“I have to take off the ‘new Nadal’ backpack”

Spanish tennis player Carlos Alcaraz and his coach Juan Carlos Ferrero pose after winning the title of the Città di Trieste Trophy of the ATP Challenger Tour.

Carlos Alcaraz and Juan Carlos Ferrero gave an interview to the Jugones de LaSexta program in which they reviewed the good start to the season of the Murcian tennis player after making himself known to the general tennis public in the 2021 season.

Alcaraz knows that, little by little, he is carving out a niche for himself among the best tennis players on the ATP circuit. “I can say that I am there. Carlos Alcaraz is not the promise that is rising, that can go very far, but I consider that I am already there. The players know me, they know who I am. My life has changed quite a bit. They begin to know you a little more, they ask you for photos…”.

Alcaraz himself acknowledges that his time at the JC Ferrero Equelite Academy has also helped him to considerably improve his physique to face matches. “When I arrived here at the academy I did not have a very good physique. It was clear to him that a physical change had to be made to be able to endure long and demanding games. I always train physically first in the morning and then I start tennis. Two hours, give or take.”

John Charles Ferrero It also highlights that, with their youth, they try to demand as much as possible from Alcaraz so that he adapts to any situation. “He is an 18-year-old boy to whom we squeeze everything we can, to demand him in every way.”

A demand that Alcaraz admits and that at the same time thanks him for the numerous advices that he gives Ferrero: “He’s demanding, he’s on top of you, he tells you all your mistakes… I’m working to, tomorrow, be able to be a benchmark for all young people.”

Alcaraz also took the opportunity to once again remove the label that some put on him when comparing him with Rafa Nadal: “‘The successor to Nadal, the new Nadal’… I have to put all that aside. It’s a backpack that they put on me but I take it off. I want to be known as Carlos Alcaraz.”

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