“Shades of Nole”- Tennis Fans Compare Carlos Alcaraz’s New Service Motion to Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open

Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic will be seeking to win their first title of the season at the 2026 Australian Open.

“Shades of Nole”- Tennis Fans Compare Carlos Alcaraz’s New Service Motion to Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open

Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz (via X/The Tennis Letter/The Big 3)

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With just five days before the Australian Open kicks off in Melbourne, Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic have already arrived for the event and are getting themselves ready for the first Grand Slam of the season. However, fans on social media have spotted a different style of serve from Alcaraz and compared it to Djokovic’s kind of service game.

Alcaraz arrived in Melbourne on Sunday (January 11), just a day after facing Jannik Sinner in an exhibition match in Seoul, South Korea. The Spaniard defeated the Italian star in straight sets, claiming his first victory of the season, however, the match didn’t matter much as it wasn’t a tour-level competition.

Since arriving in Melbourne, Alcaraz and his coach, Samuel Lopez, have been working on several aspects of his game, and one of them is his serve. During their practice sessions, Alcaraz was seen trying to model Djokovic’s cobra position as he served on the court. The cobra position has been Djokovic’s unique style, where the hitting wrist gets into a curled or flexed position as the ball is released.

The toss of the ball is up, and the top of the racket is down. Djokovic usually takes this kind of position, but with more relaxed confidence, as the top of his racket is completely facing the ground, and his wrist is more curled. The benefit of the cobra position is that it facilitates a more closed racket face through the swing and a cleaner throwing motion.

Besides that, it is more relaxed and fluid to use as opponents are left in the dark about which area of the court the serve will hit. Last year, Djokovic’s serve was his strongest weapon in Grand Slam tournaments, as players ranked lower than him struggled to break his serve.

But that cannot be said for Alcaraz, who has issues with his service game in most of the tournaments he has played in. Nonetheless, he used his variety of shots to cover his poor serves, which worked well. Fans on X reacted to Alcaraz’s imitation of Djokovic’s cobra position serve. Here are some of the fans’ reactions:

Alcaraz and Djokovic are seeking to win the 2026 Australian Open. The former hopes to win, as it would make him the youngest player ever to complete a Career Grand Slam. On the other hand, should Djokovic win the title in Melbourne, he will become the first player to take his Grand Slam tally to 25.

Novak Djokovic out of the 2026 Davis Cup qualifying stages

Serbia’s Davis Cup captain, Viktor Troicki, revealed in early December that he hopes Novak Djokovic will represent his country at the Davis Cup qualifiers in February. With just a few weeks before the qualifying rounds kick off, Djokovic doesn’t see a potential return to the Davis Cup now seems far from happening.

Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic (Image via ATP/X)

The 38-year-old had to withdraw from the ongoing Adelaide International due to fitness issues. During an interview with Sportklub, Troicki revealed that the team will be without former World No.1 Djokovic as Hamad Medjedovic will now have to lead the team against a great Chilean team:

As for our best player, Novak Djokovic, this is an extremely inconvenient timing for him. We all hope he performs well and goes far at the Australian Open. It wasn’t realistic to expect him to fly to Chile from Melbourne immediately after a grueling Grand Slam, change surface, and play with us this time. This is not the final list; we have time for changes, but the current situation is like this. We will fight against any team.

With Medjedovic leading the team, Miomir Kecmanović, and Laslo Djere will be absent in the qualifying stages. Serbia failed to reach the Davis Cup Finals in 2025 and has not reached the quarter-finals of the tournament since 2023.

Also Read: Casper Ruud Prioritizes Pregnant Fiancee Maria Galligani Over Australian Open: “My Daughter Could Come Home Anytime Now”