On December 17, during the tennis off-season, Alcaraz made the surprise announcement that he had parted ways with Ferrero.

The Spaniard had been coached by Ferrero since he started attending the former world No 1 and French Open champion's academy in 2018, when he was 16 years old.

The 22-year-old won all 24 of his titles, including six Grand Slams and eight Masters 1000 titles, during his hugely fruitful collaboration with Ferrero.

Samuel Lopez, who coaches at Ferrero's academy, has taken the reins as Alcaraz's main coach, having joined the team in December 2024. Prior to this, Lopez had already coached Alcaraz at tournaments Ferrero did not attend in 2022 and 2023.

In his pre-tournament press conference at the Australian Open, Alcaraz was asked how difficult it was to not have Ferrero with him heading into a Grand Slam.

"Well, I just build my team, which is the same as I'm having, you know, last year, except with Juan Carlos," said Alcaraz.

"We decide to do it. I'm just having plenty of confidence of the team that I have right now.

"I'm just, as I said, the practices has been really well. I'm just feeling well. So just excited about the tournament begin with the team that I have right now."

Alcaraz was then asked what exactly had happened to cause the split.

"Well, it is something we just decide. You know, I think chapter of life, there is a time that has to be end. We decided like this," he replied.

"I got to say that I'm really grateful for this seven years I've been with Juan Carlos. I learned a lot. Probably thanks to him I'm the player that I am right now.

"But internally, we decided like this. We closed this chapter in mutual. We, as I said, both are still friends, good relationship. But we just decided like this."

The six-time major winner also addressed whether he had made any changes to his pre-season training in light of Ferrero's departure.

"I mean, there wasn't any changes at all," Alcaraz explained.

"We just was really focused on the things that we had to do, the things that we think we should improve coming from this season.

"So as I said, I have the same team that I had last year. Just one member missing. But the rest of the team, everyone are the same. So we didn't change the routine at all.

"So we [are] just going through the pre-season and the season in the same way, or probably with the improvement that I really want to do."

Alcaraz is seeking a maiden Australian Open crown, which would see him become the youngest man to complete a career Grand Slam.

The top seed will face 79th-ranked Australian Adam Walton in the opening round at Melbourne Park.

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