Carlos Alcaraz Has the Perfect Coach for Him in Juan Carlos Ferrero

Plenty of times during Sunday’s spellbinding nearly-five-hour Wimbledon men’s final, the cameras found Carlos Alcaraz’s coach, Juan Carlos Ferrero. What they did not find was a broad register of emotion. His eyes wrapped in shades, Ferrero usually sat still as a gargoyle. When his protégé played well—or, more critically, made the right decision, regardless of the point’s outcome—Ferrero would gently nod. And, then, when Alcaraz faltered, Ferrero would ... gently nod.

This was by design. But also a function of both constitution and geography. As a former No. 1 player, Ferrero was—and is—known for his tennis achievements; not for antics or attire or spicy quotes. As a coach, he is a study in measured calm.

It is an expression of the region of southeast Spain that both he and Alcaraz call home. If Madrid is New York and Barcelona is L.A., their shared motherland, south of Valencia, is, say, Arkansas. That is, it’s a grounded, unpretentious precinct that doesn’t rate much with tourists, and doesn’t have much use for look-at-me.

There, the two met, nearly a decade ago. Ferrer had recently finished his exceptional playing career—trivia: his last match at Wimbledon was against Novak Djokovic—and was transitioning to coaching, founding a rustic eponymous academy in the hills, 45 minutes from Alicante. Ferrero glimpsed Alcaraz and immediately spotted talent. “Not hard to see,” he adds quickly, lest it come across as boastful. They began a player-coach relationship. The rest is, well, you know.

In the days before Roland Garros, Tennis Channel spent time at the Juan Carlos Ferrero Academy. Watch the feature here, produced by Nitin Varma.

Some outtakes from the conversations:

JW: Tell us the origins, the beginning of your relationship with Carlos. 

JCF: I met him when he was 12 or 13 here. He was playing a tournament, small tournament. [I saw] a boy that plays let's say, different. A lot of drop shots; going to the net; dynamic on the court. Like freedom, very free on the court. Maybe I didn't think he was going to be the Rafa of the future. But, of course you think, ‘Oh, come on, that's different. He plays good!’

JW: What about mentally or the way he carried himself? 

JCF: Physically, he was so slim, small [but] accelerating a lot with the forehand. And emotional, very emotional on the court. I have very good memories of him at that age.

JW: How do you describe yourself as a coach? How do you like to see yourself as a coach? 

JCF: Tough, tough. Yeah. I'm very restrictive on the way of practice. I think there is a moment to be having fun. For jokes or whatever. But when we are on the court, we are, we are there to practice. I don't, I don't like to waste time on the court. I told Carlos that we have to be quality and not quantity. I like to practice like two hours with a lot of quality and not three hours like losing time. In the gym or on the court or even in my life. That’s how I see it.

JW: What’s the hardest part about coaching Carlos?

JCF: Let's say warning him about all dangers that [come with] being No. 1 in the world. There's a lot of people who want to be close on him. But on the court and off the court, it's been easy. He is a very natural guy, very close guy. And we have the same culture that it's very important. 

JW: You have the same culture and you both grew— 

JCF: —up close. Yeah. We live very close. An hour from here, so it's been very easy for me to handle. 

JW: Do you see yourself in him; do you see some of yourself reflected?

JCF: He's different than me. I'm like very focused on all the time, very restrictive. And he's more relaxed. If there’s a problem, I’d want to know the solution in advance. How are we gonna react before the problems appear? He’ll want to figure it out and solve it [on the spot]. But it is nice. I mean, it's been a very good relationship. We are different and at the same time, we are very close. 

JW: Do you like the challenge of coaching a player who didn't play Juan Carlos Ferrero-style tennis?

JCF: Yeah, the first thing you have to know how [a player] can play and then make him as good as he can. Absolutely. I'm not trying to do, to make him me. You can see at the beginning he goes to the net very often. I wasn't going to the net very often. He likes to be aggressive. So aggressive … We have a different serve. I was serving like 190 kilometers per hour. He's serving 220. He's so much more powerful about physically, he can move fast … When I took him, [I thought] the way he has to play doesn't have to be the same, the same one as me.

JW: You didn't tell him stop with the drop shots. I want to thank you on behalf of tennis. But, seriously, how do you balance his power with point construction?

JCF: Yeah. Yeah. Now, players love to finish the point as soon as they can and not build anything on the point. And, uh, of course, of course Carlos is living in that situation. But he also likes to make points. So he has a mix, a little, a little bit of both worlds. Carlos also, he has the ability to, you know, destroy the point, but at the same time, build the point when he needs it. So, that's a great thing for me. 

JW: And how do you balance giving him confidence—You're doing great—with making sure he's focused and not taking success for granted?

JCF: Saying the truth. I mean, you don't have to say all the time everything is good. When he does something wrong, you have to tell him and try to improve from there. And when he has done something nice and good, okay. That’s the path we have to follow. You have to tell him. 

JW: It's interesting you say the culture you have in common plays a role, that you have a bond over the culture. 

JCF: It's very important because, for example, I coached a player [he chooses not to name, but it is Alexander Zverev] from a very different culture than me. And at the end, we think very differently. And at the end, it was a problem. You know, having someone you know has the same thoughts and lives the same [experiences], even the same timing— as dinner or lunch or breakfast—it's so much easier.

JW: He's described you before as almost like a second father. How do you describe your relationship with him? 

JCF: It’s very nice to hear that—a second father in a tennis way. Yeah, I mean, it's like my fourth kid. I have three kids at home and he is the fourth. We're just so close. You know, I love the situation that we create because you not only coach a player. We create something more. I think it's one of the toughest things in tennis to create this kind of situation because you can see all the changes of coaches.

JW: I can tell how much you like him, how much fondness you feel for him. Could you ever coach a player you didn't like?

JCF: Personally? It'd be very difficult.