Carlos Alcaraz delivered on the prediction his coach Juan Carlos Ferrero made back in 2020.
At the age of just 21, the Spaniard has already achieved more than what the vast majority of players will not come close to throughout their entire careers.
He is already a multi-time Grand Slam winner and has reached the summit of the game after previously attaining the World number one ranking.
Carlos Alcaraz’s flair and fearless brand of tennis has earned him some of the biggest accolades in the sport, and his coach believed he was capable of achieving great things.
What was Juan Carlos Ferrero’s 2020 prediction about Carlos Alcaraz?
Juan Carlos Ferrero has been coaching Alcaraz since 2019.
Reports suggested the 45-year-old turned down several other coaching opportunities to join Alcaraz’s team when he was just 16.
It has been a very fruitful partnership, as Ferrero guided his compatriot from a teenager with unlimited potential to one of the world’s best players.
In February 2020, Alcaraz’s coach Ferrero made a prediction about the future of the World number three, which has come true in emphatic fashion.
“He has the level, he has the speed, and physically he is getting better every day,” he told Tennis TV at the time.
“So I think he is going to be one of the best, I think he can be up there maybe in two or three years. Let’s see what is going to happen but that’s what I think.”
What has Carlos Alcaraz achieved in tennis since his coach’s 2020 prediction?
In the same month of Ferrero’s prediction, Alcaraz made his main draw debut at the Rio Open aged 16, where he became the first player born in 2003 to win an ATP Tour match.
Alcaraz won his first title in 2021 and claimed the Next Gen finals title at the end of the year.
The following year, Alcaraz won his first major at the age of 19, where he defeated Casper Ruud to win the US Open, and he became the youngest World number one in history.
Alcaraz went up a level in 2023, as he defeated Novak Djokovic to win his first Wimbledon title, and defended the title in 2024 by beating the same opponent.
Alcaraz also won his first French Open title last summer, which made him the youngest man to win Grand Slam titles on clay, grass and hard courts.
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