“Six years ago saw that Carlos Alcaraz was a wonder”

samuel lopez exercise this week as a coach of Carlos Alcaraz in to Queen. Pablo Carreño’s coach met the Murcian six years ago in London and even then saw his potential: “He was a wonder.” Now, in the absence of a Juan Carlos Ferreroon vacation, helping Alcaraz get ready Wimbledonthird Grand Slam of the season, in the best possible conditions.

The relationship between López and Alcaraz began with a dispute at the Masters’ Cup in the British capital in 2017. Carreño and Alcaraz, who share an academy and an agent, rallied before the Asturian game, but yes , at different stages. of their careers. Carreño is in London as a semifinalist at the US Open and in the ‘top ten’, and Alcaraz is a promise of a sub-14 tournament. However, the Murcian already had a glimpse of enormous potential.

“At O2, he rallied with Carreño and it caught our attention because the warm-up ended and Pablo said: “I don’t know if it is better for him to play or for me to play, because this kid never fails .” “Albert (Molina, agent of Alcaraz and Carreño) had already told me about him, but this was the first time I saw him and saw him as a tennis wonder,” explained López on Monday.

Slowly but surely

López, who has accumulated many years of work at the Ferrero Academy, replaced ‘Mosquito’ this week as Alcaraz’s technician. Ferrero will take a few days off with family before rejoining the team next week at the Hurlingham exhibition and the first pre-Wimbledon workouts.

“The first tournaments on grass… are tournaments where you have to adapt. Slowly, but without stopping. It’s always nice to play here, it’s different,” added López, who usually trains with Carreño, but in Spanish injury he was required to supervise Alcaraz.

“We have been working in the same academy for many years. Simply now Pablo is injured and I am not traveling and they asked me if I can come, so I was delighted. We know each other, Juan Carlos and I have grown up together. us, we watch the same tennis And we try to help where we can.”

In addition, this is not the first time that they have to work together. At the 2022 Miami Masters, López also helped Alcaraz, as Ferrero had to go to Spain in an emergency due to the death of his father.

Today, López controls the first steps on the grass on this Alcaraz course, whose takeoff last season surprised both him and Ferrero.

“At some point last year, Juan Carlos asked me “what do you think, how is the year ending?”, and I told him that this year he will finish in the top ten and he said “yes, yes. I think so too. But of course, the explosion that surprised him because he was number one and won the Grand Slam. That shows what this kid is,” replied López, who after Queen’s will return to the Ferrero academy and his usual job at Carreño.

“With Pablo,” he explained, “we had to change the treatment plan, because the first one didn’t work for us. Everything seemed fine, but he had a fiber rupture in Indian Wells that set everything back. . Now he’s out for three weeks. He put in stem cells. It’s a process that takes between four and six weeks without playing tennis. He’s in rehab and doing physical preparation. I think on July 10-12 we will be able to start tennis.”