Alcaraz sheds no tears over split with Ferrero

Carlos Alcaraz kept it strictly business on Friday in the run-up to Sunday’s Australian Open start, with the world No. 1 shrugging off his controversial off-season sacking of his longtime coach.

Former world No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero was almost a father figure to the fellow Spaniard whom he coached for nearly a decade.

But the partnership ended suddenly with a terse announcement that the collaboration was done.

“It’s something we just decided… a chapter of life that has to end. We decided like this.”

Reports indicate that the 21-year-olds father might have had a hand in the scenario, but there has been no leaks from the tight-knit Alcaraz camp.

Ferrero hinted last year that he might have been pressured to go away, saying he had been given a new, reduced contract and only a day or so to make a decision.

Alcaraz tried to paper over the situation as he begins at the Open, the only Grand Slam he has yet to win.

“I’m really grateful for the seven years I’ve been with Juan Carlos. I learned a lot. Probably thanks to him I’m the player that I am right now.

“But internally we decided like this. We closed this (mutually).”

The player said that he and Ferrero are still “friends. But we just decided like this.”

He added: “I have the same team that I had last year. Just one member missing. 

“But everyone (else) is the same. We didn’t change the routine at all. We
just going through the pre-season and the season in the same way, probably with the improvement that I really want to do.”