Carlos Alcaraz’s forehand is a thing of beauty, a terrifying force of nature as it thunders across the court. Alcaraz tends to put quite a heavy dose of spin into his shots but goes flatter when he’s hitting his winners. Of all the different positions from which he can hit a winner, the forehand on the run is the most stunning given how little time he has to get into position, and the lethal accuracy with which it lands…
From outside the court, down the line-ish:
From outside the court, crosscourt:
Or, how he can curl it in:
Or when he sends it around the net:
But perhaps the most “shock and awe” version of his forehand is the one where he just slams it to the other side. It is then either a winner or out, no one ever gets to it:
It can even go up to 185km/hour as in the Roland Garros 2023 match against Tsitsipas!
And finally, there is this. The tennis equivalent of je ne sais quoi.