Old-world 'drop' and rise of Carlos Alcaraz

Grass-court tennis and nostalgia are two sides of the same coin. And when somebody pulls out old-world trickery with success on Wimbledon Centre Court on final Sunday, the Doordarshan tennis fans feel an immediate connect.


The drop shot has been part of Carlos Alcaraz's arsenal from the day he had started making his mark in 2021. But on Sunday, serving for the match a t 5-4 and down 0-15, when the Spanish wonder kid played a beautiful drop shot on his forehand to draw Novak Djokovic in and then lobbed him with equal expertise, the tennis world went into a tizzy.

It was like a trip down memory lane, when our very old Ramesh Krishnan used to employ that shot against powerful opposition in crucial Davis Cup ties on grass-courts of India.


"A drop shot is played to bring the p layer up to the n et so that a pass can be set up. When I was playing it, the shot wasn't that big a variation because players, as it is, were looking to come to the net. But as the game started to become more baseline oriented, the importance of the drop-shot became more pronounced," Ramesh told TOI.

According to the Indian touch artist, it is Alcaraz's ability to play the drop shot on his forehand with such effortless ease that makes it so special.

"Normally on the forehand, players tend to play over the ball and look to generate power. The Alcaraz drop shot becomes interesting because he has the courage to impart under-spin on his forehand side, which is not so common," Ramesh added.

But Ramesh, who was a junior French and Wimbledon singles champion, feels that it is Alcaraz's variety on his forehand that makes the drop-shot such a weapon. "He can generate tremendous power with the forehand, and also can play the loopy forehand. So there are three options for him and the opposition doesn't exactly know which one is coming. And the fact that he can push the opposition way behind the baseline with his power makes it so potent. I remember Sergio Bruguera and Jim Courier (both former French Open champions) playing it very well. Rafael Nadal also plays it brilliantly, just that it may not be as frequent," Ramesh said.


That brings us to the point of over-using the shot and Alcaraz, at times, has a habit of doing it.

"Don't forget, even in the 10th game of the fifth set, he missed the drop-shot on the first point before getting it right in the second. And now with the hard-court season coming, the shot will be under scrutiny. It does work on hard courts as players move from side to side, but it is probably not as effective a weapon as it is on grass. I will be watching Alcaraz with a lot of interest now that he goes to Flushing Meadows as the No. 1 favourite," Ramesh said, echoing the sentiments of millions of tennis fans across the globe.