Over the past few months, there have been wide-ranging talks about the partnership between Carlos Alcaraz and his coach, Juan Carlos Ferrero. The latter missed the Australian Open as he was recovering from an arthroscopy on his left knee. As a result, Alcaraz was accompanied by another coach, Samuel Lopez for the tournament. Amid this, American tennis legend, Andy Roddick, has cleared his remarks about the Alcaraz-Ferrero pairing.
Ferrero is a long-time coach of Alcaraz, having started working with him in 2019. Only 16 back then, Alcaraz has improved leaps and bounds over the years. Roddick is in strong agreement with this belief.
Andy Roddick defends his remarks on Carlos Alcaraz’s coach
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Recently, a small controversy erupted on social media involving Roddick. A few days back on a podcast, the former World Number 1 went on to reveal that Alcaraz’s serve hadn’t improved over the last 2 years. He even went on to explain how it differed compared to that of Roger Federer and Pete Sampras.
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However, Roddick’s comments were taken out of proportion by one fan on Twitter. The fan went on to conclude that Alcaraz needs a new coach who can help him improve his serve. Subsequently, Roddick was quick to defend his remarks earlier.
Roddick said, “He definitely doesn’t need another coach. JCF has been amazing. Saying his serve hasn’t improved doesn’t mean he hasn’t improved. Night and day from where he was two years ago. They’ve done amazing work.”
He definitely doesn’t need another coach. JCF has been amazing. Saying his serve hasn’t improved doesn’t mean he hasn’t improved. Night and day from where he was two years ago. They’ve done amazing work https://t.co/LMOPM98Y5k
— andyroddick (@andyroddick) February 5, 2024
Alcaraz suffered a heartbreaking loss in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open. German tennis star, Alexander Zverev, got the better of him in four sets. With Ferrero not to join Alcaraz’s camp before the Indian Wells next month, it won’t be a surprise if Roddick has a brief stint with him as a coach.
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Will Roddick work with Alcaraz?
During the off-season last year, Roddick had a secret coaching session with Gauff. They worked together on her weaknesses that were needed to be addressed before the onset of the 2024 season. Further, he gave coaching advice to Alcaraz recently.
Roddick revealed, “He needs to create a little bit of motion on the serve. I think it’s a learning curve, I’m not overly concerned on the long term. I think it’s a learning tool and he’ll learn about it.“
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While Alcaraz has received tips virtually from Roddick, a surprise physical stint between the two cannot be ruled out in the near future. Despite this, Alcaraz is very close to Ferrero, and their partnership will go on.
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