Carlos Alcaraz was knocked off his Wimbledon perch on Sunday evening, surrendering a two-year reign at SW19 to Jannik Sinner.
Sinner simply outperformed Alcaraz across the four sets of play, utilising his excellent groundstroke game and footspeed to dig out every possible question Alcaraz posed him.
After a whirlwind end to the first set, a period in which Alcaraz rattled off four straight games to clinch the opener, the Spanish 22-year-old rarely troubled the Italian in the next three sets.
In fact, Alcaraz failed to break Sinner’s serve after the first set.
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Despite his struggles when receiving, there was another area of the Spaniard’s game that must be improved if he wants to capture the US Open title in September.
Carlos Alcaraz must be more consistent on his first serve to win the US Open
After struggling with his serve during a five-set win over Fabio Fognini in round one, it seemed Alcaraz had fixed any issues during the middle stages of the tournament.
After defeating Andrey Rublev in the fourth round, Alcaraz said: “I struggled a little bit in the first rounds of the tournament trying to improve a little bit.
“I don’t know if it was the throw of the ball or just the rhythm but I just got it on Rublev’s match and started to play really good. The percentage went higher. The winning point on the first serve was higher as well.
“I think I started to throw the ball on the serve much better and I think that helped a lot, coming on the serve.
“Once I got the good rhythm and throw of the ball I started to serve much better and I think today I tried to follow the same way that I served in Rublev’s match so hopefully keep it going and keep feeling the good way again.”
However, these serving struggles returned in the final, with Alcaraz only making 53 per cent of his first serves during the match.
As a result, this left him vulnerable during many service games, resulting in Sinner breaking the Spaniard’s serve four times during the contest.
In comparison, Sinner made 62 per cent of his first serves.
Was the Wimbledon final an anomaly?
Alcaraz’s first serve percentage in the final was the lowest in seven matches at Wimbledon. Therefore, it could be seen as an anomaly, especially as he only registered under 60 per cent twice, in round one and three.
He averaged a percentage of 58 on his first serve in both those matches. His average across the whole tournament was just over 62.5 per cent.
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However, Alcaraz’s serve had the least impact at a time when he needed it the most, and this must be taken into consideration heading into the US Open in August.
In the Wimbledon quarter-final against Cameron Norrie, he made 72 per cent of his first serves, winning 89 per cent of those points.
If he can average anywhere close to those numbers at the US Open, his chances of winning the title improve dramatically.