#kdprofiles

[itskubra]

Player Profile #7 : Alex De Minaur 🐭

We wasn't s'posed to make it past twenty-five, Joke's on you, we still alive ~ We Don't Care, Kanye West

A top ten mainstay (against all odds and predictions), yet someone with "no weapons" - how is this possible?

I (don't) got the power

Alex's most egregious and talked-about shortcoming is his lack of power, both in his serve and groundstrokes, so let's look a little closer.

I think it's arguable that accuracy, or lack thereof, on the serve is a bigger problem than the speeds, especially in recent times, as he has really buffed up his game.

But why is he a somewhat 'lightweight' server?

Well, remember all I said about Felix's and Taylor's serve; the deep knee bend, the shoulder rotation, racket drop, ect? Well, demon doesn't do any of these things half as well.

This is really noticeable when putting them side-by-side.

Look at Taylor: He has turned his hips and shoulders more, the bend in his knees is much deeper and his elbow is further back. Overall he’s creating a much more powerful kinetic chain and is just a taller guy.

But again, I think his accuracy is an even bigger problem - as someone on the 'shorter' side (the man is 6'0 I can't, in good conscience, call him short😭), he doesn't hit lines very often, and is one of the least accurate servers in the top ten, making life a lot harder for himself as his opponents can get into more service points/games.

My name is Barry Allen Carlos Alcaraz Alex De Minaur, and I'm the fastest man alive!

Perhaps his special-est and most acclaimed attribute (which should already begin painting the picture of his supposed weaponlessness), Alex is arguably the quickest player around the (hard)courts and it allows him to make insane plays like this:

Yes, I know this is a clay court, I just thought the point was cool😔

Now, there really isn't a lot of data about players' speed, but Alex can always be found near the top of the 'steal score' leaderboard (percentage of points you win having been in defence), showing that his ability to scamper around a tennis court sees him winning a big slice of points that he technically shouldn't.

During their match at AO, Bublik kept complaining that 'the court was too slow' but I think the real problem is that Alex is too fast and Bublik crumbled under the pressure of so many balls coming back at him.

His speed shrunk the court and left Bublik feeling like he couldn't get the ball past him.

Breakin' Bad

If there's anything Alex is a certified 'elite' at, it's returning. In 2025, he sat at third place in return games won, right behind Sinner and Alcaraz.

How?

Well, those short backswings that aren't great for pace/spin generation? They're perfect for absorbing pace and getting returns in play!

This is very evident on the backhand side;

The short swing means it’s very difficult for Alex to generate racquet head speed, hence the very flat groundstrokes. They can still be difficult to deal with though, especially on quicker and low-bouncing surfaces where the ball stays low and really penetrates through the court.

However, it falls short as a real weapon everywhere else.

It does create a good shield though - it allows him to deal with pace really well, take the ball early and get good, deep returns or block them back in play.

Big net worth!

Ignore the weird data representation 🙄

I just wanted to use this to highlight Demon's impressive efficiency at net!

Obviously when and how much must be considered with these things but Alex is really good at applying forward pressure and finishing points at net. 71.5% is no joke.

I think the perception of Alex is largely stuck in the past, but that's kinda how it goes in tennis. I think he deserves a lot more credit for how good he is and being a LITERAL TOP TEN PLAYER! You don't get to 6 in the world by being a bum.

~ Also the general disdain for more defensive/counterpunching players is quite absurd🫩

Finally defeated my procrastination demons and then fell ill. But we got there in the end!

Elena up next! Here's a pic of Alex

Byee!

[itskubra]

Player Profile #6 : Taylor Fritz🐯

RAHHHHHHH AMERICAAAAAA🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🦅🦅🦅🦅

Honestly, imagine my surprise when I was checking the rankings only to see Taylor at No.6 instead of No.4 - I had become quite accustomed to him being there.

Anyways, why did the picture of consistency rise, stay there, but never quite break through to the peak?

Taylor's win percentage for the past 4 years

Serving it up!

Being second on the ATP serve leaderboard (behind Jannik Sinner so, yk), winning 79.4% of his first serve points and 89.2% of his service games, Fritz is what some may call, a servebot - arguments can be made that there is more than plenty in the rest of Taylor's game to deny him that title, but you get the point; Taylor's serve is essential to his success in matches

Similar to Felix, Taylor 'coils' his body- as he tosses the ball, his back is turned away from the other side of the court (showing his back to his opponent). He then uncoils, and explodes this energy into the serve, generating pace.

Back to his opponent, chest towards us

Also, when he bends his knees, he pops back up before he moves his racket back. He has already popped back up before his racket passes over head-height, so the ball isn't too high in the air from the toss when he makes contact, allowing for a clean hit.

Because the racket is going down, while the body is going up, he gets a lot of shoulder rotation and it creates a sort of slingshot effect, letting him absolutely whack the ball.

Talk to the (back)hand

Taylor's backhand isn't the biggest (still big tbh) out there, but it is incredibly accurate - like he stays putting it in corners.

His follow-through/finish is the main culprit; rather than relaxing the racket and finishing over his back, Fritz's arms and racket remain on the left of his body. A locked-wrist finish.

This allows him hit through the ball and really penetrate through the court; flatter (little topspin) and put the ball deep in the court.

Buttttt, it is a pretty one-dimensional shot; the man cannot slice to save his life.

To give him credit, he is really good at hitting his two-hander even from low contact points. Still though, his lack of a slice can let him down.

I like my boots like I like my forehand grip: Western (kinda)

Fritz forehand looks ... unique to say the least.

But it has developed into a reliable weapon (which it wasn’t in the past).

Honestly, aside from the weird grip, his technique is pretty similar to most forehands (Federer's forehand is a common comparison).

Yes, Taylor's arm is bent and Roger's is straight but they both have 'closed' racket faces, the butt of the racket facing the ball and swing away from their bodies

His low rotation also helps him fare well in high speed rallies and avoid being rushed.

It is pretty unique as most players have their arm and elbow much higher

I (don't) like to move it, move it

Taylor's movement issues are very well documented and as much as it has improved, it's still kinda just ... meh.

And Taylor pays for this weakness, especially in defence.

Taylor is basically always rated lower than fellow top ten players in steal score - how many points you win from defensive position - so moving Fritz around is always a good move. Now, this isn't at all easy, with Taylor's own attack being potent enough to keep himself in charge, but especially against elite competition, his inability to scramble back into points often comes back to bite him.

I should mention that Taylor has spoken about struggling with tendonitis, so that likely plays a role.

Doesn't matter how good your ball-striking is, if you can't get to the ball to hit it🤷🏾‍♀️

Fore(court)play is not my thing

Taylor's aversion to the net is quite well known; he has averaged 59% of net points won over his last 21 matches.

This is obviously not ideal; coming forward at net is prime finishing position, if you're not converting there a large majority of the time, that's bad news.

~~Part of this is Fritz's movement with his footwork and speed coming forward and at net being clumsy at best~~

He also has brick hands - finishing short with touch (drop-shots, volleys, etc) is an ability he does not possess😭

Even worse when his opponent is the one who draws him forward; even if he gets there, he is not great at the continental (slice) grip stuff, leaving him pretty futile in those cat-and-mouse net exchanges (his movement plays a role in this too)

Delulu is the solulu

Taylor is a player full of 'delusional belief' as he calls it, and I think it’s one of his biggest strengths. Having self belief, even when it doesn’t seem rational, is what makes greatness possible.

However, his weakness in certain areas hold him back despite his self-motivation, belief and hard work.

He has made many leaps and improvements throughout his career though, so it will be interesting to see how 2026 pans out!

~~~

Alright, here's a pic

Byeee!

[itskubra]

Player Profile #5 : Felix Auger-Aliassime🦌

Guess who got married and remembered how to play tennis!!!

FAA is a good example of a player who looks absolutely amazing when Plan A is working, but lacks a Plan B. Why is that?

1 + 1 = 2, Serve + 1 = ?

Felix's serve is an elite weapon - he regularly has over 40%~50% of his first serve go unreturned and is in the top ten of service games won.

As he tosses the ball, he loads his legs and turns his back to the other side of the court (the upper body more turned away than the lower body), storing up energy. He then uncoils, and releases this energy into the serve.

He gets such a deep bend in his knees and his release upwards is what creates the racket drop.

How deep his knee bend is in trophy position

Look how far the racket drops back

Then

Felix generates pace really well on forehand, and one thing he does is extend his left arm as he's hitting the ball

This helps him to coil up his body, so he uncoils and releases more energy.

So even if you manage to get his serve back in the court, Felix is all over the next shot with his forehand, putting it away or at least making offensive attack.

on the flip side however, Sometimes, watching FAA’s game looks like this: Unforced error, unforced error, ace, double fault, unforced error, winner, unforced error, ace, double-fault, winner.

Live by the sword, Die by the sword

As great a weapon the FAA forehand can be, it often costs him, because apparently 'consistency' is not really in the cards.

Felix's strings face more forwards because he flexes his wrist, but the flexed wrist leaves him sacrificing a level of control.

He has more of a 'correction' to make on the lead up to contact. While he may generate more pace this way due to the extra energy he creates in the wrist, it's harder to do consistently because there are more moving parts involved.

"The more parts you load, the more parts you must unload." ~ Hugh Clarke in Thread of Order

Simply put, too much is going on, so its easier for something to go wrong.

The sword is not double edged :(

Felix is one of those players that has a clear 'good' side and 'bad' side.

And he deserves a lot of praise for the recent improvements he's made with his backhand because back in the day? lawd🫩

The big technical flaw is that when his racket in is the "drop" position, the racket head doesn't lean back far enough, it's always stays on the hitting side.

look how straight down the racket is, instead of falling back towards the right

vs

This makes the racket have to change paths more abruptly close to contact so when he swings forward, he ends up too close to the ball and gets jammed. It hinders his timing, aim and amount of depth he gets on the ball.

In recent months though, he is hitting the backhand less often, using slices to change down-the-line more often, and making fewer unforced errors. Changing down-the-line gets Felix out of crosscourt backhand rallies and opens up more favourable forehand patterns that allow him to dominate opponents.

And he's missing less - for all the complicated analysis I can come up with, tennis is very simple sometimes; miss less and win more🤷🏾‍♀️

Can't buy a first second serve

Felix has spent seasons in the Top 3 in terms of double-faulting and outside the top 30 in second serve points won. Why?

Most players default second serve is a kick serve; the topspin on the kick gives higher net-clearance and a higher bounce making it difficult to attack even though its relatively slow.

Felix's second serve is a little more predictable since he tends to favour a slice serve, which obviously has little or no topspin. It therefore has lower net clearance and margin for error, which makes it harder to produce consistently.

He usually tries to avoid double-faulting and hitting an ineffective serve by hitting the slice serve to the body, trying to jam opponents. However, opponents anticipate the second serve and pounce on it.

When he tries to be unpredictable, he goes for a flatter, more powerful serve which also leads to more double-faulting. And in conditions where serve is generally less potent, Felix's biggest weapon is gone.

You shall not pass??

Again, tied to the "Felix is one-dimensional" narrative;

For such a great athlete and mover, those abilities never seemed to translate to defense??? You'd think a guy like him would be able to keep getting balls back but that isn't necessarily the case.

Getting him on the run, pushing him into the corners gets him to bleed errors.

Once on the move, his groundstrokes are very vulnerable

However, again, he's recently been using slice more often to cover up deficiencies.

All in all, Felix is a player with clear elite weapons and has been putting together more ways to protect his weaknesses, contributing to his recent 'resurgence'

My stupid ass just had to accidentally click the delete button. Rewriting/typing this was not fun but hope you guys enjoyed! Fritzy up next.

Here's a pic of FAA

Byeee!!