Carlos Alcaraz and Juan Carlos Ferrero Split in Shock Coaching Break Ahead of 2026 Season

• The Instagram Posts That Broke the News
• The Partnership That Shaped Alcaraz
• Questions That Had Been Growing

The tennis world was taken by surprise on Wednesday as Carlos Alcaraz and his long-time coach Juan Carlos Ferrero confirmed the end of their partnership. The split comes just weeks before the 2026 season begins, with Alcaraz still world No. 1, marking a significant shift at the top of the sport.

Carlos Alcaraz announced the split with a measured, emotional message, thanking Juan Carlos Ferrero for helping turn childhood ambitions into reality and for guidance on and off the court. He described the decision as the end of a completed chapter, framed around reaching the summit of the sport. 

Juan Carlos Ferrero began working with Carlos Alcaraz in late 2018 and formally assumed the role of his coach in 2019, bringing the then-teenager into the Equelite Juan Carlos Ferrero Sports Academy and overseeing his rise from elite junior prospect to the highest level of the professional game.

In recent months, sections of Alcaraz’s fanbase had grown increasingly vocal, questioning whether Ferrero’s tactical framework was still extracting the maximum from Alcaraz’s evolving game. Calls for a “fresh voice” grew louder as Alcaraz ceded the No. 1 ranking and faced growing resistance from his closest rivals.