Carlos Alcaraz recently shared the nuggets of wisdom he received from his coach, Juan Carlos Ferrero, during an inconsistent second half of 2023.
From the highs of winning Queen's and Wimbledon—two of the biggest grass court titles on offer—Alcaraz came crashing back to earth during the American and Asian swings.
The young Spaniard lost to Novak Djokovic in an epic Cincinnati final in August. Weeks later, Daniil Medvedev dethroned Alcaraz as the US Open champion in the semifinal stage. In Asia, he failed to progress beyond the semifinal stage in two tournaments.
Having led the ATP race and the world rankings after Wimbledon, Alcaraz missed out on the chance to solidify that spot in a busy period between August and October, even with Djokovic out of the picture in tournaments in Beijing and Shanghai.
Alcaraz eventually ceded the top spot to Djokovic, who topped the year-end rankings for a record-extending eighth time. Shortly after, his coach, Juan Carlo Ferrero, gave a telling interview where he warned Alcaraz about the dangers of taking his foot off the pedal in the middle of the season.
Ferrero was merely trying to counsel his protege rather than being critical, saying in an interview with MARCA, "I think that professionally he has to start learning that the world of tennis is from January to November."
Alcaraz responded to the comments in a positive way, believing that he was still looking to improve in many areas of his game and master the tennis calendar.
In a more recent interview with the Spanish daily newspaper La Vanguardia, the 20-year-old explained he lost his energy after the North American hard court swing before stating the role that Ferrero plays within his coaching team.
"Well, that last part of the season was difficult for me. After the American tour I needed to maintain my enthusiasm. Ferrero came to tell me that the season does not end in September. For things like that I have him by my side: he doesn't laugh at me thanking him, but rather he tells me what he should tell me."
Alcaraz withdrew from his title defense at this week's Barcelona Open but hopes to recover from his forearm injury in time for the Madrid Open, which will kick off on April 22nd.