Serena Williams’ former coach Rennae Stubbs has argued Carlos Alcaraz must adjust his game in order to win on fast indoor courts ahead of the 2024 ATP Finals.

The former doubles world No 1 pointed out that Alcaraz’s legendary compatriot Rafael Nadal adapted his style to succeed on grass courts.

Alcaraz is yet to win a title or reach a final at an indoor tournament, having claimed eight titles on clay, five on outdoor hard courts and three on grass.

The 21-year-old Spaniard fell in the third round on the indoor hard courts of the Paris Masters to Ugo Humbert last week.

The four-time Grand Slam champion questioned the court speed at the Masters 1000 event after both of his matches.

“This court… I mean, I don’t want to say something that there is going to sound like an excuse,” Alcaraz said after losing to Humbert.

“When I played the first match, the stats came out that it is the fastest court in the Masters 1000, probably on the tour right now. This is crazy. I don’t know. Probably and the fastest one, you know, in the last ten years in this tournament.

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“So I don’t know why they do it. I don’t know why they have changed a court from other tournaments and obviously in the same tournament, comparing to other years.

“It surprised me a little bit, so I came here with not too many days. Probably I had to come earlier to get used to these conditions but I didn’t. But, honestly, all I can say is I don’t understand why they did it.”

Speaking on the Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast, Stubbs responded to Alcaraz’s complaints about the Paris conditions and urged the world No 3 to change his approach when playing indoors.

“If you have a fast court, you can come into the net because it’s harder to adjust your position to hit a winning passing shot when you’re getting rushed,” Stubbs said.

“So, fast courts indoors, sorry Carlos, you’re going to have to adjust your game. If not, you’re not gonna win indoors. It’s the same as Rafa.

“Rafa had to adjust his style of tennis on grass back in the day when the grass was a little bit quicker. [When] it started slowing down, he started standing on the baseline, flattening out his forehand, flattening out his serve.

“Because he knew if, ‘I wanna win Wimbledon, I have to play to the grass’ speed.’ And he won Wimbledon. He was the type of player that adjusted his game to win on fast surfaces.

“And the first thing that Alcaraz said when he lost his match was, ‘The courts were so fast, I didn’t get here in time to practise. It was my fault, yada yada.’

“It’s like, that’s exactly what I’m talking about. Like, yeah, we have to have surfaces that reward players that play quick, that play serve and volley tennis, that come into the net.

“Like 89% of the tour is played on a slow hard-court, or clay, or grass — which by the way, has been slowed down to the wazoo.”

Alcaraz will next compete at the 2024 ATP Finals in Turin, where play will begin on Sunday. He has been drawn in the same group as Alexander Zverev, Casper Ruud and Andrey Rublev.

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