Alcaraz vs Lehecka: Queen's Final Recap

defensive slices — grass footwork — scorpion coils — servebotting

Carlos Alcaraz defeated Jiri Lehecka 7/5 6/7 6/2 on Sunday to win his second Queen’s title (2023) and fourth career grass title (29-3 record), putting him above legendary number 1 company for win percentage. Tennis.com with the top 10:

This was posted prior to Alcaraz’s semifinal and final victories.

The first point of the match showcased the shapeshifting qualities of the Spaniard. Barely two weeks removed from his famous heavyweight victory on the clay of Paris, Alcaraz was carving deft defensive slices into the net shallows whilst scampering across the turf. Lehecka was entrenched in the forecourt, but even here Alcaraz made him work for the winning volley from below the net, forcing him closer to handshake territory.

That defensive slice is an Alcaraz trademark. He is able to get the outside of the ball (left side from this angle) with great control due to his extended wrist and long backswing. This shot is great for a couple of reasons: (1) you can play the ball later (farther behind you) than you could with a two hander; (2) you can hit the ball slower than a topspin/flat shot whilst still keeping it low, ensuring that Alcaraz has time to recover; and (3) By getting it below the net he creates better opportunities to get to the opponent’s volley (which almost has to be a drop volley to be successful).

Having this shot in the bag makes him a nightmare for players venturing forward against him. He’s too good at getting it below the net, and too quick to not get frequent looks on the two-shot pass, and as a result, his ability to steal points from defense is second-to-none.

“This man can adapt to all surfaces, all conditions.”

“And all opponents, and all match ups.”

— Tennis TV

You can see how that long backswing creates the space for Alcaraz to build forward speed even though his weight is going sideways, the racquet head fanning out the back as it gets pulled forward and opens the strings to the sky. From here, lateral shoulder rotation and forearm supination helps square the racquet face on contact, ensuring he keeps the slice low, with ulnar deviation of the wrist getting that little flick to catch the outside of the ball for that trademark crosscourt slice that dies over the net.

Of course, the bedrock of his game — that scorpion-coiled forehand — had been humming in the last few rounds, and today was no different, using that final step-over footwork pattern that is so helpful on the grass.

That adjustment with the feet when crossing the English Channel is one that Alcaraz has excelled at in recent years.

The surer footing and higher bounce of clay and hard court means players often play wide forehands with an open-stance footwork where the right leg is pushed on with such force that they jump as they uncoil to create angular momentum, landing on the same right foot first. On grass, the slipperiness of the surface and lower bounce makes the step-over footwork a quieter motion for the upper body and a good option for recovering with balance.

But Jiri Lehecka had designs to be more than a spectator today, sending his own forehand heater to remind everyone of the danger he posed.

If there was a criticism of the Czech, it’s that there is a one-dimensionality to his game that makes him somewhat predictable. He’s going to hit the ball huge from everywhere, all the time, which is a problem for most (sometimes even Alcaraz), but those tear-dropped Belgian Blue quads — whilst powering his shots — bog his movement from the corners. And what separates Alcaraz from other all-time-great forehands is his ability to weave in feathery drop shots that render all defensive positions false ones.

This guy is a genius.

Outside of some typically brilliant highlight material, Alcaraz wasn’t quite at his best for much of the first set, and Lehecka was the first to create an opening at 5-4, mincing this return at 0-15 that the silent gif does not do justice:

Was that meant to be body, or wide? Alcaraz can be guilty of missing his spots on serve, although today he was overall excellent. Lehecka can print ballistic speeds off his compact laser backhand, and he ate up the pace to that side over and over again today.

But Alcaraz navigated his way back from 0-30, targeting the Lehecka forehand on the following serves — especially on the deuce wing (55% today) — which had been his tactic all week on first serves, serving 4-5% more often to the right-handers forehands on both deuce and ad compared to his 52-week average. The Tennis Viz breakdown:

Alcaraz first-serve location for Queen’s matches. Blue = Queen’s. Orange = Alcaraz 52-week average. Black = tour average. Look at all that yellow on the wide deuce. Analysis and graphic courtesy of Tennis Viz. Data courtesy of Tennis Data Innovations.

The serve was very good at Queens: Carlos averages a 7.9 for his 52-week average by Tennis Insights, but this week he was up to an 8.2 and an 8.9 for the final:

Analysis courtesy of Tennis Viz. Data courtesy of Tennis Data Innovations.

The speed of the court definitely aided servers this week, but if Carlos brings any degree of serving improvement to Wimbledon next week, he’s going to be very difficult to trouble.

As quickly as he had exited danger, Alcaraz turned the screws on the following game, breaking at 30-40 on his first chance off the back of some errant Lehecka hitting, and promptly served out the set.

Early in the second we saw similar patterns: Lehecka’s backhand trading in heat, Alcaraz melting it below the net. Lehecka does well here.

And gets away with one here. Same exact pattern:

You can appreciate the artistry of that slice from this angle. The feel to hit it that perfectly off Lehecka heaters, again and again... That is a nasty volley to dig out. Play this point ten times and Carlos wins nine.

On the topic of melting backhands, Alcaraz has maintained his clay backhand swing throughout his Queens run here, and one can only assume this synthesis is the swing he will settle on for the foreseeable future. Compact enough to trade in speed, yet long enough to build smooth power.

Serving at 5-6 to force a tiebreaker, Lehecka made a push, mincing forehands and venturing forward with equal success. Alcaraz escaped from this 30-30 point with the help of some outrageous racquet work after a blitzed return:

Got away with one there.

There are one-percenters, and then there are these; minuscule rounding errors tipped in favour of the freakishly gifted.

The level in the tiebreaker was incredibly high from both, with the 4-3 point bringing the crowd to their feet

Alcaraz is so good at washing the speed out of first-serves on grass, getting them low with his opponents now faced with a low and short contact point against the best stealer in tennis.

Two points from victory Alcaraz blinked first at 5-5, hitting an untimely double fault, and Lehecka took his first chance to seal the set with an unreturned serve.

It all can happen so quick on grass.

But if Alcaraz was meant to rue his missed chances, he certainly didn’t show it, ripping out to a 4-1 lead in the third having only missed one first-serve in three service games in a kinetic display of retrograde amnesia.

It’s just another feature of his game that makes him so overwhelming.

In deciding sets the Spaniard is seemingly rendered incapable of making decisions at all, accessing an unconscious part of play that brings order to his chaos when it is needed most. From a year ago by reddit user r/meatslippery:

The Spaniard was basically serve-botting today — 18 aces! — putting his own artistic touch on the notion, no less.

And in very un-servebot-like terms, Alcaraz broke Lehecka again at 5-2 to seal the win.

Elite serving, returning, attack, defense, variation, court speed, balance, mental strength, physicality. There is no escape from Alcaraz when in this rich vein of form.

“I’m just happy to lift the trophy once again. I came without expectation, just to play good tennis and get used to the grass. I [was lucky] to have a lot of friends and family here that made me feel really comfortable on and off the court.”

— Carlos Alcaraz for atptour.com

Alcaraz heads to Wimbledon as the two-time defending champion on an 18-match win streak.

I’ll be back with a draw preview of Wimbledon on the weekend. See you in the comments. HC.