Carlos Alcaraz’s coach makes ‘difficult’ French Open injury confession before Jannik Sinner clash

Juan Carlos Ferrero has discussed the impact of Carlos Alcaraz’s forearm injury ahead of the Spaniard’s French Open showdown with Jannik Sinner.

Ferrero, who has coached Alcaraz since 2018, revealed the Spanish star is able to hit with “95%” confidence as he highlighted a way the injury makes it “difficult” for his player.

Prior to Roland Garros , Alcaraz missed clay-court tournaments in Monte Carlo, Barcelona and Rome due to the forearm injury he suffered during a practice session in Monaco.

Alcaraz appeared hampered on his forehand during his quarter-final defeat to Andrey Rublev at the Madrid Open last month. The Masters 1000 event in the Spanish capital was the only clay tournament Alcaraz played in the build up to the French Open.

Due to his injury and disrupted clay campaign, there were doubts over Alcaraz’s ability to contend for the title at Roland Garros.

The two-time Grand Slam champion has looked in superb form, though, en route to reaching the semi-finals for the loss of a single set.

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Alcaraz will take on his rival Sinner , who will become world No 1 for the first time next week, in a blockbuster last four encounter.

The 21-year-old also reached the semi-finals at Roland Garros last year, when he fell in four sets to eventual winner Novak Djokovic after suffering with cramps.

Following Alcaraz’s quarter-final victory over Stefanos Tsitsipas, Ferrero was asked if the world No 3’s injury had caused him to make any adjustments to his game.

“No, honestly not,” Ferrero told reporters. “I think that in the end an injury like that is never good. One because it has made it a little difficult for us to be able to play the entire clay season, which is always important for us.

“And then, when it comes to hitting the right again with 100% confidence, today I would say it is at 95%. It is still difficult for him to finish hitting the right hand with that naturalness that he hit before because that injury to his arm always makes him pay attention to it a little bit.”

The former world No 1 also addressed whether he feels Alcaraz is the favourite against Sinner: “Favourites in such an even match is difficult. I think Jannik has improved a lot on this surface and he has improved a lot in his variety in the game.

“Before he was a player who played a little more with shots, especially cross-court with some changes to the parallel, but he had few rises to the net, few drop shots and I think he has been evolving very well because he really trains for it.

“We are aware that he is a very hard-working boy and that he was very clear that he wanted to build a very good player and he is working on it.

“Although he has obviously achieved No 1, I think he is a player who is not going to trust himself and is not going to to stop, I think they are going to try to continue being better every day because they are very young just like Carlos and they are both trying to be better every day.”

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