Carlos Alcaraz and coach Juan Carlos Ferrero.
Juan Carlos Ferrero has revealed that he and the rest of Carlos Alcaraz’s coaching team are trying to “tweak” the Spaniard’s serve ahead of 2025.
World No 3 Alcaraz will begin the new season at the Australian Open, which starts on January 12th.
The 21-year-old will look to become the youngest man to complete the Career Grand Slam with victory in Melbourne, before attempting to defend his Roland Garros and Wimbledon titles later in the year.
Alcaraz’s pre-season preparations are in full swing with the Spaniard basing himself at home in Murcia across Christmas before heading Down Under for the first Grand Slam of 2025.
Speaking to Punto de Break, long-time coach and former world No 1 Ferrero revealed that his charge’s serve was one key area he was hoping to work on.
“Carlos came with a lot of enthusiasm, the break did him great, and the two exhibitions got him a bit on track to get here,” revealed Ferrero.
“The first week focused on adaptation physical conditioning, along with tests with Babolat and Nike for shoes.
“The second week was more about volume, spending three hours on the court and facing more intense training sessions. Next week, we will start to focus more on specifics.
“We are trying to tweak a bit on the serve, to give it more rhythm, make it smoother and more relaxed.
“Then, we will fine-tune small details, like the forehand, we want it to be more killer at certain moments. We need to enhance his DNA and work on his weaknesses.”
2024 was a strong season for Alcaraz, who became just the sixth man in the Open Era to complete the ‘Channel Slam’ – winning the French Open and Wimbledon in the same season.
He was also a champion in Indian Wells and Beijing and defeated world No 1 Jannik Sinner in all three of their ATP Tour meetings.
However, the Spaniard suffered an early loss at the US Open and also fell early in Cincinnati and Bercy, while missing most of the clay swing through injury.
Those circumstances contributed to Alcaraz finishing the year in third, almost 5,000 points behind world No 1 Sinner, and also trailing world No 2 Alexander Zverev.
Ferrero defended Alcaraz from criticism about whether his year was successful or not, but admitted that there were areas that his charge needed to “enhance” ahead of the coming season.
He added: “We think quite the opposite: it has been a spectacular year.
“Winning a Grand Slam is very, very challenging, so winning two makes for a magnificent season, although there are always areas to improve, like off-court matters or certain training aspects.
“Carlos is very aware of what he needs to improve each year; I see him getting more mature every day in being a professional and approaching things with more thought.
“I like how he is tackling the preseason; I see him very focused on what he wants to improve or what didn’t go so well this year.
“Those ups and downs in matches, for example, he knows he needs to improve them because it’s more mental than tennis-related.
“We seek continuous evolution. What does this mean? We aim for a player who is a ’10’ in practically everything. Carlos has very high numbers in some aspects and lower ones in others. We need to enhance his strengths and improve his weaknesses.”
