Carlos Alcaraz full of confidence in his team after Juan Carlos Ferrero split
By Eleanor Crooks, Press Association Sport Correspondent, Melbourne
Carlos Alcaraz insisted he has full confidence in his team following the shock off-season split from long-term coach Juan Carlos Ferrero.
Former world number one Ferrero had guided Alcaraz since he was 15, but the pair announced last month that they had parted ways.
Ferrero blamed a contractual dispute, with Alcaraz now coached solely by Samuel Lopez, who had been the number two.
Alcaraz refused to go into details at his first press conference of the new season ahead of the Australian Open, saying: “With Juan Carlos, we decide to do it.
“I’m just having plenty of confidence in the team that I have right now. The practices have gone really well. I’m just feeling well. So I’m just excited about the tournament to begin with the team that I have right now.
“I’ve got to say that I’m really grateful for this seven years I’ve been with Juan Carlos. I learned a lot. Probably thanks to him I’m the player that I am right now.
“But internally we decided like this. We closed this chapter in mutual (ways). We both are still friends, good relationship.
“I have the same team that I had last year. Just one member missing. So we didn’t change the routine at all. We just going through the pre-season and the season in the same way, probably with the improvement that I really want to do.”
The split means there will be extra scrutiny on how Alcaraz performs at Melbourne Park, where he has yet to make it beyond the quarter-finals.
Should the 22-year-old claim the title, he would become the youngest man to complete the career Grand Slam of all four major crowns.
“I think this is my main goal for this year,” said Alcaraz. “I’m just hungry for the title, hungry to do a really good result here.”
If Alcaraz is to win a first Australian Open title, he will have to break the winning run of his great rival Jannik Sinner, the two-time defending champion.
The pair have shared the last eight slam titles between them and contested the last three finals, with Alcaraz’s victory at the US Open sending Sinner back to the drawing board.
The Italian spoke in the aftermath of his four-set loss about needing to add more variety to his game, and that has been a focus in the off-season.
“We worked a lot on trying to make the transition to the net,” he said. “The serve we change a couple of things. But all small details. When you are at the top level, there are the small details that make the difference.
“But I would say the first matches you try to get used to the match feeling again, and then after you try to add something. We’ll see how things go.”
