Cascales: "Ferrero has done a much better job with Alcaraz than I thought"
Antonio Martínez Cascales confesses in the new episode of Llamada a pista that Ferrero had other offers: "Thiem called him, Del Potro, Goffin, Halep...".
Antonio Martínez Cascales, mentor of Juan Carlos Ferrero and Carlos Alcaraz through his academy, now known as the Ferrero Tennis Academy, sits down with Carlos Calderón in the new episode of the podcast Llamada a Pista to talk about his 50 years on the tennis courts.
Cascales reveals unpublished anecdotes about his adventures with Juan Carlos Ferrero, including the situations that caused the player from Ontinyent to drastically drop in the ATP rankings. He also explains in detail how the collaboration between Ferrero and a young Carlos Alcaraz, who caught attention from the start, was forged.
Juan Carlos Ferrero's decision to train Carlos Alcaraz
"Juan Carlos had offers from the best, the Top 10 at that time. Thiem called him, Del Potro, Goffin, Halep... He told me he didn't want to take up someone who was already established because he didn't want to be a cone on the court. It was relatively surprising for me. I know Juan Carlos and what he saw in Carlos. His essence hasn't changed. Carlos is a super nice guy, very grateful...
That's what Juan Carlos appreciated the most. When Carlos was 16, Juan Carlos asked me if I thought he would be number one. I said, 'He will be number one unless something like an injury happens or he loses his way.' He was a very special player. Juan Carlos has done a much better job than I thought."
Alcaraz, a great student
"Carlos is a Top 5 world-class athlete. Of course, it's not easy. There are many things around him, but that's what was aimed for and what has been achieved. When he was 18, it was easier because there wasn't as much media attention as there is now. It was much easier to move around. He has always been easy to train."
Why did Juan Carlos Ferrero's level drop?
"I see it with great satisfaction. You're not always at the top, but the work was successful in every way. It pleases me a lot when players who have been here are with great tennis players. It's a great satisfaction, especially when they see you and remember you fondly. That, coupled with sporting successes, is what makes you proud.
Carlos Moyà, like Juan Carlos Ferrero, had tremendous ambition; otherwise, they wouldn't have been number ones, but Rafa had more. What happened to Juan Carlos? He had very good years from 2000 to 2004. He started the year with semis against Federer. He lost in three sets in the Rotterdam final and said he felt slow. We went to Brazil to train, and he regained his feelings. On the plane to Indian Wells, he started feeling ill.
We arrived, and he was feeling worse. The tournament doctor told him he couldn't leave the room because he had chickenpox. He was out for two months, two months as the world number two. We slowly resumed training, but he was weak. He returned in Hamburg. He fell on the quad and broke a rib, and he was out for five months. He made it to play at Roland Garros, but Cotorro said the anesthesia could wear off."
Ferrero's rough patch
"He dropped from 2 to 12 in those months because he had many titles to defend. From there, he wasn't able to overcome that. Being at 12 was a disaster for him, really tough. That year went from bad to worse, to the point that I decided he should undergo treatment, and he dropped to 120. He then returned, reached 14; that year could have been a bit better, but he played a lot against Federer and Rafa. In 2006, I tried, because he didn't want to, a change. I thought about getting a new coach. It wasn't bad, but he didn't bounce back."
This is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Cascales: "Ferrero ha hecho un trabajo con Alcaraz mucho mejor de lo que yo pensaba"