not to say Alcaraz has been struggling on serve recently. Infosys ATP Stats show that last year, he was sixth on the ATP Tour in service games won at 87.6 per cent.
This year, the World No. 1 has simply found a new level, making marginal gains across the board on serve to claim 90.8 per cent of his service games through 12 matches, leading to 12 wins despite slightly lower-than-average success on return.
“I think everyone has to make changes, small details. For me the serve is something that I really want to be better every year, in every tournament,” Alcaraz said at the Australian Open. “I am just putting constant work on the serve.”
Alcaraz’s Serving Statistics
| Serving Stats | Career | 2026 |
| First-Serve % | 65% | 68.3% |
| First-Serve Pts Won % | 72.2% | 74.3% |
| Second-Serve Pts Won % | 56% | 59.4% |
| Aces Per Match | 4.3 | 6.1 |
| Service Games Won | 84.6% | 90.8% |
Rather than a massive step forward in any one serving statistic, Alcaraz has been doing everything just a little bit better compared to 2025. The Spaniard this season is landing a higher rate of first serves (64.2 % to 68.3%), winning slightly more first-serve points (74.1% to 74.3%) and second-serve points (56.8% to 59.4%), and hitting more aces per match on average (5.8 to 6.1).
It is important to note that in 2025, Alcaraz knocked Jannik Sinner off the top of the PIF ATP Rankings and claimed ATP Year-End No. 1 presented by PIF honours for the second time. Last season was a tremendous one for the Spaniard, but he continues to raise the bar.
What Alcaraz does particularly well on serve is defend his second delivery. As of Monday, Alcaraz ranked third on record by winning 56 per cent of his career second-serve points, only trailing Rafael Nadal (57.1%) and Roger Federer (56.8%). This year, he has claimed 59.4 per cent of his second-serve points, well above those figures.
The World No. 1 does not blow opponents off the court with his serve — his winning rate of 74.3 per cent behind his first serve is 45th on the ATP Tour among qualifying players this season. But Alcaraz has made incremental improvements to a game with which he was already at the top of the sport.
In three of his five matches at last week’s Qatar ExxonMobil Open in Doha — against Arthur Rinderknech, Karen Khachanov and Arthur Fils in the final — Alcaraz did not drop serve. Excluding his semi-final victory against Andrey Rublev, in which he lost serve four times, the Spaniard has won 92.6 per cent of his service games this season.
[NO 1 CLUB]The return is where the 22-year-old has historically stood out, finishing among the top three players on the ATP Tour in return games won in each of the past five seasons. Although he ranks second in the category so far this season, his 30.3 return games won percentage is actually below his 31 per cent career mark.
But despite that, small improvements on serve have led to a perfect start in his results, which counts the most.
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