\u2013 Jesus Christ! Look, it\u2019s always easy to talk when you\u2019re not on the inside and you don\u2019t know exactly what happened behind the scenes. Knowing that Juan Carlos is extremely professional \u2013 he was exactly the same as a player \u2013 I\u2019m sure he wants the very best from his players, and his standards of professionalism are very high. Probably, with Carlos being Spanish, very young, and attracted to all the off-court temptations that come with success\u2026<\/a> it must have been hard to deal with him lately. It\u2019s understandable \u2013 you\u2019re 22 years old, all the girls are chasing you, there\u2019s fame and everything that goes with it. Nobody could resist that at such a young age. Juan Carlos probably saw all of this and was trying to separate the work on court from all the outside noise. That\u2019s probably where the clash happened, at least from my perspective.<\/p>\n \u2013 Do you think it was a mistake from Alcaraz to let Ferrero go?<\/p>\n \u2013 The biggest mistake is when parents interfere with the process.<\/a> I don\u2019t know the background of Carlos\u2019s father, but I never liked it when someone does that\u2026 For example, in my family it was me who was making all the decisions. My father never interfered in how much money I was paying a coach or whether I was buying this or that. From what I heard, there was a big dispute between Juan Carlos and Carlos\u2019s father. I\u2019ve always said that these kinds of situations will, in the end, affect the player negatively \u2013 when parents interfere. Carlos is a grown man, he is the one who can make all the decisions now. I don\u2019t know why he didn\u2019t tell his father: \u2018Look, it\u2019s my own deal, we\u2019ve been very successful together, won so many Slams, made so much money\u2026\u2019 That part is a bit disappointing for me.<\/p>\n \u2013 We\u2019ve seen that Ferrero has been very vocal in the box during matches. From a purely tennis point of view, do you think this will affect Alcaraz\u2019s performance on the court?<\/p>\n \u2013 To be honest, I have no idea how he is going to react. But why would you end such a happy partnership in the first place?<\/a> At least it looked like it was happy\u2026 There were never any signs that they would go their separate ways \u2013 winning Slams, being number one in the world\u2026 I am sure that Carlos\u2019s father has a lot to do with this split, not Carlos himself. Now we just have to wait and see what happens next.<\/p>\n \u2013 Samuel Lopez is now working with Alcaraz. How difficult do you think it will be for Carlos to find a new coach and what kind of profile would that person have to be?<\/p>\n \u2013 If you ask me, I personally would not want to deal with the parents. If Carlos approaches someone directly, that\u2019s OK. The first thing a new coach should ask for is that the parents stay away from the coaching process.<\/a> They can sit in the box, they can travel with the team, but they can\u2019t interfere. A father cannot be an agent, taking care of all the deals, scheduling, and everything else. I\u2019m honestly not sure who could take the helm now.<\/p>\n \u2013 One of the biggest topics in interviews and press conferences this year \u2013 and the past couple of years, actually \u2013 has been players complaining about the schedule and the length of the season. What is your opinion on that?<\/p>\n \u2013 In my generation, we were very thankful that we even had a job, that we had tournaments where we could play and make fans all around the world happy. I\u2019ve said it before and I\u2019ll say it again \u2013 I never liked the fact that too many top players participate in exhibition tournaments. Exhibitions mess up the schedule. I have no problem if they play exhibitions and don\u2019t complain. But if they play exhibitions and then complain about the calendar, that\u2019s just not right.<\/a><\/p>\n \u2013 Yes, but Alcaraz, for example, responded to that kind of criticism. He said: \u201cAt a tournament, you\u2019ve got to keep your focus and it\u2019s really physically and mentally demanding for one week and a half. And an exhibition is just one day. You just stay focused, just warm up, just practice not that much \u2013 for one match.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2013 Yes, but what are you chasing in exhibitions? The money? Nobody really pays attention to exhibitions \u2013 everyone is focused on the main events. What do you want to do, play for fun? OK, great, then quit the ATP Tour and play exhibitions. Look at it from the other perspective. When you\u2019re a 17-year-old player, you want to play those tournaments, you\u2019re chasing points and trying to build your ranking. And now that you\u2019re famous and a top player, you don\u2019t care about the Tour anymore \u2013 but it\u2019s the Tour that made you who you are. That\u2019s my biggest problem with players today \u2013 they don\u2019t respect where they came from and who helped them become superstars. I hear some players say, \u201cwe don\u2019t need 250 tournaments.\u201d Bullshit! When you were younger, you were desperate to play those tournaments. Have some respect for the Tour and for what made you a star.<\/p>\n \u2013 Actually, what you just said leads perfectly into my next question \u2013 about the ATP basically trying to get rid of the 250 tournaments.<\/a><\/p>\n \u2013 It\u2019s not a good idea at all. What are you trying to create? You\u2019re trying to create this bullshit tour where nobody has a chance to break through. Young players need a pathway. In my time, we were playing Satellites and Challengers, fighting our way onto the Tour. Young players should know how difficult it is to become a world-class player. The 250 tournaments are necessary \u2013 they help young players develop and they promote tennis globally. I remember Alexander Bublik a couple of years ago saying that 250 tournaments are bullshit. This guy won three or four 250 tournaments this year, which helped him break into the top 20. On top of that, he gained confidence and became a better player. You need every step along the way.<\/p>\n \u2013 Along those lines \u2013 a new ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Saudi Arabia will be added to the calendar from 2028, precisely at the expense of 250 tournaments\u2026<\/p>\n \u2013 You need to promote the game where it\u2019s already popular. No question about it \u2013 people in South America, in Brazil, Argentina, Chile, they love tennis and they\u2019ve earned the right to have tournaments.<\/a> And Saudi Arabia\u2026 I\u2019m not against it in principle, but for them to just jump in and get an event because they have a shitload of money \u2013 they can use banknotes instead of toilet paper\u2026 that\u2019s not fair. You\u2019re trying to get rid of tournaments that have sustained and promoted the Tour for forty years, just because Saudi Arabia offers more money? If we keep going in that direction, I honestly don\u2019t know what\u2019s going to happen to tennis in the future.<\/p>\n \u2013 Considering everything you just said, how would you rate Andrea Gaudenzi\u2019s leadership as ATP president?<\/p>\n \u2013 Personally, I like Andrea a lot. I remember him well as a former player. He\u2019s very intelligent, but sometimes\u2026 for him, it\u2019s hard to resist. He\u2019s doing everything he can to help players earn more money, but sometimes you also have to protect the sport itself. Cutting five or six tournaments from the calendar \u2013 especially in places where tennis is popular \u2013 just to have a Masters 1000 in Saudi Arabia doesn\u2019t do the sport any favors in the long run.<\/p>\n \u2013 Do you think Alexander Zverev has missed his chance to win a Grand Slam title, or can he still do it?<\/p>\n \u2013 I have no idea. He\u2019s 28 now, so he still has a chance. There are examples \u2013 Tomas Muster won his first Slam at that age. But the competition is brutal, with Alcaraz and Sinner completely dominating the Tour. It\u2019s not easy to improve at that stage of your career, because it requires a lot of sacrifice \u2013 changing the way you train, changing many aspects of your game\u2026 It\u2019s the same with Medvedev. Unless he does something fundamentally different, he won\u2019t compete for a Slam again. There are many things they need to change, but the main question is \u2013 are they willing to be fully dedicated, 24\/7, to get better? Sometimes players aren\u2019t willing to do that. They\u2019re comfortable with what they already have.<\/p>\n \u2013 What do you feel needs to happen for Novak Djokovic to win his 25th Grand Slam title?<\/p>\n![\"Yevgueni](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Kafelnikov.jpg\")
Kafelnikov, 1996 Roland Garros champion in singles and doubles<\/p>\n
![\"Kafelnikov](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Kafelnikov-Safin.jpg\")
Kafelnikov and Marat Safin, before Daniil Medvedev, were the only Russians to reach number one in the ATP men\u2019s rankings.<\/p>\n