THE "NETFLIX" WARNING: DID CARLOS ALCARAZ’S DOCUMENTARY PREDICT THE SPLIT WITH FERRERO MONTHS AGO
No more "Juanki." Carlos Alcaraz splits with long-time mentor Ferrero. Discover the reasons behind the biggest tennis story of 2025.
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The tennis world's buzzing about it: Carlos Alcaraz and Juan Carlos Ferrero are splitting up. A lot of people didn't see that coming.
The reaction to the world No. 1's announcement that he and Ferrero, his coach for seven years, were parting ways has been huge, making this one of the biggest tennis stories of the year.
Since Wednesday's announcement, everyone's been wondering what caused the split. The rumours are flying, and they probably won't stop anytime soon, since neither Alcaraz nor Ferrero has said anything beyond their initial statements.
But now, some people are looking back at Alcaraz's Netflix documentary, Carlos Alcaraz: My Way, saying it showed early signs of tension between the two.
So, let's look at what the documentary showed and how Alcaraz and Ferrero reacted back then.
What was in the documentary?
Carlos Alcaraz: My Way was basically a standard look at Alcaraz's life, from tennis whiz kid to one of the best players around.
Not much new stuff came out. Everyone already knew how close Alcaraz is to his family and how badly he wants to be one of the all-time greats—those were big themes in the documentary.
But one thing that did pop up, and surprised some people, was a conversation between Alcaraz and Ferrero about how much time Alcaraz spends away from the court.
The 22-year-old's vacations and trips to Ibiza have gotten a lot of attention. In the documentary, Ferrero and Alcaraz's agent, Albert Molina, seemed worried that too much time off could be a distraction.
There was also a direct conversation between Alcaraz and Ferrero, who used to be world No. 1 himself, about where Alcaraz’s career was going. It showed how hard it is for Alcaraz to balance the demands of being a top athlete with wanting to enjoy life as a young guy.
How did Alcaraz react?
The documentary got people talking mostly about Alcaraz's work-life balance, that conversation with Ferrero, and how much time players should take off to rest.
Alcaraz didn't say anything publicly about the reaction to the conversation between him and Ferrero for a few weeks. He had to pull out of the Madrid Open because of an injury.
But when he came back at the Italian Open two weeks later, he was quick to shut down any talk of tension between him and Ferrero.
I'm not going to say 'a fight,' but the conversation we have, coach and player, we all have, Alcaraz said, according to sources.
We all have those conversations about everything: the tournaments, the practices, and the things I want to do that maybe I shouldn't.
Anyone who says they don't have those conversations is lying. That's the good thing, having different feelings and different points of view. In the end, we're all on the same path. We're all together.
That's great too. That's what I saw in the documentary.
How did Ferrero react?
Ferrero did a lot of interviews while he was Alcaraz's coach, and he also talked about the documentary.
El Larguero asked the former French Open champ about the reaction to the documentary and how people felt about the discussions about Alcaraz's training.
According to Punto de Break, Ferrero was quick to defend Alcaraz, making it clear that he didn't have big problems with Alcaraz's commitment.
He said, Now everyone's talking about it. Once the documentary came out, we knew there would be negative comments, especially if he lost. If he had lost in Paris, people would have said he should have gone to Ibiza.
Even though the documentary talks about his way, Carlos' way is really about training. We don't train a ton. I'd rather have two hours of really good practice than four hours with a bad attitude.
I used to train a lot more, but the demands of the tour mean we have to focus on quality and making training count. Whenever we've asked Carlos to work, he's done it.
JANNIK SINNER CHARGES TOWARD SUNSHINE DOUBLE WITH STRAIGHT SETS MIAMI OPEN VICTORY
Jannik Sinner cruises past Damir Dzumhur in Miami, chasing the Sunshine Double just days after his Indian Wells win.
Jannik Sinner, ranked number two in the world, got off to an easy start at the Miami Open on Saturday. Just six days after taking home the Indian Wells trophy, Sinner walked onto the court looking confident and picked up a straightforward 6-3, 6-3 win over Damir Dzumhur, who's ranked 76th.
“First-round matches are never easy,” Sinner admitted. He’s fresh off beating Daniil Medvedev for his first Indian Wells title, and now he's chasing the “Sunshine Double", hoping to sweep Indian Wells and Miami, something nobody’s pulled off since Federer did it in 2017.
Sinner grabbed the first set in just half an hour, broke Dzumhur early in the second, and finished the match with a sharp backhand. He stayed aggressive throughout, dropping only eight points on his serve even though he confessed he had little time to adjust after Indian Wells. “It’s very different here,” he said.
Medvedev, last year’s Miami runner-up, barely had time to settle in either but came back from a set down to beat Rei Sakamoto, an impressive 19-year-old wildcard from Japan, 6-7 (10/12), 6-3, 6-1.
Jakub Mensik, last year’s champion, had a rough start thanks to lingering illness and the pressure of defending his title. He lost the first set to Adam Walton but then turned it around and won 3-6, 6-2, 6-4. “The first set was horrible from my side,” Mensik said. He regrouped quickly, got an early break in set two, and held steady from there. “It was hard to get back in rhythm,” Mensik said. “I’m really happy mentally; I held tough and didn’t let the pressure get me.”
Alexander Zverev, seeded fourth, cruised through with a comfortable win over Martin Damm, 6-2, 6-4. But Ben Shelton, the eighth seed and the local favourite, was upset by Alexander Shevchenko from Kazakhstan, losing 6-7 (3/7), 7-6 (7/3), and 6-3.
On the women’s side, Coco Gauff, seeded fourth, fought back after dropping the first set and stormed past Alycia Parks 3-6, 6-0, 6-1.
Teen stars Mirra Andreeva and Victoria Mboko set up a fourth-round showdown, their third meeting this season. Andreeva, just 18, took out Marie Bouzkova 7-6 (7/4), 6-2. Mboko, 19, handled Anastasia Zakharova 6-1, 7-5. They’ve split their past two matches. Andreeva beat Mboko in January at Adelaide, but Mboko turned the tables in Doha, saving a match point and reaching the final.
Alexandra Eala, who made waves last year with her surprise run to the semifinals, powered into the last 16 with a 6-3, 7-6 (7/2) win over Magda Linette. Linette had knocked out Iga Swiatek, world number three, in the previous round.
As the rain finally let up and play caught up, Jessica Pegula, last year’s finalist, advanced easily; her opponent Francesca Jones retired while Pegula was leading 6-1, 3-0.
Australian qualifier Talia Gibson stayed hot. After her quarter-final run in Indian Wells, she stunned Naomi Osaka, beating the four-time Grand Slam champ 7-5, 6-4.
THE MIAMI CHAOS: WHY WORLD NO 1 ARYNA SABALENKA WAS SHOCKED BY TOURNAMENT SCHEDULING
Aryna Sabalenka admits she was "really shocked" after being moved off the main court during a chaotic Miami Open opener.
Aryna Sabalenka didn’t hide her surprise about how the Miami Open scheduled her first match this year. She admitted she was “really shocked” by it all.
Sabalenka, ranked No. 1 in the world, beat Ann Li, who’s ranked 39th, 7-6(5), 6-4, in her second-round match at the Hard Rock Stadium. But the start of the Miami Open was a mess; rainstorms washed out all the action on Wednesday, and several Friday matches slid into Saturday because the weather just wouldn’t let up.
Friday got hit with more delays. Sabalenka’s match ended up being moved off the main stadium court to the smaller Butch Buchholz court – definitely not what a top seed expects. At her press conference, Sabalenka explained that tournament organisers actually gave her a choice: play right then on another court or move to Saturday.
“Well, honestly, I was shocked they even thought about cancelling my match just because of the schedule,” Sabalenka said. “And they were giving me a couple stadium options, and I thought, why can’t Alcaraz and Fonseca start a little later? Last night, the night session didn’t even start until nine, and Mirra Andreeva was still playing.”
She kept circling back to how odd it felt. “The idea of cancelling? I just didn’t expect it. But I decided I’d rather play today. If I win, I get a day off to rest and get myself together.”
Sabalenka laughed a little at the whole thing. “Yeah, I was really shocked, but I’m glad I at least got to pick what worked best for me.”
When someone asked why it caught her so off guard, she was straightforward: “I’ve never dealt with anything like this before. I can’t remember anything similar. For me, it’s not a big deal to play and have the night session start a little later, but I guess the tournament has to think about tickets and what works for them.”
As for whether she always expects to play on the main court as the world no. 1, she shrugged it off. “It’s tricky, because Alcaraz was playing too, so you’ve got two No. 1s. What can you do? I’m just glad I had a choice.”
Next up, Sabalenka takes on the world. No 72 Caty McNally in the third round.
