Carlos Alcaraz’s former coach, Juan Carlos Ferrero, recently shared an enlightening tip for parents of children in competitive sports. The former World No. 1 player-turned-coach has begun a new chapter in his career by joining the coaching team of Ángel Ayora, the 21-year-old golfer from Málaga, Spain, who competes on the European Tour and has a best Official World Golf Ranking of 115.
Juan Carlos Ferrero, the Former Coach of Carlos Alcaraz, Reveals Golden Advice for Parents
After his Australian Open title, Alcaraz has etched history by becoming the youngest player to complete a Career Grand Slam in the Open Era, joining the elites including Rod Laver, Andre Agassi, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic. The 22-year-old turned professional in 2018, and in 2019, he came under Carlos Ferrero’s wing at 15.
Under his guidance, he reached the top stage and won 24 ATP singles titles, including six Major titles, and other feats. The World No. 1 was a longtime student of Ferrero Tennis Academy, established by Ferrero’s longtime mentor and coach, Antonio Martínez Cascales.
The Academy was later named in honour of Ferrero, and in 2023, their center court was also named after Alcaraz to honour his growing legacy in the sport.
In his recent Instagram post, Ferrero shared important advice for parents on supporting young players in competitive sports. Furthermore, he emphasised that supporting the athletes comes first, so that the player can take in losses and wins in a healthy way.
He said, “The advice I would give to the youngest of the parents is to know their son very well, encourage them, no matter what happens, tell them they have done well, the kids feel comforted and see that the parents are really happy with the effort they have made.”
“I think that is the most important thing and then you get into a little more detail at the level of attitude, struggle, dedication, how happy or not he was in the game, whether he won or lost. You can talk about many situations, but the first thing is to support the player,” Ferrero added.
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In 2024, Alcaraz had once shared the significance of Ferrero in his career, adding, “He means a lot to me. Obviously, it’s a great support when I have him in the box. His support is really special to me. We started when I was playing in juniors, he did Grade 4 [tournaments] travelling with me,” and had also revealed a valuable piece of advice out of many that the coach shared with him, “I can tell you one of the things he tells me most is, ‘Smile’.”
However, their partnership ended when Alcaraz announced during his 2025 offseason that he would be parting ways with Ferrero, who later cited contract disagreements, among other things, as the reason they couldn’t continue.
