Juan Carlos Ferrero, coach of Carlos Alcaraz, spoke with the press after his pupil’s triumph at the US Open to win the first Grand Slam of his career and become the youngest number 1 in tennis history at 19 years and 129 days of age.
“I think Carlos Alcaraz is at 60% of his game, he can improve a lot of things, we know he has to keep going. Now that he’s number one he has to keep winning, we know that and I’ll remind him of it,” Ferrero explained in statements reproduced by the EFE agency.
Regarding the aspects that Alcaraz must perfect in his game, Ferrero highlighted that “Alcaraz must improve the rest, the serve must improve, the backhand in certain situations, consistency, trying to not make a mental exit at certain points. These are details that, until one retires, all players in general have to improve.”
Ferrero: “From the first moment I saw things in Alcaraz that were different from other boys his age”
Juan Carlos Ferrero believes that “Carlos Alcaraz was born to play these tournaments, to play these matches” and revealed that “from the first moment I saw things in him that were different from other boys his age, and I continue to see them now”.
Ferrero: “Alcaraz was a noodle without muscles… but he had something special”
Juan Carlos Ferrero spoke of how it was the first time he saw Carlos Alcaraz play: “When he arrived at the academy he was a noodle, he was quick, but he didn’t have muscles, but we did see something very special.”
“I saw him for the first time when he was 12 or 13 years old. He came to the academy and we trained one day. He was very small but you could see that everyone was talking about him. He had everything he has now, but in a small way,” he added.
“Officially, I went to see him when he got his first ATP point, at the age of 14. I saw that match, in which he played a set very well and in the second he hit a big mess. But you could see that at 14 years old and without a physique, he competed with very tough rivals for him. There had still been no contacts for us to work together,” Ferrero said.
This is how Juan Carlos Ferrero experienced the Alcaraz match against Casper Ruud
Juan Carlos Ferrero also explained his feelings during the US grand final that Carlos Alcaraz won 6-4, 2-6, 7-6(1) and 6-3 against Casper Ruud.
“Today I have not suffered as much, but all week I suffered a lot. I have seen Carlos as playing well, although you could see he did have little bits of doubt in the second set,” Ferrero told Eurosport .
“I thought that after the first he was going to loosen up more but he didn’t succeed, and then I saw him a little tired. But when he won the third he got back on track and went for the game,” explained the ex Spanish pro now turned coach.
“I told him to go for the match and to have the feeling that he was going to win. Because he had the feeling that in the second set he was a little behind, and he didn’t get any winning points. I told him that if he lost it shouldn’t be because of that, and that I had the feeling that he was going for the game”, said Alcaraz‘s coach about the game.
“It is not the first or the last one that he is going to play a Grand Slam final, and I have told him not to hesitate and to go for the match and to play his game. And that If he succeeded, he would win the final,” Ferrero concluded.
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