During the early days of the 2026 Australian Open, a lighthearted “copyright” dispute has emerged between tennis stars Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz.
The playful banter began after fans and analysts noticed that Alcaraz’s revamped service motion – which is more compact and features a unique starting wrist curl – looks remarkably similar to Djokovic’s signature delivery.
The “Copyright” Joke
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Notably, Carlos Alcaraz’s new-look serve has been the hot topic around the tennis world this past week.
On Monday night at the Australian Open after his first-round victory over Pedro Martinez, Novak Djokovic was finally asked about the resemblance and the Serbian legend revealed that he had already messaged Alcaraz about the similarities.
“As soon as I saw it, I sent him a message. I said, we have to speak about the copyrights” joked Djokovic.
“Then when I saw him here, I told him we have to talk about percentage of his winnings. Every ace I expect, you know, a tribute to me. Every ace that he makes here. Let’s see if he’s going to stick to the agreement,” he added.
Novak Djokovic on how he feels and Carlos Alcaraz copying his serve:
Djokovic: “As soon as I saw Carlos’ serve I sent him a message. Every ace he hits, I expect a tribute to me. Let’s see if he’s going to stick to the agreement.” pic.twitter.com/uGhJN1UN8D
— Danny (@DjokovicFan_) January 19, 2026
Carlos Alcaraz’s Take On His New Serve
Carlos Alcaraz, the reigning World No. 1 and a contender for his maiden Australian Open crown to complete a Career Grand Slam, recently spoke about his tweaked serve, acknowledging that while the resemblance is hard to ignore, the revamped action has helped enhance his rhythm.
“I wasn’t thinking about making the same serve as Djokovic. But in the end, I can even see the similarities. Now with this movement on the serve, I just feel really, really comfortable, smooth, really calm and peaceful rhythm, which I think it helps me a lot to do a better serve,” Alcaraz said before the Australian Open.
“Let’s see how it’s going to be this year. Probably you’re going to see another change, I don’t know if the next months or at the end of the year. I just make constant changes in every shot. It’s just about really small details,” he added.
Major Milestone For Novak Djokovic
Djokovic, who could only meet Alcaraz in the final in Melbourne, was doing plenty of damage on his own serve in his first-round win at the Australian Open on Monday.
The record 10-time champion won 93 per cent of his first-serve points and did not face a break point en route to victory against Pedro Martinez. Djokovic has now won 100 matches at the hard-court major, moving to within two wins of Roger Federer’s all-time mark of 102.
The 38-year-old Serbian was pleased with how he started.
“It felt good tonight. Let’s see how it’s going to feel in a few days’ time,” Djokovic said on how his body and mind are feeling. “Performance-wise, the feeling on the court, it was great. I couldn’t ask for more. Obviously a great serving performance. Just overall felt really good on the court that has made me feel good on it for so many times throughout my career,” he added.
World No. 4 Djokovic will next face Italian Francesco Maestrelli in what will be a first ATP Head-to-Head meeting between the two.
