Carlos Alcaraz receives Daniil Medvedev warning from coach Ferrero, claims ‘we thought Sinner was almost unbeatable’
Carlos Alcaraz will look to reach back-to-back Wimbledon finals, when he takes on Daniil Medvedev in the men’s singles semifinals, on Friday. The Spaniard is the defending champion and also beat his upcoming opponent in the semis last year. Then, he beat Novak Djokovic in the summit clash. He already has one Grand Slam this year, winning the French Open, which took his overall tally to three.
In an interview with ATP’s website, Alcaraz’s coach Juan Carlos opened up on the Spaniard’s condition, and credited his tough wins in London this year. “He’s feeling very good. He’s grown into it against tough players. [Frances] Tiafoe and [Tommy] Paul are difficult. He feels good and he’s managed to solve the problems that he’s faced, but now we’re very focused on the match with Medvedev, not thinking about the title. We can’t think much beyond Friday because that would be a mistake. Medvedev has earned the respect of all the players. So we’re approaching it with the utmost concern,” he said.
Using the example of MotoGP star Marc Marquez, Ferrero said, “Nothing is a given, Marc Márquez is a perfect example. What happened to him… he was winning everything, he got an injury and now he hasn’t won for over 1,000 days. He’s battling to come back now, a guy who is an absolute one-off. Problems can happen, you [can’t] be too confident, you have to keep working. I think people have got used to him being up there, perhaps what he’s doing is even underappreciated.”
Tennis fans were also particularly shocked by Medvedev’s win against Jannik Sinner in the previous round, considering that many consider the Italian to the most in-form player currently. Ferrero said, “Medvedev has earned respect. He beat Sinner, who we thought was almost unbeatable on the grass for his style of play. It is true that Carlos plays differently from Jannik and can do a little more harm to his playing style. We are focused to the maximum and with the maximum precautions. We beat Daniil here last year, but then he beat us in the US Open semi-final. The fact that defeats don’t affect him and help him improve says a lot about him. I’m sure he’ll feel something different on Friday.”
Alcaraz also has an edge over Medvedev in terms of head-to-head leading 4-2. They last met at the 2024 Indian Wells final, which Alcaraz won. The Spaniard also beat Medvedev in the ATP finals in 2023. Meanwhile, Medvedev beat him in US Open 2023 semis and 2021 Wimbledon. Alcaraz also notched wins in the 2023 Wimbledon semis and 2023 Indian Wells Masters.
