Carlos Alcaraz’s success and loyalty have worked wonders for Juan Carlos Ferrero. It has not only given him a fresh lease of life as a full-time coach but also new sponsorship deals. Ferrero will now wear Nike outfits for tennis-related events, and his academy players will exclusively use Babolat rackets.
After Rafael Nadal, Carlos Alcaraz became the second Spaniard to have both these sponsors. What’s more interesting is that the Nike and Babolat deals will extend to the Juan Carlos Ferrero Academy in Alicante, Spain, according to Marca. This means that Ferrero has agreed to part ways with his long-time equipment partner, Head.
Interestingly, this is the first time Ferrero has collaborated with Nike, both personally and for his academy. Over the years, Ferrero has endorsed different brands such as Adidas and Lotto, among others.
Without a doubt, this is a huge scalp for Nike, as they now aim to maximize the Ferrero-Alcaraz partnership for as long as possible. While the monetary details of both sponsorship deals have not been officially revealed, it is safe to assume that this will also benefit Ferrero.
Interestingly, they both share the same manager – Albert Molina. In fact, he was the one who reached out to Ferrero to coach a 15-year-old Alcaraz.
How Molina convinced Ferrero to coach Alcaraz
Molina was so impressed with Alcaraz at a young age that he insisted Ferrero watch him play. The now four-time Grand Slam champion needed someone disciplined to help him grow into a professional tennis player. In an interview with Tennis Majors in 2023, Ferrero said,
“You could see that Carlos played really good but you knew you had to build up everything, build a team, prepare a family, etc. The most important, from that point was that we built an amazing team around him.”
Ferrero agreed to coach him for two reasons. The primary one was that Alcaraz’s family found his style of coaching acceptable, as they valued loyalty and respect toward the coach. In addition, the project was different for Ferrero than his topsy-turvy tenure with Alexander Zverev from July 2017 to March 2018.
“He came, asked if the project could work for me because he knew that it was something different from Sascha. Molina knows I am a very strict person. He thought that Alcaraz needed something like this, someone to put order in his path.”
While the 21-year-old Spaniard’s career is still in its early stages, this partnership is already thriving. No matter how much credit Ferrero gets for shaping Alcaraz, Molina’s role in this cannot be overlooked.
