Despite his Grand Slam inexperience Carlos Alcaraz has the potential to triumph at this year’s French Open, according to his coach Juan Carlos Ferrero.
The 19-year-old Spaniard has enjoyed a meteoric rise in the sport over the past few months which has seen him set various milestones. In February he became the youngest player to win an ATP 500 title in Rio before becoming the youngest Miami Masters champion in history. On the clay Alcaraz continued his surge by scoring back-to-back wins over Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic en route to the Madrid Open title.
Heading into Roland Garros, the rising star has achieved a win-loss record of 28-3 and remains the only player in 2022 to have won a quartet of titles on the ATP Tour. Starting the year outside the top 30, he is currently at a ranking high of sixth in the world. To put that into context, the last player younger than him to be in the world’s top 10 was Nadal back in 2005.
Pundits are now backing Alcaraz to be one of the title favourites at Roland Garros, even though it will only be his sixth appearance in a Grand Slam main draw. As for the views of those within his own team, coach Ferrero also believes he has the potential to achieve Grand Slam glory.
“We have the objective of going there and try to win it,” the 42-year-old said during an interview with The Evening Standard. “This will be really hard but we think we’re ready for it. I really think he has possibilities although he is not the main favourite.”
Ferrero first got acquainted with Alcaraz by watching him train at the JC Ferrero-Equelite Sports Academy when he was younger. He went to watch him play a Futures tournament at the age of 14 where he claimed his first ATP point. From then on, a bond began to form between the two.
It goes without saying that the world No.6 is one of the most promising players the men’s Tour has seen in recent years. However, his mentor believes there is still plenty of room for improvement.
“There’s good work to do and space for improvement yet,” Ferrero commented. “But he is a 360 complete player. He has so many good things, so many resources. That’s his best facet. This makes it hard for his rivals to compete against him.”
Alcaraz is seeded sixth in this year’s French Open draw. He will begin his campaign against either a qualifier or lucky loser. During the first week it is possible that he could play Sebastian Korda, who defeated him in Monte Carlo, in round three and then Cameron Norrie.
