Ferrero warns Alcaraz: “He needs to know that the tennis season goes from January to November”

Carlos Alcaraz will be one of the best four players in the ATP Finals. The Spaniard looked like his old version and defeated Daniil Medvedev in his third and last round-robin clash in straight sets (6-4, 6-4). He will now play in the semifinals against Novak Djokovic.

The tournament, which is being played in Turin, Italy, is the most prestigious one outside the four Grand Slam events, and Alcaraz wants to keep making history by winning it. If he managed to lift the trophy, he would be the youngest player to win the competition since Pete Sampras did so in 1991.

Alcaraz wasn’t at his best in the opener against Alexander Zverev, losing to the German despite having won the first set, but he bounced back with a solid win over Andrey Rublev.

Against Meddy, Alcaraz had a big test in front of him, as the Russian player defeated him in the US Open semifinals and looked in great shape in Turin, but Alcaraz was the more consistent player in a game where Medvedev had very little to win, as he had already qualified for the semifinals.

Ferrero’s reminder to Alcaraz

Before his reaction against Rublev, Alcaraz had recorded his third straight loss -following defeats to Grigor Dimitrov in Shanghai and Roman Safiulin in Paris-, something that had only happened once since December 2022. And that doesn’t seem to be a coincidence.

Last year Alcaraz shocked the world by becoming the US Open at the age of 19 showing impressive skills and competitiveness, but after that, he slowed down considerably and led him to taste defeat in games where he was considered the favorite.

It looks like the Spaniard struggles to keep his level of consistency once the four majors have been played and that’s something that his coach Juan Carlos Ferrero wants to change.

“The tennis season goes from January to November”, the 2003 Roland Garros champion said about his player.

However, at the same time, he admitted it’s understandable that Alcaraz has slowed down a little after the efforts made during the whole campaign.

“He has been struggling a bit after the US Open. Maybe because he made it to the semifinals or final in every tournament. That can be quite demanding mentally”.

Alcaraz, who lost the chance of finishing 2023 as the world No. 1, will be looking to win his 13th ATP title in Turin.