Will Alcaraz’s game become sweeter without him?

The former grand slam champion of the 2003 French Open, Juan Carlos Ferrero will need arthroscopic surgery on his left knee. How will this affect Carlos Alcaraz? Will Juan is his coach and will not be able to travel to the Australian Open with Alcaraz or other tournaments for a few months.

He’ll leave his replacement, Samuel Lopez for the first slam of the season. The 20-year-old Spaniard will have to keep to his detailed strategies to product the victories he’s used to performing despite Juan’s absence.But will he be able to stay focused? He should be fine many say.

Juan has been with the Wimbledon champ since 2019 seeing him through many top hard and clay court titles. The adjustment may not be too critical since Juan will be there throughout the young Spaniard’s training. But Carlito’s game at times has become less predictable for victories and going deep in tournaments with Juan there.

Losing in the semifinal of this year’s French Open to Novak Djokovic and not defending his title at this U.S. Open has caused a shift in confidence for Alcaraz. The Sunshine Double, Carlito had only won Madrid. The first slam of the season, the Australian Open he was out due to a hamstring injury and hopes to keep healthy to see a successful slam this year.

There will be pressure but not on him to defend the Melbourne title, but possibly to go deep in the ‘happy slam’ itself. The Swiss Indoors he had an injured foot and lower back ailments. He was recuperating. Carlos right now is healthy and hopeful on doing well that’s the main issue that’s super important.

There is the rival issue that keeps a space in Carlo’s head and that’s Novak Djokovic. The Serb has defeated Carlos at the French Open, but Alcaraz came back to grab the win over him at Wimbledon for the biggest victory ever.

“Beating Novak at his best…It’s great for the new generation to see me beating him making them think they are capable of doing it as well…” The Spaniard has had some injuries and then some downfalls, anticipating going deep in tournaments and hasn’t .

It is all within his confidence level and playing strategies to execute them. There definitely has to be a bit less emphasis on just defeating Novak despite him being the no. 1 in the world because there are other players/opponents to do well against.

But Carlos feels that “It takes a lot of confidence to know I am able to win Novak at that stage…”Alcaraz has explained. There is an upcoming exhibition that will pit him against Novak as they’ll meet in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia the end of December.

This will be merely a warm up session for the two players going into the Australian Open. And if Carlos wins what will it say. He’s still able to defeat Djokovic. If the Serb wins it will say he still has it to defeat a young vibrant player.

One exhibition event does not a season make. Without Juan Carlos with the Spaniard till the Sunshine Double in March will enforce in Alcaraz to pull up his big guy pants of confidence, fortitude and excellent strategies. He must understand that being successful over Novak Djokovic isn’t the only thing, but in most of his opponents. He must stay true to form and know that whether his coach is there or not.