Carlos Alcaraz's dad was so surprised Albert Molina came to talk about an agent for his kid

Carlos Alcaraz's agent, Molina, revealed how surprised the Spaniard's father was when an agent showed interest in representing his son from an early age. The agent revealed that Juan Carlos Ferrero did not receive a top-tier coach’s salary when he started working with the young star. The former world No. 1 chose to train a young Alcaraz at 16 and turned down several top-level players.

The coach formally started working with Alcaraz in 2019, and in February 2020, the young Spaniard made his ATP Tour debut at the Rio Open. Alcaraz's rise was incredible, and just two years later, he won his first Grand Slam title at the US Open and reached No. 1 at just 20 years old.

"Ferrero believed in Alcaraz's potential from the start."

Alcaraz always emphasizes Ferrero’s importance in his impressive progress on the Tour. The 21-year-old sees the former No. 1 as a father figure in his professional career, and they share a special bond that goes beyond their working relationship.

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Ferrero had a successful career from 1998 to 2012, reaching No. 1 and winning the 2003 French Open, as well as being a finalist at the 2003 US Open. The Spaniard had a brief return to the Tour in 2017 to play the doubles draw at the Barcelona Open with Pablo Carreño Busta, losing in the first round in what was his only match played since retirement.

In 2017, Ferrero began working as a tennis coach for Alexander Zverev, who lost to Alcaraz in the French Open final last Sunday. Their partnership lasted only eight months, and Ferrero later criticized the German’s lack of discipline.

Several top-level players expressed interest in working with Ferrero, but he turned them down because he believed in the project of turning Alcaraz into an elite player. Albert Molina, who works with the sports management company IMG, was the first to see Alcaraz’s potential at just 14 years old and negotiated deals to finance his career.

Alcaraz won his first Grand Slam title at  2022 US Open.

The agent had to start a process of persuading the family and approached Alcaraz's father to represent him. Molina himself managed the partnership with Ferrero a year later. Molina had to inform Ferrero that his salary would not match that of top-level coaches: "I talked to my bosses, I told them that in Spain there is a kid with a good projection and from the United States they gave me the OK. A part of the money helped us and Ferrero on the other hand,” Molina said.

“He makes the effort and invests in the future. When he accepts and starts working with Carlos, he is aware that he is not going to enter or be paid like a coach of a top player."

However, Ferrero had no objections because he firmly believed in the project that Carlos Alcaraz represented. Some time ago, in an interview with Punto de Break, his former coach Antonio Martínez Cascales revealed that players like Marin Cilic, Juan Martin Del Potro, Simona Halep, and Dominic Thiem wanted to work with Ferrero. The Austrian even offered Ferrero to include Alcaraz in some of the travels for experience, but Ferrero remained committed to working full-time with the teenager.

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While Ferrero's exact salary is unknown, he is undoubtedly one of the highest-paid coaches on the ATP Tour, with Alcaraz earning over $30,000,000 in prize money in just his fourth professional season: "Carlos invests in the future. And since we have a very good relationship... This is based a lot on personal relationships," Molina said.

Investing in the future is nice in the moment, but then people can fail you. But Juan Carlos and I have a good relationship and we knew that what we agreed would later be fulfilled. And then the family has been very noble and always complied with what was said," Carlos Alcaraz's agent added.