“This win’s for you” Carlos Alcaraz pays an emotional tribute to Coach Juan Carlos Ferrero’s late father

 

Spanish teen sensation Carlos Alcaraz cruised to his maiden Masters 1000 final with a straight-set win over defending champion Hubert Hurkacz in the semi-finals of the 2022 Miami Open. The 18-year-old showed maturity far beyond his years as he dashed Hurkacz’s title defense with a scoreline of 7-6(5), 7-6(2) to enter the biggest final of his career.

It was a serve deadlock from both the players in the opening set as it entered a tie-breaker. Alcaraz found himself on the backfoot at 5-3 down a mini-break but pulled off a comeback to edge out the first set. The second set mirrored the first one as the duo put on a serving masterclass to force a tie break and this time Alcaraz was in cruise control as he won the second set and wrap up the match to become the fourth-youngest man to reach a final in Masters 1000 history.

Following his win, Alcaraz wrote a message on the camera “This win’s for you Juanki.” This was a tribute to his coach, Juan Carlos Ferrero’s father, who passed away last week.

Alcaraz has been under Ferrero’s tutelage for the past two years, under whom he had a meteoric rise from a player competing at challenger events to reaching Masters 1000 finals. Ferrero could not be there at the Miami Open to see his protege clinch a maiden Masters 1000 final, as he had to fly to Spain upon learning about his father’s sudden death.