Former World No.10 reflects on what Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal could bring to a player like Carlos Alcaraz
Former ATP player Arnaud Clement believes Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal's partnership with Carlos Alcaraz will bring changes to his game.
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Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Carlos Alcaraz, (in circle) Arnaud Clement (via Forbes/Sky Sports/TennisWorldUSA)
Since the announcement of the unexpected partnership between Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, the tennis world has been buzzing about more new collaborations. That has led several media pundits to debate who will be the next legend to begin his coaching career. Former ATP player Arnaud Clement believes Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal should coach a youngster.
Djokovic and Murray revealed a few days ago about the excitement of their partnership. The two legends were part of the men’s tennis Big 4, who dominated the men’s tennis circuit for two decades. Murray, who has retired from tennis now has to set aside his old rivalry with Djokovic and work as a team ahead of the 2025 Australian Open.
On the other hand, Federer and Nadal have also hung up their rackets, with the former doing so in 2022 and the latter in November 2024. However, despite being arch-rivals on the court, they were friends off the court and had deep admiration and respect for one another.
While Carlos Alcaraz has been one of the promising youngsters on the court, the Spaniard has failed to be consistent on the court. Former World No.10 Arnaud Clement has revealed what Nadal and Federer could bring to Alcaraz, while pondering upon a partnership in the future.
Alcaraz knows how to do everything: his problem is knowing what to do at what time. Nadal and Federer could obviously help him in this regard. Sometimes, it’s very clear in his head and he’s the embodiment of accuracy, at other times, he’s wrong. And that often coincides with a lack of freshness, there’s work to be done on the programming at the exhibition level for example. It depends on what he wants: to go for the greatest number of Grand Slam victories? He’s off to a good start, but it’s a long-term goal.
Arnaud Clement said via Eurosport
Alcaraz won four titles this season which is half of what his rival Jannik Sinner claimed this year. The Spaniard did well, winning two Grand Slam titles, but was heavily inconsistent in ATP 500 and Masters 1000 tournaments.
Carlos Alcaraz’s 2025 tennis schedule
Carlos Alcarez will have the entirety of his preparation sessions in Spain with his coach Juan Carlos Ferrero. He will also practice with British youngster Jack Draper. The French Open champion lost to the Briton at the Queen’s Club Championship in June and will be seeking another round of experience with him.
Alcaraz will begin his season at the Australian Open, the same schedule he has often followed in the past two years. Last year, he didn’t compete in a tournament in preparation for the Melbourne Grand Slam events. But, he did well by reaching the quarterfinals of the major event before losing to Alexander Zverev. It is scheduled to begin on January 12.
This season, Alcaraz competed in the South American clay tournaments in February. In 2025, he will not compete at the events. Rather, he will be in action at the Rotterdam ATP 500. After the Dutch tournament, he will then play at the Indian Wells Masters in California. The 21-year-old won the US-based event in March 2024.
He will also compete at the Miami Open which he last won in 2022. After that, he will compete at the European clay season which starts in April at the Monte Carlo Masters. He didn’t feature at the event this year due to injury and will be looking forward to winning it next year. The World No.3 will then play at the Barcelona Open, Madrid Open and Italian Open ahead of the French Open.
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Victor Okechukwu
(719 Articles Published)