Carlos Alcaraz’s childhood coach Kiko Navarro revealed that he didn’t like to lose even when he was a child and broke so many rackets in frustration.
Alcaraz is one of the best players in the world and is already a two-time Grand Slam — US Open and Wimbledon — champion at the age of 20.
The Spaniard is known for his positivity on the court and is often seen with a happy face even during the toughest times on the court, but he has come a long way to reach that calmness.
As a child, Alcaraz was too emotional and he would often cry and break his racket when he would lose. Sometimes his father would have to intervene to console him, as per his former coach Navarro.
“Carlos never liked to lose. He broke so many rackets. His dad had to take him away from the court because he was crying. It was something he really had to work on because he had to keep this energy without it affecting him negatively,” Navarro told Sky documentary Young Guns: The New Tennis Titans.
“I’d never seen such technique from a child before. It was honestly incredible. For someone so young to hit the ball the way Carlos did, it wasn’t normal. From the start, it was clear that there was something different about him. He had something special,” Navarro explained.
“When we travelled around Europe he was already a star. People already knew who he was at 13, 14 years old. When we went to different clubs to train, everyone would come just to watch him play.”
Alcaraz’s current coach is Juan Carlos Ferrero, the former world no. 1 and 2003 Roland Garros winner. Navarro explained that the decision to acquire Ferrero’s services was because the 20-year-old outgrew the local competition.
“It got to the point where there was no one at his level here in Murcia to train with because he was already professional. And that’s when Juan Carlos Ferrero came in.”
Since then, Alcaraz has gone on to become the youngest world No. 1 in ATP history, lifting 12 titles so far.
Alcaraz himself admitted his on-court struggles as a child while speaking to Urbana Play earlier this week in Argentina.
"When I was little it seemed like I had little fun. I got very angry, I threw the racket a lot, I have broken quite a few rackets as a child,” he said.
"But as I have grown up, I have matured, I have also been working on knowing how to manage my emotions and when I knew how to control and manage them in a good way, that is when I started to enjoy and smile on the court."
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