Tennis is talent and dedication, but elite
Tetris
requires a third fundamental component: a suitable professional structure for the player.
Carlos Alcaraz's brilliant career is being built on these foundations, and this Wednesday (around 3:00 p.m., Eurosport) he will face the Catalan Albert Ramos in the second round of Roland Garros.
The success of the Murcian, 19 years old and pure effervescence, is written in a majestic plural because behind the scenes he has a sophisticated network of people who are guiding him towards the pinnacle of his sport.
They are his Praetorian Guard, catapult and anchor at the same time.
He goes towards infinite Carlitos, but always with his feet on the ground.
“And if not, we are already there to give him a good smack in case it ever happens.
At the moment, we haven't had to give him any attention, ”says his trainer, Juan Carlos Ferrero, one of the essential pieces of the gear, completed with more specific reinforcements.
“He is still a normal, grateful boy”, clarifies Antonio Martínez Cascales, who closely observes him in the day-to-day life of the Villena (Alicante) academy;
“The family he has and the environment in which he grew up are very helpful.
The truth is that yes, there are a few of us… And I don't want to say anything to you when my friends from Murcia come!”.
The Alcaraz team poses in the Caja Mágica, on May 8.
From top to bottom and from left to right: Juan Carlos Ferrero, Albert Molina, Carlos Alcaraz, Juanjo Moreno, Juanjo López;
Alberto Lledó, Alejandro Sánchez and Fran Rubio.
/ MUTUA MADRID OPEN
Juan Carlos Ferrero, something more than a coach.
The former number one bet very strongly on the link with Alcaraz, whom he has directed since the tennis player was 15 years old.
He saw it for the first time when he was 14, in a tournament in Murcia, and he lost.
Even so, he ruled out proposals from other players such as Juan Martín del Potro, Dominic Thiem, Marin Cilic or Simona Halep to embark on a project as ambitious as it is risky.
"Think about it...", they warned him.
And he chose a path away from the spotlight, along long car routes with the then adolescent and today his friend.
In addition to the professional bond, they profess great reciprocal respect.
They share some physical sessions and golf afternoons.
The shadow of Albert Molina.
The agent of the American multinational IMG, promoter of the careers of David Ferrer, Pablo Carreño or Nicolás Almagro, is the backbone of the project.
He discovered the tennis player when he was 11 years old, when he was beginning to stand out in junior tournaments, and later convinced his parents to accept the professional proposal, at an unusual age.
The alliance formally began at 12 and later generated the link between the player and Ferrero, understanding that the Valencian was the ideal goldsmith to launch the career of an exceptional talent.
He manages the contracts and the relationship with the media, and has linked Alcaraz with sponsors such as Nike (since he was 16), Rolex, Babolat or Isdin.
Iñaki Etxegia (Ferrero Equelite), Martínez Cascales, Ferrero, Sánchez, Alcaraz, Moreno, Rubio, López and Lledó, in an image provided by the tennis player's team.
Alberto Lledó, the
sculptor
.
He is the main physical trainer, the man who usually squeezes the tennis player.
He is also a teacher and has been working for a decade at the Villena academy.
He has achieved the bodily transition: from boy to man.
From daily work and good nutrition, Alcaraz has been transformed.
He has corrected the deficit of fat mass that he had – "he was a piece of spaghetti", they remember in the team – and has gained almost five kilos of weight.
Lledó is complemented by Álex Sánchez, who works at the El Palmar Tennis Club (directed by the player's father) and is an intimate of Carlitos, whom he drove back and forth by car until he obtained his card this year.
Juanjo Moreno, “educational” physiotherapy.
“Another scholar” of the physical, they describe him on the team.
He was born in Yecla and after suffering a major injury while playing football he opted for physiotherapy.
Along with Lledó, he has imbued Alcaraz in the world of nutrition and is co-author of the tennis player's mutation.
"The transformation is first and foremost educational," he stresses.
He also works with the Asturian Carreño and previously did so with Almagro, and now he closely supervises the evolution of Alcaraz in the day-to-day life of Villena.
There he supports Sergio Hernández, who replaces him on some trips.
In Murcia, a third physio, Fran Rubio, lends a hand in the rest areas.
Alcaraz, Samuel López, Carreño and Ferrero, in November during the Davis concentration in Madrid.
/IE
Isabel Balaguer and Juanjo López, the psychologist and the doctor.
Alcaraz has been working with sports psychologists since he was a child.
From 8 to 16 he received the help of Josefina Cutillas and today it is Balaguer, a professor, who advises him and has instilled in him a series of routines through a message that Ferrero also receives and processes.
On the medical level, the traumatologist López is in control.
Alcaraz's father was his tennis teacher and met the player a decade ago;
since then he watches his growth and treats a “good patient”.
He also works at the Virgen de la Arrixaca hospital, and before that he was the Real Murcia soccer doctor and took advantage of a scholarship from the Gasol brothers in Los Angeles.
The family, Cascales and Carreño.
The Alcaraz family, headed by Carlos senior and Verónica Garfia, lives in the same apartment as always.
The tennis player is the second of four brothers – Álvaro (22), Sergio (12) and Jaime (10) – and as soon as he has a truce he returns to El Palmar.
On the circuit, he maintains a close friendship with Carreño and his coach, Samuel López.
He lives with them in the Villena center, where he also receives advice from Antonio Martínez Cascales, Ferrero's mentor.
The founder of the academy also usually accompanies him;
he did it in Rio de Janeiro and was present in Madrid.
In the short term he will be on the bench at Queen's (London).
01:44
The keys to the game of Carlos Alcaraz, by Juan Carlos Ferrero
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