What Carlos Alcaraz is demonstrating at just 19 is something amazing. The Spanish could break any record, should he continue to collect titles after titles. The young tennis player, since his explosion on the Tour, when he was still a minor, has already shown exponential growth, which led him between 2022 and 2023, to already put three Masters 1000 titles on his bulletin board and above all the first Grand Slam, Us Open.
Alcaraz is the youngest to have reached the most coveted seat in the ranking, that of number one in the world. His talent has always been very evident in the eyes of the insiders who have had the privilege of watching him grow.
At The Times Juan Carlos Ferrero, Antonio Martínez-Cascales and other members of his team were able to talk about it in depth, who told how the phenomenon of world tennis was born. “Since he arrived at the academy at the age of 15, it was clear that every time he took the field he would do something that I have never seen in my life.
I had cameras all over the courts, I knew this guy was special and I didn’t want to miss any of his progress. He thought differently from other players his age “says Martínez-Cascales, founder of the Equelite Academy and a leading figure in the success of Spanish tennis for decades.
Alcaraz told by his coach Ferrero
Ferrero, his coach since he was a kid, explains how from the first moment he saw him, he knew he had a diamond in his hands: “I saw him play for the first time when I was 14 and I felt something special.
Our bond goes beyond tennis, taking on the role of coach when he was only 15 was a huge challenge for me. I wanted to raise a young tennis player from the grassroots to the elite, just like Antonio did for me,” says the former world number 1.
“It was clear to me that I could do it, but everything happened faster than expected. When the tough times come, you can clearly see on every tennis player’s face how they deal with them. Some want to escape, others lose concentration and blame their bad level on external factors.
Carlos lives for these kinds of situations, he grows up and brings out the best in himself,” says Samuel López, head coach of Carreño Busta. Antonio Martínez-Cascales, the famous Spanish coach, aware of the absolute value of Carlos, launches himself into an ambitious forecast, which certainly does not appear unattainable.
“When he’s 25, I think he may have won seven or eight Grand Slam tournaments. After that, we can think about other challenges,” he predicts.
