Carlos Alcaraz has already shattered a multitude of records at a young age of 19 however, to his coach, Juan Carlos Ferrero he still has a lot to improve. Having a sensational run in 2022, the Spaniard clinched the US Open and two Masters 1000 titles to become the youngest ever world no. 1 and has remained steadier in 2023. He pulled out the Australian Open with injury and returned to action in February to win Buenos Aires. Skipping the end of the last year and start of this year, Alcaraz lost the #1 position to Djokovic but returned to the top of the rankings after sealing Indian Wells. However, he once again dropped to #2 after not defending the Miami title as he bowed out against Jannik Sinner in semifinal.
Alcaraz first met Juan Carlos Ferrero as a 13-year old and decided to go under his tutelage three years later. Working together the couple has produced eight titles but Ferrero who is a 2003 Roland Garros Champion believes that there are many things to improve.
“He’s [Alcaraz] playing at the top level but obviously he’s not 100%. A tennis player has to improve things all his life and Carlos has to be able to do that for his career.”
Ferrero continued, “He has to improve his return, he has to improve his consistency on service, he has to improve small details. In Miami, he led 6-0, 5-4 and made three mistakes in a row on his serve against [Dusan] Lajovic and went to the tiebreak.”
The 43-year old talking believes that his 19-year old Murican pupil not just needs to work on his tennis but also his mentality.
“Even mentally: people feel he is super strong, he obviously is, but he needs to be more mature in a lot of areas on the court and off the court.”
He added, “Maybe he’s at 65% or 70% [of his full potential]. But he’ll turn 20 next month, he has to improve many, many things.”
Despite the continued success, Alcaraz return on the tour has once again been hampered by an injury which means he will miss Monte Carlo Masters that is ahead next week.
While Ferrero did not go into the specifics, he didn’t seem too worried by the fitness woes of his player, “Injuries in tennis are normal. We made some changes these latest times, on small details of his journey. We monitor everything, tuned up here and there.”