Alcaraz stands firm after documentary controversy suggesting he’s enjoying life too much for an elite athlete
The Spaniard describes his disagreements with his coach Juan Carlos Ferrero as “the beauty” of the path they share
Carlos Alcaraz and Juan Carlos Ferrero, Rome 2025 | © Tristan Lapierre / Tennis Majors
Carlos Alcaraz didn’t give details about the number of late nights he has had in recent weeks or if he really went to bed at 7 a.m., as fellow Spanish player Roberto Bautista Agut suggested after the recent release of the documentary My Way on Netflix. The day before his return to the ATP Tour in Rome, following his withdrawal in Madrid due to injury, this wasn’t the focus of his press conference at the Foro Italico.
Still, until Thursday, the Roland Garros and Wimbledon champion had not spoken about the buzz surrounding the surprising statements he made in the documentary about his lifestyle and his view that tennis shouldn’t feel like a duty.
“I hear good things, I head bad things…” (Alacarz)
“I’m not going to say a fight, but the conversation we have — coach and player — we all have it,” Alcaraz said, in answer to a question from Tennis Majors about his feelings after the controversy regarding his lifestyle. “We all have those conversations, about everything: about the tournaments, the practices, the things I want to do that I probably shouldn’t. Whoever says they don’t have those conversations is lying.”
“Sometimes,” he said earlier, “(people outside of my team) find it weird that I follow that path — enjoying life, not being such a professional. I try not to think about what people say to me. I mean, not the ‘real people’: my close ones, my team, my family, or my close friends. Yes, I hear good things and bad things about it. But I just want to stay on my path, to stick to my way.”
“I follow the things that I want, that I like, the things my team tells me, my close people, my family, and my friends — and that’s it,” he said.
Having mixed feelings is the beauty of it
Alcaraz even highlights the fact that the differences in views between him and his coach Juan Carlos Ferrero about what it takes to become the best are an enjoyable part of their journey. “I think that’s the beauty of it — having mixed feelings, mixed points of view. In the end, we are on the same path. We’re all together. So I think that’s beautiful as well. And that’s also what I saw in the commentary about the film.”
Alcaraz’s second appearance in Rome
Asked if his generation is more sensitive to maintaining a balanced lifestyle than the previous one, Alcaraz offered a response that can be interpreted in multiple ways: “Well, I think everybody (on the Tour) is thinking about winning. It’s fair, it’s normal. I was, too. But right now, I’m not anymore, I guess. I just try not to focus on the results — win or lose. I now understand how I have to approach matches, tournaments, everything. But I think right now every player is thinking about results or is even obsessed with getting wins, with results just to get into tournaments or climb the rankings.”
Alcaraz will begin the tournament as the No 3 seed against Dusan Lajovic from Croatia. He has only played in Rome once in his career and was defeated in the third round by Fabian Marozsan from Hungary.
