Carlos Alcaraz has confirmed that he has split with coach Juan Carlos Ferrero after six Grand Slam titles and seven years together.
Alcaraz, the world No. 1, issued a statement on social media in which he said that the duo made the decision together and thanked his compatriot for “making my childhood dreams come true”.
“We have made it to the top, and I feel that if our sporting paths had to part, it should be from up there,” the 22-year-old said.
“So many memories come to mind that it wouldn’t be fair to choose just one. You have made me grow as an athlete, but above all as a person. And something I value greatly: I have enjoyed the process. I will remember that, the journey we have taken together.
“Now times of change are coming for both of us, new adventures and new projects. But I am certain that we will face them in the right way, giving our best, as we have always done. Always adding value.”
A representative for Alcaraz declined to comment on the reasons for the split, and how his coaching set-up will now look. In a statement on social media, the Ferrero Academy said that Samuel Lopez, who has led Alcaraz’s team at tournaments that Ferrero missed, would remain with the player.
Ferrero, a former world No. 1 and French Open champion, issued his own statement on social media.
“Today is a difficult day,” he said. “One of those when it’s hard to find the right words.”
Alcaraz joined Ferrero’s academy in Spain in 2018, when he was just 15, and they formalized their partnership a year later.
Alcaraz and Ferrero, 45, won their first Grand Slam title together at the 2022 U.S. Open, crowning Alcaraz’s first rise to the top of the world rankings at 19. But it is their work since then to establish Alcaraz as a consistently dominant force — most notably through improving his serve in the past year — that stands out, alongside the return to world No. 1 this year and the five more Grand Slam titles, including two at Wimbledon, two at the French Open and this year’s U.S. Open title.
At the Australian Open, which begins next month, he will aim to become the youngest man to win the career Grand Slam.
Wednesday’s split has stunned the tennis world, with the pair only a month ago celebrating Alcaraz finishing as the year-end world No. 1 at the ATP Tour Finals in Turin. During a news conference in September, after Alcaraz had won that U.S. Open final against Jannik Sinner, the demanding Ferrero was fulsome in his praise for his player, describing his performance in beating his biggest rival as “perfect”.
Any signs of tension between the two came earlier, principally in the Netflix documentary ‘Carlos Alcaraz: My Way’, which was released in April. The three-part series chronicled Alcaraz’s 2024 season and showed friction between Alcaraz, Ferrero and the player’s agent Albert Molina about how to manage the need for downtime with what’s required to consistently win Grand Slams.
Alcaraz and Ferrero have a frank discussion at one point, which the former was asked about at the Italian Open in May shortly after the series’ release.
“The conversation we have, coach and player, we all have it,” Alcaraz said. “We all have that conversations about everything: about the tournaments, the practices, the things that I want to do that I probably don’t have to. Whoever says they don’t have it, they lie.”
The series also demonstrated disagreements between Alcaraz and his team about a forearm injury that threatened to derail his 2024 clay-court season. At that year’s French Open, which Alcaraz won, he said that his team was trying to convince him that the pain he felt did not put him in danger. He spoke of trying to adjust his brain to trusting them and the health of his arm.
“We have been an incredible team despite the difficulties, and I am sure you will continue to achieve great success,” Ferrero wrote in his statement.
