Carlos Alcaraz’s coach praised by Spanish former top-10 star he used to work with

Oli Dickson Jefford 18 Feb 2026 4:45 PM

Pictured: Carlos Alcaraz and Pablo Carreno Busta.

Spanish tennis stars Carlos Alcaraz and Pablo Carreno Busta.

Carlos Alcaraz’s coach Samuel Lopez has been praised by fellow Spanish ATP Tour star Pablo Carreno Busta — the man he used to work with before joining the world No 1’s entourage.

Lopez joined Alcaraz’s team ahead of the 2025 season and acted as the world No 1’s co-lead coach, before taking on sole head coaching duties after Juan Carlos Ferrero’s sudden departure last December.

The partnership between Alcaraz and Lopez was under scrutiny at the Australian Open, but both men silenced any critics after the 22-year-old captured his seventh Grand Slam singles title at the event, becoming the youngest man in the Open Era to complete the Career Grand Slam.

Alcaraz is back in action at the ATP 500 Qatar Open this week, and started his campaign with a solid win over Arthur Rinderknech on Tuesday.

Also in action this week was world No 123 Carreno Busta, who lost in the opening round to Quentin Halys.

Though now outside the top 100 of the ATP Rankings, the 34-year-old reached a career-high of world No 10 back in September 2017 — under the guidance of Lopez.

Lopez and Carreno Busta worked together from 2015 to 2024, the two working together during a long and successful partnership.

Under Lopez’s guidance, Carreno Busta twice reached the semi-final of the US Open and reached the quarter-final of the French Open twice, alongside reaching the fourth round of the Australian Open on three separate occasions.

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The Spaniard won all seven of his ATP Tour singles titles working with Lopez — including a Masters 1000 title at the 2022 Canadian Open — and claimed a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

Carreno Busta and Lopez parted on good terms in 2024, and speaking to AS this week, the 34-year-old revealed his delight at seeing his former coach find huge success with Alcaraz.

He said (translated from Spanish): “I’m so happy for Samuel, because he’s a fantastic person. He’s a really, really good coach. He didn’t become a top player, but he is a top coach.

“He’s coached many players, and he’s probably taken them all to their full potential — which doesn’t mean they all have to be number one. He’s been with Guillermo Garcia, he’s been with Nico Almagro, he’s been with me… and we’ve all been at the top.

“When a coach takes a player and takes them to the top, it means he’s very good. I’m really happy for him: I spent many years by his side, he helped me a lot, and my best years at the academy were with him.

“Things turned out this way: now he’s Carlos’s head coach, but I think Samuel deserves it because he’s fought his whole life to be a coach; he loves tennis.

“And I also knew Carlos from the beginning: even though he was my coach and Carlos was with Juan Carlos, Juan Carlos was very involved with me, just as Samuel was very involved with Carlos.”

Alcaraz will look to continue his Qatar Open campaign with victory over Valentin Royer on Wednesday, and could go on to face world No 2 Jannik Sinner in the final.

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