Juan Carlos Ferrero was annoyed by missing the 2024 Australian Open, but it didn't impact Carlos Alcaraz's level Down Under, according to the coach.
Alcaraz had a disappointing Australian Open campaign. He did play well at times but came up short of what he wanted to do. He wanted to win the trophy but he didn't come near that as Alexander Zverev made sure of that.
Many tried to pinpoint exactly what went wrong for him, with some suggesting that his coach not being there had something to do with it. It might have, but playing without Ferrero in his corner is nothing new for Alcaraz.
He's done it before and actually done rather well, so it's not like there is a history there. Ferrero himself was annoyed by missing the event but he admited to Marca recently that it didn't affect Alcaraz and his play.
"Obviously yes. After such a good preseason that Carlos had, missing a 'Grand Slam' is annoying, I stayed at home annoyed. I tried until the end, but it couldn't be. I believe that he gave a great level until the match that he lost, so in that aspect we were calm."
The coach was calm because Alcaraz handled those situations really well in the past. If we look back at the US Open he won, Ferrero wasn't there initially and traveled only later for the event.
Thanks to technology they can still communicate and that's what they did this time around. It's not an ideal setup, but it's comfortable enough.
"When he travels with both Samuel (López) and Antonio (Cascales) he is comfortable and gives the same level, which is the important thing."
"We communicated ahead of the matches, to find out how he was doing and how training was going. Communication cannot be lacking, although the person I spoke with the most was Samuel."