Tennis sensation Carlos Alcaraz received a special surprise as his coach Juan Carlos Ferrero was in attendance at the Miami Open ahead of the Spaniard’s first ATP Masters 1000 final.
Ferrero had not been at the tournament as his father Eduardo passed away before it got underway. However, the former world number one revealed he had flown to Florida to attend the final on Instagram on Sunday morning.
Alcaraz paid tribute to his coach during his impressive run to the final against Casper Ruud. After defeating Miomir Kecmanovic in the quarter-finals, the 18-year-old wrote: ‘Juanki y Eduardo’ with a heart beneath their names.
The superstar teenager wrote another message dedicated to Ferrero following his thrilling 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-2) semi-final win over reigning champion Hubert Hurkacz.
In the video posted by Ferrero on Sunday, Alcaraz was seen to leap off the couch as soon as he saw his coach to welcome him back to action. Ferrero captioned the video: “TEAM READY? ALL SET FOR THE FINAL”
Alcaraz went into the final knowing that, at 18, he could break Novak Djokovic’s record as the youngest champion in tournament history - and he did just that on Sunday. The Spaniard defeated Ruud 7-5 6-4 to win the first Masters 1000 title of his career.
He became the third-youngest winner of a Masters 1000 title after compatriot Rafael Nadal and American Michael Chang. However, Alcaraz is the first Spaniard to win in Miami as 21-time Grand Slam winner Nadal has lost each of his five finals there.
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Alcaraz got off to a poor start and had to fight back from losing his first service game, which allowed Ruud to build a 3-0 lead in the opening set. At 4-2 down, Alcaraz broke back and broke again at 5-5 to take the first set without needing a tie break.
He continued to dominate the second set by winning the first three games and while his 23-year-old opponent battled back to make it 3-2, Alcaraz held on. He praised coach Ferrero for being present during his win.
“It's great. He came yesterday afternoon,” said Alcaraz. “He's been through some tough moments right now and coming here to support and stay with me is really a special moment for me.
“It's great to share this kind of moment with him. It's emotional.”
