(Paris) Seven years of collaboration leading up to the summit of world tennis is coming to an end: at the dawn of a new season, Carlos Alcaraz announced on Wednesday that he was parting ways with his coach Juan Carlos Ferrero, the one who allowed him to accomplish his “childhood dreams”, referring without further details to “new projects”.

“It is very difficult for me to write this publication”, began, without trying to hide his emotion, the world number 1, in a text published on his social networks.

“After more than seven years together, “Juanki” and I have decided to end our shared history as coach and player. Thank you for turning childhood dreams into reality,” added the Spaniard, accompanying his announcement with photos where he embraces Ferrero, himself a former world number 1.

The news was commented on in the same tone by Juan Carlos Ferrero.

“Today is a difficult day,” the former professional player in the 1990s and 2000s, and ex-world number one, wrote on his social networks. “An important chapter in my life is coming to an end. I close it with nostalgia, but also with pride,” he added. Before blurting out, at the turn of a sentence, in a cryptic manner: “I would have liked to be able to continue”.

No concrete reason for this separation was put forward by the two Spaniards.

“It changed my life”

PHOTO GUGLIELMO MANGIAPANE, REUTERS ARCHIVES

Juan Carlos Ferrero

Tennis prodigy, winner of six Grand Slam titles since 2022, Carlos Alcaraz, now 22 years old, was trained by his compatriot since he was 15.

Ferrero had taken the Murcian teenager under his wing at his academy in Villena, about an hour from the Alcaraz family home, leading him in record time to glory and records of precocity, such as this place of world number one at just 19 years old, in September 2022, after his first Grand Slam title at the United States Open.

“It changed my life,” the young Spaniard used to say about this meeting, a point on which he insisted again on Wednesday.

“We started this path when I was just a kid, and all this time you accompanied me on an incredible journey, on and off the courts… You made me grow as a sportsman, but above all as a person,” Alcaraz highlighted.

It was by working with him that Alcaraz won the 24 tournaments on his record.

“We managed to reach the summit, and I feel that, if our sporting paths were to separate, it had to be done from these heights,” added “Carlito”, who battled in 2025 with the Italian Jannik Sinner for the world throne.

What will happen next for the two men, as the 2026 season opens at the end of the month?

Carlos Alcaraz did not give precise indications, mentioning in his text “new adventures and new projects”. Already a member of the Murcian staff, Samuel Lopez could take over.

Ferrero said he was “enthusiastic about what could happen”, without elaborating. “I take with me the laughter, the challenges overcome, the exchanges and support in difficult times, and the satisfaction of having been part of something absolutely unique,” ​​he insisted.

Alcaraz, for his part, displayed his “serenity”, for himself as for his ex-trainer: “I wholeheartedly wish you the best… We gave everything. »

“Thank you for everything, Juanki! », concluded the Spanish prodigy, who will seek in January to conquer the only Grand Slam title that still eludes him, at the Australian Open (January 18-1er FEBRUARY).