Carlos Alcaraz hires new coach as his first events for 2025 are revealed
There will be a new addition to Carlos Alcaraz’s support team during the 2025 season, but his new coach will only join him on his travels after the Australian Open.
Juan Carlos Ferrero has been Alcaraz’s head coach since he was 16 years old and the 2003 French Open champion’s position remains unchanged.
But Ferrero will get some help as the experienced Samuel Lopez will join as coach after his recent split from Pablo Carreno Busta following a nine-year partnership.
Lopez, though, does have a history of working with Alcaraz as he accompanied the former world No 1 to the 2024 Australian Open as Ferrero was unable to travel as he was still recovering from knee surgery.
He was also part of the coaching set-up for Alcaraz’s Miami Open campaign in 2022 and his Queen’s Club appearances in 2023 and 2024.
But Lopez won’t be on the four-time Grand Slam winner’s bench at next year’s Australian Open as his first official tournament will be the Rotterdam Open in February.
The decision to play on the hard courts in Rotterdam is a change from his usual February campaign as he played on the clay in South America in recent years before heading to the United States for the Sunshine Double ATP Masters 1000 events.
“I think Samuel, for me, is one of the best coaches that we have on tour,” the reigning world No 3 said.
“They trust each other 100 percent and being able to travel with both, for me, it’s going to be great. I think I’m going to grow as a player thanks to them. I think we are going to work pretty hard and pretty good for the next season and the next years. Hopefully we are going to make good results together.”
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It has also been announced that Alcaraz will not play any official tournaments before the Australian Open as he will instead take part in two charity matches on Rod Laver Arena on January 8 and 10 with the likes of Novak Djokovic, Jannik Sinner and Alex de Minaur also set to feature.
Alcaraz also didn’t play any warm-up events ahead of the 2024 season-opening Grand Slam at Melbourne Park and he reached the quarter-final of the Australian Open before losing against sixth seed Alexander Zverev in four sets.
The Spaniard missed the entire 2023 Australian swing as he was recovering from a hamstring injury.
The 21-year-old suffered a slump during the final few months of this season following his French Open-Wimbledon double.
He lost in the second round of the US Open before finding form at the China Open where he won the title. However, he slumped to early exits from the Paris Masters and season-ending ATP Finals in Turin.
