ATP Tour
Alcaraz impressing Ferrero, three years on: “He’s improved everything”
World No. 2’s coach takes a deep dive into the US Open semi-finals
September 04, 2025
Matthew Stockman/Getty Images
Juan Carlos Ferrero in Carlos Alcaraz’s player box at the 2025 US Open.
By ATPTour.com/es Staff
Carlos Alcaraz has reached the semifinals of the US Open without dropping a set and is producing a level of tennis that has satisfied even the most demanding members of his team.
Juan Carlos Ferrero’s analysis of the current campaign highlights the maturity the No. 2 in the PIF ATP Rankings is displaying on court, both in terms of his solidity and the way he is handling his emotions during key moments. The coach, who has been alongside Alcaraz since his early days, is seeing very clear signs that his player is now taking another stride in his competitive evolution.
“It’s true that we’ve always known that he was very good in terms of his tennis, but the truth is that mentally I believe he’s better than ever, in terms of concentration and solidity,” said Ferrero on Wednesday. “I’d say that at this tournament he’s starting to reach what maybe we can see as the huge potential he has. We know that technically he’s very, very, very good, and we’ve always worked on that consistency regarding the little ups and downs.
“Despite the experience he has, he’s still very young, so he’s still in the process of maturing and improving. But that’s what we ask of him and what we’re practising. Little by little he’s shown glimpses of improvement and perhaps this tournament is where it’s been the most evident. He’s making around five, six, seven unforced errors in the whole set and I think that’s the big difference compared to other tournaments.”
Looking back and comparing today’s Alcaraz to the one that claimed the title in New York three years ago, when he took down Casper Ruud to win the first major of his career and simultaneously become the youngest World No. 1 in history, is somewhat inevitable.
“I’d say that he’s improved everything,” said Ferrero. “In terms of maturity he’s improved so much and mentally he has a much better understanding that tough situations are where you have to produce your best level. The serve and forehand are also much better. If a player hasn’t improved at all in three years… the coach is very bad.
“He has incredible skills and is on an incredible trajectory. Whatever you ask him to do, he achieves it very quickly. That’s good and bad at the same time because you can get overconfident. Like any player, you really have to stay on top of that.”
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After Wimbledon, the team had a vital conversation about priorities. Jannik Sinner took the spoils in a four-set final to win his first title at the All England Tennis Club, but it was also a valuable lesson for Alcaraz.
“Team chats are often important,” noted Ferrero. “In that chat we talked a bit about the Wimbledon final, his feelings about it, what we saw, the things that clearly had to improve, how we should approach the US swing and so on. Situations that are normal within the team.
“I think it was a very interesting, very positive chat, and he was very clear about things, as were we. It helped him in terms of being very motivated for the rest of the year.”
That motivation is in no doubt; after the summer, Alcaraz reappeared to take the title in Cincinnati and has thus far cruised to the semi-finals of the US Open. It is a very different scenario a year ago, when he struggled to move on from Olympic gold slipping through his fingers at Paris 2024.
“This swing is very different to last year, he’s arrived here feeling much fresher,” explained the 22-year-old’s coach. “That rest and those holidays really served him well after a month and a half that was pretty stressful with Roland Garros and Wimbledon. Those holidays are necessary for him to reset his mind, to be with his people and to be at a mental level where he can continue to compete at the highest level.”
That ‘highest level’ will be absolutely necessary on Friday, when Novak Djokovic will be on the other side of the net and quite probably give the Spaniard his sternest test so far at the final Grand Slam event of the year.
Editor’s note: This story was translated from ATPTour.com/es
