Carlos Alcaraz told he may just have made his biggest mistake by a former Wimbledon champion
Former Wimbledon champion Pat Cash has told Tennis365 that Carlos Alcaraz may have made the biggest mistake of his career by deciding to end his partnership with long-time coach, Juan Carlos Ferrero.
The tennis world was stunned by Alcaraz’s announcement that he was breaking away from the coach who has helped him to win six Grand Slam titles, with the comments from both camps since the split appearing to confirm their partnership will not be revived.
Now Cash has given his verdict on the split and he didn’t pull any punches as he suggested the move could come back to haunt the world No 1.
“It’s a head scratcher for me,” Cash told Tennis365. “How can you fire someone who has helped you all the way through and won those Grand Slam titles?
“More importantly, he won two of them last year. It’s not like he won just one Grand Slam final, which would still be a great result. He won two of them! And was in the final of another one.
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“Hardly a disastrous year, maybe his best year, but he fires his coach.
“We are seeing a lot of managers and agents who get into a player’s ear, think they know the best for the player and throw a seed of doubt in there, it can really destroy a relationship. I’m not saying that’s happened here. I don’t know the ins and outs of it, but I’ve seen a lot of this. Is it a mistake for Alcaraz to do this? We don’t know yet, but let’s see.”
Former world No 2 Alex Corretja also spoke to Tennis365 about the Alcaraz-Ferrero split, as he suggested the shock move could have an impact on his hopes at the Australian Open.
“I hope it won’t affect him, but we have to see what happens when he plays and does not have Juan Carlos in the box,” said Corretja, who will be part of the TNT Sports team for the Australian Open.
“The thing is, he has been with Sami Lopez in the past, he already had that combination with him last year and I feel like he is ready for this.
“He is fired up for the new season and about having the chance to play well at Melbourne because he has never won there.
“Of course, there is this big question about how he will feel, but from what I’ve heard, he’s been working so hard on improving things and he is happy to start a new season.
“I think he finished last season quite well. In the past, he finished the season tired and a bit exhausted, but the fact that he was a finalist at the ATP Finals was good.
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“Then he had this issue with Juanki, but he is ready. He got there in Melbourne a week before to get ready for the condition, so I think he’s going to be ready.
“Whatever happens in Melbourne, I’m not going to be the saying ‘oh, you see he has split up with Ferrero and now things are not going well’. I’m not this kind of person to make this kind of judgment.”
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