Andy Roddick has given his verdict on Carlos Alcaraz and calls for the Spanish star to sack his coach Juan Carlos Ferrero. Some reports from Alcaraz’s homeland began questioning Ferrero’s involvement after disappointments at Indian Wells and Miami, despite the 21-year-old winning four Grand Slam titles under his guidance.
Ferrero, a 2003 French Open champion, started working with Alcaraz when the youngster was just 16. Their partnership has yielded 17 ATP Tour titles and the player regularly credits his coach after big victories. But even after booking a place in the Monte-Carlo Masters quarter-finals, a lack of success since his Rotterdam Open victory earlier this year has raised questions about whether a coaching change would be beneficial.
Roddick, the 2003 US Open champion and former world No. 1, has blasted that suggestion. He claims that Alcaraz has fallen victim to lofty expectations set by Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, and that Ferrero’s position should be safe.
“Do you guys remember the crazy times before the Big Three when players didn’t make the finals every week,” he told the Tennis Channel.
“Like honestly, we have to reset expectations and one of [Paul] Annacone’s former charges Pete Sampras, as great as he was, winner of 14 Majors, six year-end No. 1’s, he would lose third round sometimes. He just would. He would win two Majors a year instead of three.
“We have to reset expectations. Carlos Alcaraz already has more Majors than Andy Murray, he is halfway towards icons like [Jimmy] Connors, [Andre] Agassi. It’s just absurd what he’s done. We need to reset a little bit and anyone calling for a coaching change doesn’t know anything about coaching.”
After defeating Daniel Altmaier 6-3 6-1 in Monaco, Alcaraz admitted that he has “struggled a little bit over the past month” but is relishing playing on clay again after banishing some of the negative thoughts that have plagued him.
“I’ve been paying attention to the rankings and the stats,” he said. “I think it’s the wrong thing to do. Right now I realise that I have to just play. I love playing tennis, I love stepping on the court.
“[I need to] just focus on good tennis and forget about the rankings, forget about everything. I realise that I have to do that. In the clay tournaments, I will try to do that, forget about everything and just play.
“I felt great today. It’s the first time I’ve been on clay. I had a week and a half to prepare for this tournament, so I guess it’s progress to keep going every day, trying to get better and better.
“The first round was a little bit tricky for me. I struggled a little bit with the game and I think today I felt much better. Hopefully in the quarter-final I am much, much better. I think it’s about time spent on the court.”
Alcaraz faces Arthur Fils on Friday for a place in the semi-finals.