ATP Coach of the Month: Antonio Martínez Cascales | ATP Tour

Coach’s Corner

ATP Coach of the Month: Antonio Martínez Cascales

The Spanish coach has worked with Ferrero and Alcaraz, two world No. 1s

August 12, 2024

Antonio Martínez Cascales has been involved in the world of tennis all his life. After more than a decade of training young people in Villena, a small Spanish town in Alicante, a very young Juan Carlos Ferrero crossed his path when he was only 10 years old. The rest is a success story that continues today with Carlos Alcaraz, who is trained by Ferrero himself and accompanied by Cascales for a few weeks each year.

Spanish coach, who has been named ATP Spotlight of the Month for July, speaks to ATPTour.com to look back on his long career, which has seen him work closely with two world stars who have both reached No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings: Ferrero and Alcaraz.

“I am surprised and very grateful for it because I still consider myself a coach, even though I have only been on the ATP circuit for a few weeks,” explains Martínez Cascales about being recognised as coach of the month. “Before I was on the front line and now my role is to support both, not just the player. Now I have much more experience and I better understand the relationship that exists between a player and a coach who have been working together since Carlos was young. Now I am more understanding of the way a 21-year-old acts.”

In 1994, Martínez Cascales founded a humble academy in Villena with two clay courts and a house, which he established as a base with his first students. This centre, which was created with the intention of also supporting Ferrero’s growth as a player, has seen its location changed and its facilities expanded to become the Ferrero Tennis Academy, one of the most important academies in the world.

Martínez Cascales guided Ferrero, accompanying him to the most important triumphs of the Valencian’s career, including Roland Garros (2003) and the rise to world No. 1 in September of that same year, after also reaching the final at the US Open.

“The player, in addition to trusting the coach’s preparation and knowledge, has to see that the decisions the coach makes are always with his interests in mind,” says Martínez Cascales about his time with Ferrero. “Knowing that when he makes a mistake, we all make mistakes, and he has been looking for the best for the player.”

During all this time as a coach, Martínez Cascales has been accumulating memories in his backpack with two great champions: first, Ferrero; then, Alcaraz. Although the second still has a long way to go, he has already allowed him to live unforgettable moments, with four Grand Slam titles shining in his showcases among many other great achievements.

“I have very good memories of Juan Carlos playing Futures, and then playing and being the favourite in big tournaments,” recalls the Spanish coach. “The same thing happens to me with Carlitos, whom I accompanied in Challengers, having just as much fun as when I saw him triumph on big stages.”

“I have had and continue to have very good experiences with Juan Carlos and his family, as well as with Carlitos’ family,” Martínez Cascales continues. “We have had very good experiences in recent years, such as those intense months that we spent locked up during the pandemic at the Academy.”

After spending his entire life with the Valencian, fate wanted Martínez Cascales to cross paths with Alcaraz. At just 15 years old, the young man from Murcia began training with Ferrero, and also found a great source of help in the figure of the Alicante coach, who usually accompanies him in the training sessions he does at the academy and travels with the current world No. 3 to some tournaments of the year.

“Interestingly, off the court they are very different, but on it, beyond the differences in the game, they are very similar: both have everything that I have pointed out as necessary to become number one,” Cascales analyses, comparing both. “In addition, I would add that both are humble and it is very easy to work with them because they have a great ability to listen. Natural talent, competitiveness, ambition and great discipline at work.”

And the differences?

“As I said, off the court Juan Carlos is calmer and more timid,” Cascales says. “Carlos, on the other hand, is more active and open. In terms of play, Ferrero was a more solid player with a more organized game, while Carlitos is more creative. He always surprises us.”

At 66, Martínez Cascales can say that his career is complete. Although he still has a long way to go, he has enough miles to go to look back and feel proud of many things after so much time in the elite.

“What I am most proud of in both cases is having tried to make them good people as well as great players and to find a style of play that suited their way of seeing tennis and their character, and not my way of understanding tennis.”

This “way of understanding tennis” has led him to be considered one of the best coaches in the world. Quite a lot.