"We practised for 15 days": Juan Carlos Ferrero shares secret behind Carlos Alcaraz's domination over Jannik Sinner at US Open final

Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz’s coach, Juan Carlos Fererro, has opened up about how a 15-day training camp turned his fortune around against Italy’s Jannik Sinner. The 22-year-old lifted the US Open for the second time in his career on Sunday as he defeated his rival Sinner in the final with a score of 6-2, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4.

It was Alcaraz’s second triumph over Sinner in the final of a Grand Slam this year. The two met three times, and Sinner came out on top on one occasion as well. At the French Open, Alcaraz defeated Sinner in the final in a five-set thriller with a score of 4-6, 6-7, 6-4, 7-6, 7-6. Even though Alcaraz lifted the title, Sinner dominated most of the match and had three championship points in the fourth set.

Sinner managed to take his revenge soon after at Wimbledon as he defeated Alcaraz in the final with a score of 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4. Alcaraz’s coach, Ferrero, has now opened up about how they underwent a 15-day camp where they mainly focused on getting the better of Sinner.

Ferrero has been quoted in a report by ATP’s official website, where he spoke about how that camp helped Alcaraz in overcoming the Sinner challenge and handed the Italian a first defeat on hard-court Grand Slams in two years. Ferrero stated that Alcaraz and his team viewed Sinner’s matches to identify his weak areas and worked on them.

“I think it was very important, because we maybe practised for 15 days, very focused on the details that we have to improve to play against Jannik,” said Ferrero. “We know that in this kind of surface, on hard courts, Jannik is always very difficult to play and [is] winning a lot of matches. I think it helped a lot, because he realised what he has to improve a lot, and I was very focused on it.”

Talking about the match in particular, Ferrero stated that, in his opinion, everything went according to plan, from planning to execution. Ferrero credited Alcaraz for doing 100 per cent of what he was supposed to do which helped him dominate Sinner in the all-important clash. Ferrero also highlighted that the plan was to have an upper edge in the early phase of a match because players like Sinner do not give much room to their opponents in the latter stages of the contest.

“I think we prepared the match very good, watching some matches and seeing the specific details we had to play,” said Ferrero. “Carlos did 100 per cent [of what he needed to]. It's easy to say and very difficult to do it. The performance today was perfect. I think he compromised [with] himself to go for the match all the time, tried to put pressure on the rival sooner than Jannik. I think it's one of the keys. I think these guys hit the ball, both of them, very, very fast, and I think who hits first takes the advantage on points. Carlos has maybe more variety [in] his game, and he can do more, like slice, go to the net, and do more things than maybe Jannik. But I think it helps a lot to change a little bit the way of the game.”

Alcaraz’s most impressive aspect of his performance in the competition was his serve. In the whole competition, Alcaraz lost just one set, which was in the final against Sinner. While talking about that, Ferrero admitted that having such a high-quality serve played a vital role for Alcaraz while succeeding in Cincinnati and the US Open.

“I think in this moment it's maybe the moment that he has more improvement in his serve, and it's been very useful on the court, and in important moments he's using it a lot,” said Ferrero. “During all Cincinnati and also during all US Open, I think the serve is one of the keys to win the tournaments, for sure.”