Host 2 (3:39)

So I don't know anything. I'm reacting just off of feelings and trying to put the pieces together. This doesn't like from Juan Carlos's statement. And then JW always knows more about this stuff than I do. But from Juan Carlos's statement saying, you know, what may come next. I'm excited about what may come next. That is not this thing of, hey, I'm tapped out. I want to get away from something. It doesn't sound as if he's like. Like a Cahill six months ago, right? It was like, I. I just need to be done. I think I'm done with tennis. I need to be home more. It felt like a very personal, sober, I'm walking away type thing. JCF's statement didn't sound that way. It sounded like he's kind of, what projects may come next. You know, I wish I could have continued jw. What. What are you hearing, if anything?

Host 3 (4:34)

Yeah, it's weird because I don't think, you know, sometimes you. You and I, you hear chatter, and some of it comes to pass, some of it doesn't. This was. This was a gobsmacker. I mean, this sort of came out of the blue. I mean, at some level, look, name me a player and coach who have been together their entire career. You know, even. Even Rafa made a bit of a transition. But this is surprising. This had the ring of the couple where, all right, maybe they have a few fights, but you assume they have a solid, durable marriage, and then you wake up and they have the, you know, we're consciously uncoupling. We remain best friends. You can tell from those messages that Mike read this, they weren't perfectly aligned. I mean, there was. We're not throwing mud here. But that isn't a complete. It doesn't sound like they were completely on the same page. What I am hearing through sort of well informed sources, but this wasn't formally on the record, so I want to be a little careful. But there was a bit of friction about sort of how much to take advantage of the commercial opportunities. And then Ferrero who runs a very tight ship and is much more focused on the tennis. Certainly this was not the first instance of an agent or a family and a coach having a bit of a disagreement over how much energy and focus to pour into training versus commercial opportunities. But yeah, this is surprising. I've also heard that the off season camp is at the Ferrero Academy and there were reports from Spanish media that, that Sammy Lopez, who was the co coach of the year, that's the other thing too. Wasn't it just last week that we got an email from the ATP saying Juan Carlos Ferrero and Lopez are the co coaches of the year. So this is. Yeah, this is a surprise. It's one of these shocking. Not surprising, but shocking nonetheless. And we'll see. You know, we're about 10 days away from Alcaraz leaving for Australia, so the timing is a little weird too. What do you think?

Host 2 (6:34)

Yeah, so you hit on the last one. The timing is strange. Like you normally don't make a move December 17th, right. Like if, if this was not a reaction to a current event or a current set of circumstances, then you stop in November after World Tour finals or even before then like Open, you put something new in place. You know, if I, if I was JCF and I was gone and I was like respectful of what had been accomplished and obviously it seems like they both are, it feels like they both understand what each other meant to their successes. Right. And that's obvious to everyone. But it's nice that at least they acknowledge that. But saying I wish I could continue is a very deliberate statement to me. That's tough to be misconstrued and I don't want to be the person who tries to make something out of nothing, but if I had gone and I wasn't super happy about it, I probably would have put something like that in there, you know, two, two level sets. So this, this thing has so many different layers to it. It's not like a typical player coach relationship for a couple of reasons. You talked about the training thing like Carlos trains at the place that JCF built. So now is there another whole thing of am I going to stay there and. Or am I going to have to Upend, you know, the familiar walk from the place I hit, then the walk to the gym and then all the people that work there potentially that, you know, assist my career. So that's intertwined. The other thing that I don't think it's talked about enough, where we need to give JCF like massive, massive credit. And this is, it's. This is clearly differentiated from super coach relationships, whether it's Becker and Novak or whether it's, you know, anyone that Rodgers used with, you know, Edberg or whoever else has kind of stepped in Lendel and Murray. And is that JCF's the only one that's developed the player from 13 or 14 years old. Right. He's taking them from a junior, put in two years or three years when no one's watching, and then taken them through, you know, the paces from 100 to 30 to 1 to slam to then expectation to, then delivering on expectation to then being the guy all the time. And this is very different. We can't. I don't want anyone to treat this as like, same same, and we're just moving on. And this probably isn't a big deal because Carlos is so good. I've thought that in the past, right. Roger moves on from someone who's, you know, working with him, whether it's Ed Burger, Luba Church or it's like, okay, this isn't. It's hard. I'm sure they added value. And also like, this isn't going to be, this isn't going to shift his tennis universe much like it will a little bit, but not like crazy. This shifts everything for, for, for Carlos. Right now we're can. Is Sammy Lopez the guy moving forward, does he need. I know I felt at a certain point when I hired, you know, Stefanke or Connors, there were only so many people on earth and I certainly was never Carlos Alcaraz. But I had a resume that, you know, and played in matches that only, you know, a handful of people could totally relate to. Right. And that doesn't mean there aren't coaches who, you know, aren't great, who haven't done it. It's just at a certain point in my career, I felt like I needed someone who had either worked during those matches, kind of understood the pacing and how to get through a big slam. We weren't trying to get to 100, right. We were trying to win. It was like slam or bust for me. And I felt like I could only really get into the weeds. I needed, I needed my insecurity, needed someone who had either been there before or coached there before.

Host 3 (10:20)

Right.

Host 2 (10:20)

So I think there's only so many people who could step into this. And also, like, it seems like it would be an obvious thing where it's like, okay, I'm jumping in. I'm working with one of the most talented players that Earth has ever seen. It's tough to fill in. Like, that's an intimidating, you know, relationship to kind of jump into on short notice. Right. If you're, if you're a coach, if you're like a Murray and this is like, if you're like, I'm just trying to think of people with the credentials, Murray or Moya or, you know, whoever else, I don't know that you're going like, oh, yeah, I'm just going to jump in there. Like, it's, there's a lot of downside with this scenario. And if you win, it's like, oh, well, he might have won anyways. Right? I mean, is that a, is that a crazy take?

Host 3 (10:59)

JW well, I'm, I think there are a lot of good points you've raised in there. Plenty of coaches have been successful who did not have great success as a player. But, yeah, it's got to be an adjustment to go from a guy who was number one in the world and one major is to, if the ATP website is right, Sammy Lopez career winnings, $90. So it's a, I mean, in fairness to Lopez, a, he's coached Corinne Busta. This is not his first coaching job. Also, he's been part of the team. He knows Carlos, he knows what buttons to push. He knows the family dynamic. I mean, he's not coming into this cold. But, yeah, it's got to be, it's got to be jarring for the player. You're in the latter rounds of a major and you look over and when Juan Carlos is giving you instruction, just by dint of his resume, that's got to carry different weight. I also think it's a really good point you raised. I was at that academy two years ago, and, you know, you go to some academies and, you know, you go to Nadal's and it's near the Mediterranean. You've got the Canadian tourists who are there to buy the T shirts. It's a much different, this is rustic. This is in the middle of sort of it's two hours from Valencia. This is not, it was sort of custom built in Ferrero's image. It's no nonsense. It's like one of these boxing training camps. Does this change Alcaraz's entire training base or does he still train at this academy even though the person whose name it bears is no longer part of the enterprise? Again, all players change coaches, right? I mean, from Roger, Rafa, you. But this one carries a lot of sort of complications with it. That doesn't mean it's not surmountable. But this isn't just as simple as, like, you know, we did have Coach X and now we're going to go to coach. Why? There's, there's a lot here.

Host 2 (12:45)

There's also, we need to be conscious of, of precedent being set. Right now. We're, we don't know what happened. We won't. We probably, if everyone does the right thing, we shouldn't know what happened, right? No, I don't, I don't think anyone should talk about this. If I'm, if I'm in Carlos's camp, I just be like, I love and appreciate Juan Carlos. It just didn't work out. Sometimes stuff doesn't work out. Look at him. Look what we did and how long it worked out. Like, I would just, you know, button it up. I probably wouldn't comment further, but, you know, it's a tough one because now Carlos, like, the other thing is Carlos is like, that relationship was formed when it was like, you know, I'm a father, you're a son. And now it's like Carlos is an adult. So, like, who's going to tell him no, like, who's going to tell him not to go play in Madison Square Garden? Who's going to tell him not to do the Ripper in Ibiza? Who's going to tell him not to take advantage of all the things that he's earned? I mean, he's like borderline the most famous athlete on earth.

Host 1 (13:45)

Yeah.

Host 2 (13:46)

Right.

Host 3 (13:46)

So which, just to jump in, which, let's be clear, that was kind of Ferrero's role. Ferrero spoke about at times he was okay being the hard ass and the bad guy. Juan Carlos Ferrero was not in this to, you know, do Instagram posts at exhibitions so that that role will now either go unfilled or have to be filled by someone else.

Host 2 (14:06)

Yeah, it is good that they have least continuity. Like Sammy Lopez is going to know, okay. He likes a 22 minute warmup. He likes, you know, rackets on a hot day strung like this. He's going to know all of those things that you kind of have to get to know. I was, I was talking with my tennis. I was, I played tennis and just rushed over here afterwards. But I was Talking with that game, I'm like, well, the other thing is like, Juan Carlos can hit really well, like plays great. So you're talking about like warming up your player. You know, there's a world where they go out and they have a stock 28 minute, you know, drill session that he actually can get in and do. Right. There's not, it's not as if like a lot of people are walking around that can handle Carlos's ball and practice and know what he wants. And if it's the 24 minute warmup, let's you look at Bob and Mike, Brian, when they warm up, it's, they're putting it in each other's pockets. Like they know what to do with each other. So you're having to recreate all of these things that Carlos has known since he was 13 or 14. And listen, he's an otherworldly talent. I'm not saying he's not going to adjust. He will. He's going to win majors. Like, nothing changes in the long term if they hire correctly. Right. But who steps in? You know, they're going to have to teach someone a lot of the stuff that he prefers. Right. Connors walks in with his wealth of knowledge day one. And the first five days is like, oh, dude, you like doing this. Okay, I, I like doing it. And then there's like a melt of, of preferences. Right. I'm going to tell you what to do. And you know what, how do you like to hear information? And so that kind of resets. The Aussie open starts in four weeks. That, that little, that little stuff takes time. I think it's great that he has someone who actually knows his pacing and what he likes to hear and if he likes to talk before matches. Like all of those things are learned behaviors where all of a sudden your team around you just exists and doesn't, you don't have to explain, you don't have to like tell people what's going on. I guarantee you they've played enough matches. It's like there's not a lot of spoken word on how we're going to deal with the next day. Like, you wake up and you've been doing it so long that it just, it just clicks, you know, it's, it's, it's, it's going to be interesting. It's, the timing isn't great.

Host 1 (16:15)

Well, Juan Carlos has, has called Sammy Lopez, you know, quote, a joker. He's, he's known to be more relaxed. He joined the team in 2024 as, as a co Coach, you know, he's known Juan Carlos. He's. He was on his team when Juan Carlos was a player. Right. So it's that, like you're saying, right. It's not going to change a whole lot of the core existence. Right. It just sounds like, I don't know, Carlos is 22 years old. I mean, I was graduating college when I was 22 years old and going out on my own, and I didn't need my parents telling me what to do anymore. And you mature and change and maybe. Maybe it's as simple as that, right? Maybe it's, hey, let me do a little bit more of what I want to do and how I want to do it. And when we're in between those lines, we can do it a little bit how you want to do it, but I don't know how that works, you know, from a player's perspective and especially with the coaching box perspective.

Host 3 (17:03)

Yeah. Now you're going to the. The one major you have not won. And one of the. If there's an irony here, about six months ago, 2025 was going to be. Jannik Sitter told us in Australia last year, this was Darren Cahill's final season as coach. As I understand it, Darren will be going to Australia. So, you know, who would have thought of the top two players? Juan Carlos would be the one with a new coach. Australia, 2026.

Host 2 (17:31)

Yeah. I was written down to get to, like, we can think, we know everything. And then, you know, we had our show with. With Darren Cahill, and I just asked him. I was like, I was like, you're not gonna stop? Like, this is like the best ride ever. Like, are you kidding me? This is amazing. This is what you hope for. And he's like, ah, well, you know, and then I got to the point where I was like, I'll let Yannick decide. Like, all right. Well, obviously, if you're, you know, I call them like co. Number ones, right? You're like one, two in the world and winning two Slams a year.

Host 3 (18:00)

You're.

Host 2 (18:01)

If you're Yannick, I mean, what I would have said then is you're obviously not going to switch anything. Well, someone won two Slams and they switched something, you know, but it just wasn't Yannick, you know, so we would have. I mean, Vegas would have had you 99:1, you know, percent the other one way to the other way versus Cahill Center. I mean, he had already. He had announced his retirement.

Host 1 (18:21)

Yeah.

Host 2 (18:21)

And then we're like, oh, Juan Carlos. And Carlos are just going to Go on for, you know, until Juan Carlos gets burnt out from traveling for the last three decades.

Host 1 (18:29)

Yeah.

Host 2 (18:30)

Doesn't sound like that was the case. Well, no, we won't know. But I mean, who. Listen is. Is you want to give the guy some breathing room. But like, is if you bring someone as a co coach, you know, does that mean they're the coach? Like my brother was, was coach me. He was on tour, but we went from Connors to someone else and he knew all of my stuff. But I don't know that it was, you know, our relationship wasn't healthy when he was taking the brunt of my feedback. You know, is Sammy Lopez going to be able to say like, hey, to beat Yannick Sinner, you have to do this. And Carlos would be like, that's not fucking right. You know, Juan Carlos gonna be like, I was number one in the world. Listen to me. It's gonna be. It's gonna be interesting. It's gonna be. It's gonna be very interesting. But I don't know, what do you. What are we gonna talk about tomorrow when we have to come into the studio?

Host 1 (19:17)

I mean, oh my gosh.

Host 3 (19:18)

Yeah, but what is. What does polymarket say? What's gonna be. Be our scandal. But yeah, this, this is, you know, I mean, this tennis never disappoints. And here we thought we were clear till January and we didn't last a single day.

Host 2 (19:34)

I do think it's. It puts a little bit more pressure and emphasis on the result in Australia. You know, if he goes in and just, just runs through it, I think that level sets everything. It's like, okay, we're fine. Like, I don't, I don't need my binky. You know, it's. It's like. But then if it. Something goes wrong and it's like fourth round quarters or. And it's just awkward, then I think shifts. It shifts a lot of momentum that was gained at the US Open. And you know, it was a roller coaster of the year from French Open to Wimbledon, the US Open, it was. You know, I don't know that I've ever seen him play better than the US Open start to finish. So we'll see. Jw, keep us posted if you hear anything.

Host 3 (20:14)

You got it.

Host 1 (20:15)

See you tomorrow.

Host 2 (20:17)

Thanks for watching Quick served. I hope we see you next year. There will be episodes over the holidays, so please check back in with served, but hopefully we won't be in studio till, Till the new year. Thank you for the year. Cheers.

Advertiser 2 (20:39)

Starting a business can seem like a daunting task. Unless you have a partner like Shopify, they have the tools you need to start and grow your business. From designing a website to marketing to selling and beyond, Shopify can help with everything you need. There's a reason millions of companies like Mattel, Heinz and Allbirds continue to trust and use them. With Shopify on your side, turn your big business idea into Sign up for your $1 per month trial@shopify.com specialoffer Monster.

Advertiser 3 (21:09)

Energy everybody knows White Monster Zero Ultra. That's the OG it came out kicked off this whole Zero Sugar Energy drink thing, but Ultra is a whole lineup now. You've got Strawberry Dreams, Blue Hawaiian Sunrise and Vice Guava, and they all bring the Monster Energy punch. So if you've been living in the White can branch out, Ultra's got a flavor for every vibe, and every single one is Zero Sugar. Tap the banner to learn more.