US OPEN

September 11, 2022

Juan Carlos Ferrero

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Juan Carlos, could you start on giving us your thoughts on tonight's match.

JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: Yeah, complicated. All finals are complicated because you always want to win. Obviously it was a Grand Slam final, and you never want to lose it.

So it was more to control emotions and nerves, getting to the court with the same feeling as he was playing the other matches.

But definitely was not the same at the beginning. I think he control it very well. After losing the second, it was tight, the third. I think it was very, very important to win that set because I think it was the key to win the match for Carlos because he was, I think, a little bit tired at the fourth.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. What did you tell Carlos before the match to have him not think about the three five-setters and to handle the pressure of going for No. 1, which is something you did here?

JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: The other matches was past. Of course, all the hours that he get on the court, obviously it matters to play the final.

As he said, there is no time to be tired at finals. It's one of the things that we were talking before the match. I tried to tell him all the time to go for a match, not have the sensation to not play his level. So he tried to push and push and push all the time. I think he tried to do it all the time.

Q. Can you try to put into words the magic of Carlos, what makes him so special and gifted as an athlete?

JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: I don't know. It's very tough to say all these things in words.

But Carlos, I think he born to play this kind of tournament, born to play these kind of matches. Since the moment that I started with him, I saw some things that were different than the other guys at his age.

I am still seeing it on the court. In important moments, he always try to go. This was one of the more difficult things in tennis, even on his first Grand Slam final.

He's a great competitor. He's there. He's trying all the time. We could see it the last matches, even against Cilic, Sinner, or Tiafoe, that he never gave up. He always wanted to push and try to stay on the match.

Q. You've known him for so long, but are you surprised he's been able to win a Grand Slam title so young?

JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: No. No, because I know his level. Of course, it comes very fast, let's say. It's a surprise for everybody except maybe to me because I trained with him every day and I know what he's able to play on the court.

I was pretty sure that maybe it wasn't this year, could be next one. So at the end it was that one. Very happy about it.

It was fast, but now definitely we want to continue.

Q. Is this the start of the Carlos Alcaraz era? Can he go on and dominate tennis now?

JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: I don't know. I would love to. As I said before, I think he born to play this kind of tournament. He wants to play this tournament. He wants to win it.

The other day I said to someone in the press that maybe Sinner and Carlos could dominate the tour for maybe the next 10 years, from what I saw, the level that I saw the other day.

Of course, there's another players like Zverev, Thiem, Casper, Tsitsipas, they going to be there, they going to have opportunities to win Grand Slams for sure. But with all respect, that's what I think.

Q. Carlos had his first tour win in February 2020, then tennis stopped for three months. I think he spent a lot of time with you at the academy.

JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: Yep.

Q. Do you think if tennis hadn't shut down there, this would have happened even younger?

JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: Could be. Could be. Because he was about to play Indian Wells, Miami, some of the tournaments that they were big. We had to stop for almost three months and start to play in challengers.

Who knows? I cannot say other thing than it could be.

Q. Could you talk a little bit about his speed.

JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: Speed?

Q. Did you see it from the very beginning? Do you have to work on it? Is it just something that he's had?

JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: Explosive. But at the same time he had to work a lot. When he arrived to academy when he was 15, he was like a spaghetti, very thin (smiling). We had to work.

Obviously we saw that he had very fast hands, very fast legs, but no muscles at all, not in the back, not in the legs. We had to work a lot.

But obviously we saw something very special on him.

Q. You have this great success when he's young. As a coach, what will you work on now to try to make this something that can last?

JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: Same as before. As I tell him, I think he's on 60% of his game. He can improve a lot of things. He knows and I know that we have to keep working.

Once to get to the No. 1, it's not done and you go. You have to keep working, keep playing at a huge level on that tournaments to keep winning. He knows that and I know that. I'm going to be very close from him to remember him (smiling).

Q. Carlos came to the net a lot today. He served and volleyed down set point. What were your tactics with that? How have his volleys developed since he came to the academy?

JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: One of the things that I talked to him after Cincinnati, that he maybe lose a little bit his happiness on the court, maybe worrying about numbers and tournaments, not about his game.

We came here. I gave him the advice to go to the net on any ball that it was short. So we tried to practice the whole week this. It's like he start to feel better on the court, going for any ball that he has short. He felt very well.

I think it's one of the key that he enjoy again to play the tennis that he has.

Q. Was it difficult for him having a bit of a target on his back?

JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: What?

Q. Was it difficult for him to have a target on his back, a top player? You said he lost his joy a bit.

JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: I didn't understand a word.

Q. Was it difficult adjusting to being a top player and having other players play well against him?

JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: No. I mean, the players now, they're going to play very motivated against him. Now he's No. 1. Before he was 2 or 3. Even like this, it's like Real Madrid-Barcelona, there's a rivalry that gets you increase your level. It's what is going to happen to him against his opponents. He has to be ready.

Q. For the past few years, people have been saying about the ATP maybe they're a bit worried that when Rafa, Roger and Novak stop, there won't be someone to fill the void. From several years ago, having worked with Carlos, were you saying I'm not worried, the future is fine, or is that only becoming apparent now?

JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: I have the goal to put him on the high level of tennis. Of course, I think it's going to be very, very difficult to achieve what they have done on tennis. We're talking about 22 Grand Slams. He has only one. Is a long way still to go.

But who knows? I think he has all the tennis and potential to be one of the best. All we have to do is try it.

Q. In terms of charisma, having the interest in the sport...

JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: Absolutely. You can see it on the court, people enjoy with him. Yeah, absolutely.