Alex Corretja Shares What Carlos Alcaraz Feels About the Australian Open after Juan Carlos Ferrero Split

Carlos Alcaraz is in Melbourne ahead of the Australian Open kick-off on Sunday (January 18). The tournament remains the only Grand Slam he has yet to win in his career despite being a six-time Grand Slam champion. Former ATP player Alex Corretja has revealed that the Spaniard is fired up for the event.

Alcaraz arrives at the Australian Open without his long-term coach, Juan Carlos Ferrero, for the first time in his professional career. The World No.1 has always been with the French Open champion on tour for the past seven years, but their partnership came to an unfortunate ending in December.

His second coach, Samuel Lopez, was with him at the exhibition match in South Korea, where he defeated Jannik Sinner in straight sets. But the first Grand Slam of the season is never like an exhibition match. It will provide a different test entirely for Alcaraz, who’s desperate to win the Australian Open.

The 22-year-old’s best run at the Australian Open came in 2024 and 2025, when he reached the quarter-finals before losing to Alexander Zverev and Novak Djokovic, respectively. He has never gone past that stage of the competition, and his arch-rival Sinner is the favorite to win it for the third consecutive time.

During a conversation on TNT Sports, Alex Corretja noted that he has heard that Alcaraz is pumped up ahead of the Melbourne Grand Slam. He added that he has to keep his split with Ferrero in the past and focus on the future with Samuel Lopez as they seek to improve on several aspects of his game:

I’m expecting a good Carlitos. I heard he’s fired up, he’s pumped, he’s ready, he’s been working so hard.And of course, it’s going to be weird not having Juanki (Ferrero) next to him in the box. But unfortunately, we need to get used to that. The good thing for him is he’s been travelling with Samo (Samuel Lopez) already in the past, and the whole team is there as well. But I think he’s going to be ready. It has to remain in the past because this is what it is. He needs to move on.

Alcaraz and Sinner will be the two top challengers for the Australian Open. Both players have won the last eight Grand Slams on tour and have met in the finals of the past three major tournaments. However, Sinner is known for playing his best tennis on hard courts and has earned most of his titles on that surface.

Alex Corretja says Carlos Alcaraz must get ready for tough questions about his split with Juan Carlos Ferrero

A few days after Carlos Alcaraz announced that he had parted ways with Juan Carlos Ferrero, there were reports about the reason for the split. However, Ferrero had interviews with some publications and narrated his own side of the story about why he decided to part ways with Alcaraz.

When Alcaraz was in South Korea for an exhibition match, he was never asked about his own account. However, he will do a press briefing before his opening match at the Australian Open, and there are indications that journalists will ask him questions about his split with his ex-coach. During the aforementioned conversation, Alex Corretja pointed out that Alcaraz must be prepared to face tough questions in Melbourne:

I think Carlitos, he’s someone that he’s always very clever on his answers, and he had the time to think about exactly what he wants to say during this Christmas time and this beginning of the year. So I think it was good for him just to maybe look down a little bit and he wasn’t a little bit too much in the public eye in the last weeks in order not to talk about the situation. And now in Melbourne, he will need to face it.

The media has often hailed Alcaraz as one of the most honest players on tour, as he often opens up when questioned. But, if he does that at the Australian Open, there will be more concern about his split with Ferrero than his chances of winning the tournament or how he has improved in his game.

Also Read: Ben Shelton Hopes to take His Chances against Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner in 2026

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