Carlos Alcaraz’s split from long-term coach Juan Carlos Ferrero continues to split opinions.
Alcaraz announced he would be parting ways with Ferrero after working with the 2003 French Open champion for seven years.
After this shock announcement was made, there was a lot of speculation surrounding the real reason for Alcaraz and Ferrero’s split.
As Alcaraz searches for someone to replace Ferrero, an American ATP player has explained what he found ‘weird’ about the announcement.
Aleksandar Kovacevic reacts to Carlos Alcaraz’s split from Juan Carlos Ferrero
Aleksandar Kovacevic has reacted to the biggest news of the tennis week on The Changeover Podcast, where he gave his verdict on Alcaraz’s decision.
While he did not have any extra information on the split, Kovacevic did admit that he found the timing of the decision made by Alcaraz ‘weird’, and suggested that this added to the theory that this was not the original plan.
“What’s weird for me about it is that it happened so late in the pre-season,” said Kovacevic. “If you make that change as you’re Carlos you probably make that as soon as the World Tour Finals or maybe even announce it before, like [Jannik] Sinner did with [Darren] Cahill.
“…Then you have a new guy ready to go or, the fact that it’s two, three weeks out from the Aussie Open tournaments and that change just happened, that’s in the news…I saw something that Juan Carlos said he wanted to continue.
“…But that’s a different world man, those guys they operate like they’ve got agents, different world man at that highest level. I mean the money at stake with him and everything; I can’t really speak on it because I don’t know that world.”
Who would you like to see coach Carlos Alcaraz next?
Where is Aleksandar Kovacevic playing before the Australian Open?
Kovacevic appears to have a solid setup of his own, having worked with both his father and Damian Jackson for some time now.
The 27-year-old has been rewarded for persevering with the same team, with Kovacevic enjoying the best season of his career in 2025.
This has included Kovacevic reaching his first two finals on the ATP Tour, enabling him to rise from outside the top 100 to a career-high of world number 60.
Which American man and woman do you think will go furthest at the Australian Open?
As a result, Kovacevic does not need to play in Australian Open qualifying next year like he did in 2025 and instead will compete at the ATP 250 event in Auckland.
The ASB Classic will also feature Ben Shelton, Casper Ruud, Jakub Mensik and Cameron Norrie, beginning on January 12.
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