ATP Tour

Ferrero on Alcaraz: ‘With Carlos, everything is possible’

Carlos Alcaraz’s coach, Juan Carlos Ferrero, understood the end could be near when Jannik Sinner earned three consecutive championship points on Sunday in the fourth set of the Roland Garros final. But the former No. 1 player in the PIF ATP Rankings knew his charge would not give up.

“I think his strength is keeping believing all the time until the last ball is gone. And he tries and tries,” Ferrero said. “It was a thing [when] he was Love-40 in the fourth, this 5-3 [game], and he looked at me and still made [a motion to] me like this with the racquet, like saying, 'I'm still here’, saying, ‘Vamos’.” 

“I’m not going to say that I was believing that he was able to recover from that 5-3, Love-40. But one more time with Carlos, everything is possible, and he did it again. Amazing [achievement].”

Alcaraz is now 5-0 in Grand Slam finals despite being on the brink of defeat against his chief rival. The Spaniard dug deep to rally from two sets down for the first time in his career.

“Of course I think he [was] born to play these kind of moments,” Ferrero said. “Every time that we stay in these situations — even when he was younger in the Challengers, in the 250, in the 500 — when he had the big opportunities for him at [those] ages, he always went for it.”

Ferrero explained how important it is — and how much the team urges Alcaraz — to maintain his playing style in the biggest moments of pressure. His performance in the final-set tie-break was nearly flawless and his outrageous forehand winner to seal his victory will be replayed for years to come.

“We try to prepare his mind for these kind of situations, like maybe the tie-break at the fifth set,” Ferrero said. “He went for it since the first point. [He is] very brave all the time and very aggressive trying to win the point all the time.”

Alcaraz’s longtime coach competed against the likes of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, who crafted their own memorable Lexus ATP Head2Head rivalries. Ferrero pointed out how great the rivalry between Alcaraz and Sinner is for tennis.

“For [the] sport it's something amazing to have these players after maybe Roger, Rafa, and Novak is still playing, of course. But this kind of rivalry that they have [is amazing],” Ferrero said. “Having these two guys fighting for big trophies, I think we have to be very happy about it in the sport of tennis.

“For them, for sure it's something that they raise their level every time that they go on the court. They know they have to play unbelievable tennis to beat the other guy, and it's something that is going to help for sure each player to raise the level even more.”