Ferrero: Why Alcaraz is approaching Medvedev SF with 'utmost concern'
p“Despite being 21 years old, he listens and tries to learn."/pp
These are the words of a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/juan-carlos-ferrero/f316/overview'Juan Carlos Ferrero/a on a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/carlos-alcaraz/a0e2/overview'Carlos Alcaraz/a as the three-time major champion prepares for his clash with a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/daniil-medvedev/mm58/overview'Daniil Medvedev/a in his second straight a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/wimbledon/540/overview'Wimbledon/a semi-final and his sixth in a major. Ferrero, who has coached the No. 3 in the PIF ATP Rankings for a number of years, is in no doubt about what those numbers mean and he is asking for prudence as Alcaraz bids to defend his a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/wimbledon/540/overview'Wimbledon/a title./p
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ldquo;They are very significant stats, but you have to take it day by day, this isnrsquo;t a given,rdquo; warned Ferrero. ldquo;Then we have to go to the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/us-open/560/overview'US Open/a and do everything again to try and reach these kinds of rounds. The most important thing is that he has a very, very high natural level and really in five-set matches his opponents have to play very well to beat him if hersquo;s at a normal level./p
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ldquo;Hersquo;s feeling very good. Hersquo;s grown into it against tough players. [Frances] Tiafoe and [Tommy] Paul are difficult. He feels good and hersquo;s managed to solve the problems that hersquo;s faced, but now wersquo;re very focused on the match with Medvedev, not thinking about the title./p
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lsquo;We canrsquo;t think much beyond Friday because that would be a mistake. Medvedev has earned the respect of all the players. So wersquo;re approaching it with the utmost concern.rdquo;/p
pimg src="/-/media/images/news/2024/07/10/17/37/alcaraz-ferrero-wimbledon-2024.jpg" style="width:100%;" alt="a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/carlos-alcaraz/a0e2/overview'Carlos Alcaraz/a practises at a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/wimbledon/540/overview'Wimbledon/a while coach a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/juan-carlos-ferrero/f316/overview'Juan Carlos Ferrero/a looks on." /br /
emsupa href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/carlos-alcaraz/a0e2/overview'Carlos Alcaraz/a practises at a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/wimbledon/540/overview'Wimbledon/a while coach a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/juan-carlos-ferrero/f316/overview'Juan Carlos Ferrero/a looks on. Credit: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images/sup/em/p
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Alcaraz leads Medvedev 4-2 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series, having beaten the 2021 a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/us-open/560/overview'US Open/a champion last year in the same round of a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/wimbledon/540/overview'Wimbledon/a, where they will meet on Friday. However, ldquo;Daniil beat us later in the semis at the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/us-open/560/overview'US Open/a,rdquo; remembers Ferrero. ldquo;That says a lot about him. He is unaffected by defeats, they help him improve. Irsquo;m sure hersquo;ll try something different from last year on Friday. Of course, previous matches have an influence, but every match is different.../p
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ldquo;I think you have to learn a lot from the matches you lose because they hurt a little more and you have to pay more attention. Although you canrsquo;t forget this when you win either, the things you did badly or need to improve on. I always remind him of that.rdquo; /p
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The fact that Alcaraz has reached six semi-finals in the last seven majors is a clear sign of how important the events are to the Murcia native, who won the 2022 a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/us-open/560/overview'US Open/a, last yearrsquo;s a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/wimbledon/540/overview'Wimbledon/a and a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/roland-garros/520/overview'Roland Garros/a a month ago./p
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ldquo;The motivation comes with playing in a Grand Slam,rdquo; said Ferrero. ldquo;They are the tournaments that motivate you the most, theyrsquo;re the ones you want to win. Itrsquo;s clear that being away from home for a time... you have to know how to handle that monotony. Freshness is very important for Carlos because of his type of physique, because hersquo;s very explosive.rdquo; /p
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With one eye on that freshness, Alcaraz practised on Wednesday on the courts of Aorangi Park, but hersquo;ll be playing golf in the afternoon and resting on Thursday before returning to the courts on Friday for his semi-final clash./p
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ldquo;Nothing is a given, [Spanish motorcycle racer] Marc Maacute;rquez is a perfect example. What happened to him... he was winning everything, he got an injury and now he hasnrsquo;t won for over 1,000 days," Ferrero said. "Hersquo;s battling to come back now, a guy who is an absolute one-off. Problems can happen, you [canrsquo;t] be too confident, you have to keep working. I think people have got used to him being up there, perhaps what hersquo;s doing is even underappreciated.rdquo;/p
pemEditor's Note: This story was translated from a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.atptour.com/es" target="_blank"ATPTour.com/es/a./em/p
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