ATP Tour

Ferrero & Lopez assess Alcaraz's game ahead of Wimbledon SFs...

Carlos Alcaraz completed a light practice session on the courts of Aorangi Park on Wednesday, putting the finishing touches on his Wimbledon semi-final against Taylor Fritz. The Spaniard looked relaxed and happy, unwinding between moments of intense work on a sunny morning in south west London.

After his work on court, his two coaches, Juan Carlos Ferrero and Samuel Lopez, took a deep dive into their charge’s form, highlighting his progress, the importance of the serve and the competitive maturity he is showing at this year’s grass-court major.

What mark would you give the No. 2 player in the PIF ATP Rankings so far?

“A 10, no?”, answered Ferrero. “He’s in the semi-final. He hasn’t lost a match. I think he’s grown into it. He’s very well physically. So far, a very high mark.”

“Yes,” continued López, who joined the 22-year-old’s team this season. “I also think he deserves a distinction.”

“Since his first match with [Fabio] Fognini, he has gradually increased his level, he is feeling increasingly better,” explained Ferrero. “I think that the conditions were different at Queen’s and he needed some time to adapt. Now that he’s into the tournament, progressing through the rounds, his level is increasing. Yesterday [Tuesday] we could see that and enjoy it, he really is excited. The final matches are approaching, hopefully there are two more, and the whole team is really excited.”

That increase in level has been reflected in every aspect of his game, although his serve particularly stands out. Early in the tournament, there seemed to be a lot of uncertainty in Alcaraz’s opening shot but he seems to have eliminated any doubts in his last two matches, when he beat Andrey Rublev and Cameron Norrie, respectively.

“It’s a constant task”, said Ferrero. “The serve depends on a number of things; practice, feeling relaxed about the new movement, feeling comfortable. On grass you focus on it more because if you hit a serve in the right place, you can do a lot of damage. So here there is a tendency to work more on that shot. Carlos has improved it every day.”

“Ultimately, it’s a process,” Lopez added. “The change comes first in practice and then you have to take that change to competition, where there is adrenaline and different sensations. Once it is working better in practice, normally it will start working in matches too. We’re seeing that gradually, after some tweaks, there’s a pretty significant improvement.”

So far, Alcaraz has fired 62 aces, most of them coming from the last two matches (22 in the fourth round and 13 in the quarter-finals). In addition, he has won 76 per cent of the points he has played from his first serve. Add that to his astonishing ability to defend and the two-time defending champion looks ready to go all the way... again.

“Not only on grass... I think Carlos is in the midst of an exceptional season,” said Ferrero. “He deserves so much credit for what he’s doing tournament after tournament, bringing the level. We know how difficult it is, everyone knows. And that’s to be admired. Once again, we take our hat off to that. Of course, he’s very well prepared, motivated and brimming with confidence.

“From there, what you have to do is be calm, rest well, recover as well as possible, and be mentally fresh for that semi-final. I think Carlos has the experience of having already played matches like this. Can he improve? You can always improve on the finer details. We won’t be revealing anything to our opponents here, though. There are always small things to work on. A forehand, a backhand, a slice, defence, small things. But, they are small tweaks that remain within the team.”

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Alcaraz takes a 2-0 Lexus ATP Head2Head clash with Fritz in the semi-finals, where he is aiming to move within one win of a third consecutive Wimbledon title.