Carlos Alcaraz experienced what no public figure wants: becoming the focus of a polarised public debate in the middle of his holidays and ahead of a 2026 that is shaping up to be key, perhaps decisive, in his career. Why is it so important? Because December 2025 marked the end of innocence for the Spaniard. Some things will never be the same again. The abrupt dismissal of Juan Carlos Ferrero as coach became one of the biggest sports stories worldwide at the end of the year.
If that dismissal had happened at another time, it might have had less of an impact, but the news came at a time when there was a lack of tennis coverage, although that alone does not explain the debate it generated.
Alcaraz lost his innocence at the age of 22, during those turbulent days in December when many of his most loyal fans declared that they were withdrawing their unconditional admiration.
For many years, Roger Federer argued that he did not need a coach, and it is true that the figure of the ‘coach’ in tennis is in the shadows when compared to the power of the coach in football.
That is precisely why the commotion generated by the strange end to Ferrero’s seven years as Alcaraz’s coach is so striking.
Like Rafael Nadal after his agreement with Saudi tennis, many Alcaraz fans distanced themselves from him because of what happened with Ferrero.
At the beginning of the year, the Spanish ATP Tour account asked its followers a question: what wish would they grant Alcaraz for 2026?
The Australian Open title or, more directly, winning the Grand Slam, were repeated answers, but there was a series of comments that caught the attention:
– that he doesn’t win anything
– to prove that he doesn’t need Ferrero and remain world number one
– that he doesn’t win any Grand Slams this year
– that he does badly for being ungrateful
At this point, Alcaraz’s entourage and the player himself will have understood something obvious: this is not just a break with a coach, nor is it even about tennis. The story even challenges people who don’t care about tennis, but who cannot digest the unexplained and seemingly cruel divorce forced by the young man who was polished as a tennis player from the age of 15. The young man who ostracised the coach with whom he won six Grand Slam titles and the world number one ranking.
And it is not so much about the what, but the how, the way in which the dismissal came about. This was compounded by Alcaraz’s strange move on the last day of the year: an Instagram post titled ‘My real 2025’ in which he strings together 20 photos from his tennis and personal life, and Ferrero does not appear in any of them. This was quite probably a response to interviews in the previous days in which Ferrero made clear his pain and revealed details of how his contract was negotiated.
At the same time, a question was circulating: could Andy Murray replace Juan Carlos Ferrero as Carlos Alcaraz’s coach?
‘Punto de Break’ revealed the desire of the world number one’s family to hire a coach like the Briton: “What happened in 2025 was going to happen in 2024 (…) Alcaraz’s entourage wanted to fire Ferrero and bring in a new coach. They wanted Andy Murray.‘
Ferrero’s entourage, consulted by CLAY, reacted with astonishment: ’We have no idea about that, in any case it is not something we should explain.”
Alcaraz will play an exhibition match with Jannik Sinner in Seoul next week, on his way to Australia. Sooner or later, at the latest in Melbourne, he will have to give more and better explanations, and the more efficient he is with them, the easier it will be for him to focus on his big goal for 2026: winning the Australian Open to become the youngest player to lift all four Grand Slam trophies. If he succeeds, the ‘Ferrero-gate’ will fade away. If not, the issue will come up again and again throughout the season.
