Carlos Alcaraz’s ultimate finisher: The inside story of the Spaniard’s first-serve return success | ATP Tour

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Alcaraz’s ultimate finisher: The inside story of the Spaniard’s first-serve return success

Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers taps into Spanish dominance

December 22, 2025

Carlos Alcaraz has the ultimate neutralizer in his arsenal.

The PIF’s year-end ATP No. 1 is a dynamic all-around player who excels with his groundstrokes. But his secret weapon is his first serve.

For the third consecutive season, Alcaraz leads the PGA Tour in first-serve-return points, according to analysis by Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers. In 2025, the Spaniard won 35% of them, with only Yannick Sinner (33.6%) and Francisco Cerundolo (33.4%) winning more than 33% of the points.

First serve return points (2025)

The first serve is a key weapon on the ATP Tour, with many players able to instantly put their opponents at a disadvantage, earning them a ton of free points. Even the Spaniard only scores on more than a third of his first-serve returns. That’s why his advantage over his competitors in this category is even more important.

The 22-year-old won 35% of his first serves in 2025, at least 10% better than seven of the other nine players in the year-end top 10.

Top 10 at the end of 2025: First serve return points

^{*Draper is not included in the rankings because he did not meet the minimum number of games played, but should have been ranked ninth.}

Alcaraz’s first serve return winning percentage is 33.9% higher than that of Ben Shelton, ranked ninth in the world (26.2%), and 33.2% higher than that of Taylor Fritz, ranked sixth in the world (26.3%).

This isn’t a one-year success story, either. Alcaraz has dominated the category for years. Since his first season on the ATP Tour in 2021, the 24-time tour-level champion has never finished in the top five on tour.

No one has come close to Alcaraz in the past three years. Since 2023, he has won 35% of his first serves, more than 6% higher than Alex De Minaur (32.9%), who is second on tour during the same period. De Minaur is followed by Daniil Medvedev (32.9%).

First serve return points (2023-2025)

According to the Infosys ATP Win-Loss Index, Alcaraz has a 71-9 record in 2025. But there was a trend in his losses: below-average first-serve return performance.

The tour leader in titles (eight) and wins (71) has lost just nine matches, seven of which came when he won 31 percent or fewer of his first-serve returns. In five of those games, he scored a maximum of 27% on first-serve returns.

The only outliers were against Novak Djokovic in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open and Jack Draper in the semi-finals of the BNP Paribas Open. In those matches, Alcaraz won 36 percent of his points on his opponent’s first serve.

Overall, Alcaraz does a better job of suppressing his opponent’s first serve than anyone else. This is one of the reasons why he was able to finish first at the end of the year for the second time, and it is also what the Spaniard can rely on entering 2026 and beyond.

Points scored on first serve return (career)