Why Juan Carlos Ferrero is not with Carlos Alcaraz in Australia and who is Samuel Lopez
Carlos Alcaraz will face the Australian Open, one of the top tournaments of the season, without one of his key players, his coach Juan Carlos Ferrero, who will be absent from his first Grand Slam this year after undergoing knee arthroscopy. After a long period on crutches, the Valencian is due to compete with Alcaraz at the Masters 1000 tournament in Indian Wells (from 6 to 17 March), where the tennis player will defend his title.
To compensate for his absence, the Murcian will rely on Samuel Lopez, member of the Ferrero academy and one of the permanent members of the technical staff of the Iberian Pearl, who was already head coach at last year’s Royal Tournament, in which Alcaraz he won his first title on grass.
In this sense, the Murcian will make his debut against the veteran Richard Gasquet, whom he should easily surpass. The 37-year-old Frenchman has dropped to 155th in the ATP rankings after being the great hope of French tennis for many years. All this under the tutelage of Lopez, but with the help of the one he considers “his second father,” Juan Carlos Ferrero.
“It’s difficult to approach a big tournament without him,” he admits. “But I trust ‘Sam’ 100%, who was Juan Carlos’ coach when he played. “I have a lot to learn from him,” the current world number two said before his debut.
Who is Samuel Lopez
Samu Lopez has an excellent resume. He has been part of the Ferrero Academy almost since its founding in 1990, when it was born under the name Equelite, and was a member of Ferrero’s own technical team during his time at the track. He later coached Guillermo García-López and Nicolás Almagro before starting in 2015 with Pablo Carreño, his great project, whom he helped reach the top ten, win an Olympic bronze, seven titles and two Grand Slam semi-finals. He is currently the academy’s sporting director and has complete freedom of action due to Carreno’s chronic elbow injury.