US OPEN

September 7, 2025

Juan Carlos Ferrero

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Coach, congratulations.

JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: Thank you very much.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Congrats on the win. We often talk about the joy that Carlos brings to the court and the smiling and so forth, and I just wondered if you could talk about when you first saw that in him, and how does that help him on the court?

JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: This comes from the beginning when I maybe saw him for the first time with -- I think he was 12, 13 years old. You could see the smile all the time on the face, except when he gets angry on the court.

But the rest of the time he was all the time enjoying, because the way he plays, you know, it's very, let's say, a little bit easier than maybe others' kind of games to enjoy and to have joy on the court. So it was from the very beginning.

Q. Does that help him in the matches keep things light?

JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: Yeah, for sure sometimes. Most of the times that when he tries these kind of shots or this kind of performance all the time, we talking all the time that, you know, he has to try to have joy on the court all the time and, you know, try to be not too much stress on the court and try to go for the points. The way he plays, I think it's a little bit easier than maybe others.

Q. After the Wimbledon final, in the weeks that followed, was there anything that you wanted Carlos to do differently for the next time that he played against Jannik?

JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: Yeah, I mean, let's say we watch little bit the matches, Roland Garros and Wimbledon. We try to see the little things that we can improve to play in the forward matches against Jannik.

I think it was very important, because we maybe practiced for 15 days, like, very focused on the details that we have to improve to play against Jannik.

We know that in this kind of surface, on hard courts, Jannik is always very difficult to play and winning a lot of matches. Yeah, I think it helps a lot, because he realized what he has to improve a lot, and I was very focused on it.

Q. Can you tell us any details?

JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: Cannot. Cannot. I cannot (laughing). For sure Simone will heard about it.

Q. Well done, Juan Carlos. Carlos said the other day that he was getting more mature, and I'm curious what you have seen recently from him in training and the practice court and how he lives, how he goes about his business that would give you the same impression? Or maybe you haven't seen anything and he's the same?

JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: He's not changing many things. I think he's growing up. It's the way, you know, you turn more years, it's the way of life, natural things that it comes.

But, yeah, I think we have very clear what he has to improve on court and off the court, and I think he's more mature to believe that that's these kind of things he can improve much better for the future.

Q. Congrats. Carlos's serve improvements have been a big part of his great form this year. I'm curious what it's been like from your perspective helping him to improve that shot from when he changed his service motion in the offseason until now?

JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: This change, it comes from Australian Open. I think past December we decide to change a little bit his movement of the serve. You know, we knew that we need some time to get, you know, working on court.

I think in this moment it's maybe the moment that he has more improving in his serve, and it's been very useful on the court, and in important moment he's using it a lot. During all Cincinnati and also during all US Open, I think the serve is one of the keys to win the tournaments, for sure.

Q. Novak was in here saying he's kind of rooting for the third challenger to come through, having been in that position. I'm sure you're really happy with the way things are at the moment, but I just wonder, for men's tennis, do you think it needs somebody else to sort of insert themselves into this rivalry? Is there a danger that Jannik and Carlos could maybe play each other maybe too much?

JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: I don't know. I mean, it's tough to say. I think if we have more players fighting for the big titles, for people I think it's going to be even more entertainment.

For us it's going to be worse, because we have to mix the tournaments. But, yeah, it's always welcome, the players that rise and play a high level. I think people will. I think people learn from these kind of matches. They know where the level is and where they have to go. For sure they're going to try.

Q. Congratulations. Related to that, when you were playing, you caught the end of the Sampras-Agassi rivalry and played through the Federer-Nadal rivalry. How do you think Sinner and Alcaraz's dominance now compares to them?

JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: It's difficult to say. With all the players that we have on tour, you know, seeing Roger, Rafa, Novak, now it's very easy to say, but maybe 20 years ago you would not say it's going to happen like this, so it's very tough.

If I have to tell you right now, it looks like this, but who knows in the future if someone is going to arrive and fight for a big title as well?

Q. How would you describe what you saw in Carlos's performance today and what you felt as you watched it?

JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: It's difficult to say. I think we prepared the match very good, watching some matches and see the specific details we have to play. Carlos did 100%. It's easy to say and very difficult to do it.

The performance today was perfect. I think he compromise himself to go for the match all the time, tried to put pressure on the rival sooner than Jannik. I think it's one of the keys. I think these guys hit the ball, both of them, very, very fast, and I think who hits first take the advantage on points.

Yeah, Carlos has maybe more variety on his game, and he can do more, like, slice, go to the net, and do more things than maybe Jannik, but I think it helps a lot to change a little bit the way of the games. But, yeah, I would say that the match was perfect for Carlos and the performance was unbelievable.

Q. Can you give us an insight into what you did in the build-up to the match? It was delayed by half an hour. What time were you onsite to try and avoid any traffic chaos? And how did you cope with the delay?

JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: Did not too much. I think we just wait. We move a little bit later the warmup. We supposed to start warming up 1:30, and at the end we move it to 2:00. Because he had lunch before we know that the match has moved to 2:30, so we couldn't move the lunchtime, but we don't do too much. Just wait and, you know, don't think too much.