Carlos Alcaraz told one of his biggest qualities may have a negative impact on his game

The variety in Carlos Alcaraz’s game may be one of his trump cards, but it can also affect his decision making negativity during matches.

That’s the verdict of former Great Britain Davis Cup player Danny Sapsford, who believes the 22-year-old has so many options on each shot that it can impact his clarity of thought at key moments.

Alcaraz, who is currently out of the game nursing a wrist injury that will keep him out of next month’s French Open, has already won seven Grand Slam titles in the opening few years of his career to put himself on a pedestal alongside some of the game’s all-time greats.

And when Sapsford, who played Pete Sampras in the third round at Wimbledon back in 1999, gave his verdict on Alcaraz’s sumptuous talents, he suggested the options at his disposal can blur his focus when he weighs up a shot.

“Alcaraz is pretty sensational, and I must admit,” said Sapsford, in an exclusive interview with Tennis365.

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“The one thing I find without Alcaraz is he’s almost too good for his own good and that means concentration slips a little bit during a match.

“If he wasn’t so talented, he’d probably need to focus more like I had to. I felt like my tennis game wasn’t very good, but I made up for it with my intensity and my concentration and my mental strength.

“Alcaraz is so good from a tennis point of view and a shop making point of view and he seems to be able to play every single shot in the book and every single style that you want him to do.

“I think as a result, his mental approach is sometimes a little bit lax. And I think the time to beat him is early on in the tournament where he’s not where he’s not totally dialled in.

“I think as soon as he gets through to quarter-finals and semi-finals, like there’s no touching him and no stopping him.”

When Sapsford compares Alcaraz to his great rival Jannik Sinner, he sees comparisons with the great champion who has set the records both are chasing.

“They say Sinner is a bit robotic, but he’s like Novak Djokovic in some ways. He has that sort of tunnel vision,” he added.

“There is an argument that it can be a little one-dimensional, whereas someone like Alcaraz, if he wants to play from the back, he can. If he wants to serve volley, he can do that.

“If he wants to mess you around with drop shots and angles and lobs and what have you, he can. So Alcaraz is certainly more of a complete player.

“Sinner is an unbelievable ball striker. I go and watch the players practice at Wimbledon every year and Sinner may be the purest ball striker I’ve seen there. It’s like, it’s unbelievable how well he strikes the ball and his timing is second to none. 

“The only thing you would say is he is slightly more one-dimensional than Alcaraz. So if plan A is not working, he doesn’t always have a plan B to fall back on.

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“Luckily for him, Plan A works 99% of the time, but now that Alcaraz has come along, sometimes he does need a Plan B.

“That’s what, I guess, he’s been working on a little bit with Darren Cahill and his coaching team.”

Sapsford is leading the inspirational Bright Ideas for Tennis charity that provides opportunities for people who wouldn’t otherwise get the chance to experience tennis.

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