Carlos Alcaraz really knows how to get the drop (shot) on his opponents

There is a reason Carlos Alcaraz is the No. 1 player at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells even at his young age, and you can see it when you consider the final four.

Frances Tiafoe has tremendous footspeed, Jannik Sinner hits every groundstroke with power and Daniil Medvedev plays with a savvy and a determination that is unmatched. Carlos Alcaraz? He is all of those things wrapped up in one package.

Watching the joy with which he plays, flying all over the court, encouraging the crowd to get louder with a hand cupped to his ear, impressed kudos to his opponent after a nice shot. It's refreshing.

And there's one more thing about Alcaraz. Those beautiful dropshots. He's been credited with bringing back the dropshot to the men's game, and when he does it it's a thing of beauty.

He explained the secrets to a good one.

"Well, I would say the most important thing is to have a good forehand. You know, because you hit a great forehand, the opponent is going back, every time that you play a great forehand," he said. "In that time that the opponent doing the step going a little bit back, that's the thing that you have to think about doing a dropshot. You know, you have to see that the opponent going, going back. I would say that's the key to doing that when you are in attack mode."

So when you're watching Alcaraz in Saturday's semifinal against Jannik Sinner or perhaps in the championship match on Sunday, watch how often and effectively he uses the dropshot. It's something you can install in your game.

Just don't try to hit one to Alacaraz. He's too fast, and he's ready to counter.

"Well, I think it's a great weapon for everyone, you know, playing a dropshot. Some players hit better dropshots than other ones," Alcaraz said. "But yeah, when they hit a dropshot against me, I'm trying to hit a better shot than that."

Shad Powers is a columnist for The Desert Sun. Reach him at shad.powers@desertsun.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: BNP Paribas Open: Carlos Alcaraz knows how to get the drop (shot) on his opponents