Carlos Alcaraz is in New York City this week for the Garden Cup. Alcaraz is taking on the Big Apple before participating in the Garden Cup exhibition. Speaking with the media on Tuesday night, Alcaraz announced that he added a new coach to his staff.
The four-time Grand Slam champion has hired Samuel Lopez to work alongside Juan Carlos Ferrero. Ferrero has coached the Spaniard since he was 15 years old, and his position remains unchanged.
“I think Samuel, for me, is one of the best coaches that we have on tour,” said Alcaraz. Lopez has a history of working with Alcaraz as he accompanied the Spanish tennis star to the 2024 Australian Open when Ferrero could not travel while recovering from knee surgery.
Alcaraz explained, “They trust each other 100 percent and being able to travel with both, for me, it’s going to be great. I think I’m going to grow as a player thanks to them. I think we are going to work pretty hard and pretty good for the next season and the next years. Hopefully we are going to make good results together.”
At 21 years old, Alcaraz is now dictating the direction of his career. “They’re listening to me much more than before. Obviously when I was 16 years old I had nothing to say. I was just mouth closed and ears open and did whatever he said. Right now I’m doing more things for myself, let’s say I’m taking more decisions, serious decisions.
So I think (we) both are doing great work together as a person as well just to make sure this relationship is still pretty good and the love that we have for each other is huge. So I admire him as a professional but as a person as well,” said Alcaraz.
At 54 years old, Lopez has a solid coaching resume. In addition to coaching Ferrero, he worked with Pablo Carreno Busta for nine years before their recent split this past weekend.
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