Andy Roddick questions 'strange' timing of Carlos Alcaraz's shocking split and hints at Juan Carlos Ferrero's discontent

Carlos Alcaraz's decision to remove Juan Carlos Ferrero from his coaching setup prompted Andy Roddick to raise questions about the timing of it all. Roddick also suggested that Ferrero isn't very happy about the fact that he will no longer be coaching the reigning World No. 1 in men's singles tennis.

Alcaraz, through posts spanning his official social media handles, confirmed the controversial development on Wednesday, December 17. While the six-time Major champion's posts didn't carry any sort of negativity in them, Ferrero's own statement in the aftermath of the development raised eyebrows because he claimed that he would have liked to carry on as Alcaraz's head coach.

Andy Roddick, a former No. 1 and the 2003 US Open champion, subsequently touched on the subject on an episode of his Served podcast. Here, the now-retired American wondered what led to Carlos Alcaraz doing away with Juan Carlos Ferrero days before the start of the 2026 tennis season, particularly considering how successful 2025 was for the player and coach pair.

"The timing is strange. You normally don't make a move December 17th. If this was not a reaction to a current event or a current set of circumstances, then you stop in November, after the ATP Finals or even before that, you put something new in place," Roddick said. (from 5:35)

The former No. 1 went on to assess Ferrero's controversial response to being removed from Alcaraz's team. Putting himself in the Spanish former ATP star and present-day coach's shoes, Roddick added:

"Saying 'I wish I could continue' is a very deliberate statement to me. That's tough to be misconstrued, and I don't want to be the person who tries to make something out of nothing, but if I'd gone and I wasn't super happy about it, I probably would've put out something like that in there."

Carlos Alcaraz's first coach voiced bold claim after Juan Carlos Ferrero's sacking

Carlos Alcaraz (right) celebrates his 2025 French Open title triumph with Juan Carlos Ferrero (left) (Source: Getty)

Kiko Navarro, the first coach to work with Carlos Alcaraz when the Spaniard was just a child learning the game of tennis, boldly claimed that the reigning World No. 1's decision to end his longstanding and successful collaboration with Juan Carlos Ferrero was made by the six-time Slam winner's entourage. Speaking to RNE Deportes, Navarro said:

"It was more from the environment than from the player; Carlitos is very protective of his coaches. He was with me, and I know he was with Juan Carlos, but there comes a moment when due to reasons not related to him or sports, they have made this decision. Juan Carlos has done a spectacular job; I worked with him for two years, and there is little to blame him for. The people who made the decision, which is not Carlitos, will have their reasons which I don't know now."

According to Navarro and other reports, Samuel Lopez, who had so far been serving as the assistant coach to Ferrero since December 2024, will now step up and become Carlos Alcaraz's new head coach.