Carlos Alcaraz’s split with his long-time coach Juan Carlos Ferrero was a move that stunned the tennis community, as the duo that worked together to claim Grand Slam titles over the last four years parted ways in December.
If Alcaraz wins his first Australian Open title later this month, he will join the select band of players who have won all four of the Grand Slam titles, yet there are now big question marks over what comes next for the Spanish superstar after the exit of former Grand Slam winner Ferrero from his camp.
The All Court Tennis Club spoke to 1987 Wimbledon champion and Bank of China Hong Kong Open ambassador Pat Cash ahead of the opening Grand Slam of the year, with the Australian legend unimpressed by Alcaraz’s decision to end his relationship with his long-time coach.
Were you surprised by Alcaraz’s decision to end his partnership with Ferrero?
It’s a head scratcher for me. How can you fire somebody who has brought you all those titles and helped you all the way through and won those Grand Slams and titles? And importantly, he won two last year. It wasn’t a disaster in 2025. It was, maybe, his best year ever. And he fires his coach? It doesn’t make any sense.
So do you think Alcaraz has made a mistake with this decision?
We are seeing a lot of managers and agents who get into a player’s ear, think they know the best for the player and throw a seed of doubt in there, it can really destroy a relationship. I’m not saying that’s happened here. I don’t know the ins and outs of it, but I’ve seen a lot of this. Is it a mistake for Alcaraz to do this? We don’t know yet, but let’s see.
Do players appreciate the input of former champions like Ferrero once they reach the top?
As a player or as a coach, you’re selling your intellectual knowledge to them. You’re selling 30 years or 40 years of knowledge and experience to them, which is invaluable. They pay you a certain amount for that, but that should be valued and all too often, it’s not. Whether that’s society or young players or whatever. I’ve seen a lot of players get rid of their coach and shoot themselves in the foot. Staying with a coach and being consistent works. Bringing new voices in can help, but the ultimate game for a tennis player is to get better.
Is Jannik Sinner your big favourite for the Australian Open?
It’s a two-horse race in men’s tennis. Sinner and Alcaraz are ahead of everyone and when I look at the rest, Novak Djokovic will be nipping at their heels if he is fit and does Alexander Zverev have a chance? I’m not sure. Taylor Fritz has a chance, Lorenzo Musetti could break through and the one I think could really challenge the top two is Jack Draper, but he has struggled to stay fit. Tournaments are hoping that Sinner and Alcaraz get through to the final now and I’d like to see that again at the Australian Open.
Can Djokovic win the elusive 25th Grand Slam title he has been chasing in vain for the last two years?
I’m very interested to see how he goes this year. It’s a fine balance at the end of your career to find where you are training hard enough to be fit enough to last two, even three, five-set matches, but not pushing it too far. So you need to train hard enough, but not too hard that you don’t get injured. You need to save enough in the tank so that you don’t get worn out and then not overtrain in case you get injured. Novak got to all four Grand Slam semi-finals last year, which was an incredible achievement, but I don’t think he can beat Sinner and Alcaraz in back-to-back five-set matches at this stage of his career.
Another big talking point in tennis over the last few weeks was the ‘Battle of the Sexes’ match between Aryna Sabalenka and Nick Kyrgios. What was your verdict?
I watched a little bit of it just to sort of get an idea of the set-up and I think they had a massive failure as far as the court was concerned. I thought Nick should have had more court to cover, but they made Sabalenka’s side smaller instead and it just didn’t work. I was a little bit concerned that people would be saying what they are saying now. How can a guy who has won one match in three years beat the world No.1 on a smaller court in straight sets? Sure, it was just a bit of fun and a good spectacle, but what they didn’t want is exactly what happened, unfortunately. It certainly hasn’t helped the WTA Tour at all.
Pat Cash spoke to the All Court Tennis Club at the Bank of China Hong Kong Open
Photo: Riyadh Season