The Real Club de Tenis Barcelona 1899 has revolutionized these days with the installation of the stands, the modification of the tracks and the adaptation of its flowery corridors to the demand of an ATP 500 that receives, until next 20 of … April, to thousands of fans who will see the best of male tennis, with Carlos Alcaraz at the head, in the Count of Godó trophy. He sees it David Ferrer (Jávea, 43 years old), responsible for everything to be about Sunday for the beginning of the competition in this centenary enclosure that still maintains the tradition, exclusivity and essence of a club tournament.
-How are you doing?
-Good. Happy with the poster. There are always some surprises at the last minute, but in principle are the main players. And happy for how the process has been.
“What direction can this tournament grow, physically bounded?”
“You have to evolve and change things to improve.” On the sports issue, which is my function, moving from 48 to 32 players will be beneficial for tennis. There are already few tournaments that are celebrated in Club: Montecarlo, Barcelona, Rome … but they will always have a story in the world of tennis because we have all raised in places like this. And also my work is that the best players continue to come. After Rafael Nadal, someone like Carlos Alcaraz is important.
– Nadal’s farewell on the bench, beside him, in the Davis Cup. It is the first year without the Balearic, can it influence the public?
“We were very lucky with such a special and charismatic player.” I thought the same, that there would be a shadow, a void, who was going to match Rafa? Because good players and top have we are going to have, but someone who approaches what Rafa has done … But now we have Alcaraz, so we are very lucky.
“Do you keep an invitation, just in case you regret it?”
“Of course, always.” But you have to understand that everything has its stage. He has been one of the best in the world for what he did on the track. But the values that have transmitted were more raised.
“Alcaraz is not Nadal and so it has to be, right?”
-Exact. He will make his story as Alcaraz. It is normal to compare, because he is a special player. With 22 years he has already won four Grand Slams, it has been number 1, and tenstically brings together very different characteristics from everyone else. Who has played professionally knows that he is a different tennis player. I do not say that I arrive, or yes, to what Nadal has achieved, but it will mark an era that will be yours.
“He is not Sinner in Barcelona, how has he lived the whole matter and his punishment?”
“They have reached an agreement to stop in these weeks and so it has been established.” The whole thing seems a bit unfair. Sinner showed that, if there was contagion, he did not go to post to improve his performance. They could have done things better. Although I know that it is never easy. I created one hundred percent in Sinner, it was not to improve their performance. I think I could have won the trial if I had arrived. I can’t think of others. In addition, he is a player necessary for tennis.
“What’s the final want for the Godó 2025?”
“The best ending is what there is.” Of course, it would be to have Carlos, but you can’t control it. That Montecarlo wins the week before and that it arrives well in Barcelona; That is what I would like.
—In his facet as a tournament director, he helps something to be a team captain, or vice versa?
“Being a director of a tournament helps to see the entire tennis industry.” Especially in terms of meetings with different organizations, the details of an enclosure … There are many things. You also learn to have bosses. When you are a player you are not behind and you don’t see everything there is, and you are also your own boss. You owe others in some aspects, but you decide, for better and worse. This is the position that has helped me the most professionally. And I am very grateful. Being captain is somewhat more natural for me. I have more experience, also as a coach – he was with Zverev.
“Be good player means being a good coach?”
-No. You have to learn to have humility to understand the player that you have already enhance their abilities. For example, Zverev is different from me, so I couldn’t train him in the same way they trained me. You have to study your tennis player and everything depends on their characteristics. And it doesn’t have to go well. A good coach also has to give peace of mind. When I was a player I missed some of that, for example.
—This year, except Zverev, none has gone to the South American tour of whipped earth. Are they staying alone?
“That is, every time, land tournaments matter a little less.” They are Doha and Dubai, 500 tournaments, on a fast track. There are tournaments like Acapulco that passed from earth to fast. It will not be easy for the best to go to Earth, because everything is a little more aimed at preparing the great tournaments. On land it is another type of game. The grass is also different, and only four or five weeks are played.
—In Australia we saw that the benches were on the track: do you help or remove intelligence to the tennis players?
“There are two factors: there are more pending players from the coach.” The player is the good, the one who plays and always depends a little on yourself. But you are no longer so independent and you don’t think so much yourself. When I played I liked that independence, because it helps to grow the person, but everything evolves. And facing the public, seeing what the coaches transmit closer to it a little more. These changes are for the viewer to be more aware of what a player thinks.
“What does tennis go?”
“He still has to evolve more. For example, with the ‘net’ (when the ball brushes the tape of the network in the first serve), that the game stops so much is ridiculous. Or put the gold points. There is not so much time between points. The long games are about to disappear. He had heroic but we want to attract young people for so long in a game is unfeasible. There is no patience. It is complicated. It happens to me too: if I am not involved it also makes me long. And instead when I played, the longer, the better.
—How do you see the criticisms of the Djokovic (PTPA) union and its threat of denouncing the ATP and WTA?
“I didn’t expect it.” ATP and WTA go hand in hand, which is what they should have done for a long time; They are approaching positions, although at some points they do not agree. And work to improve the economic award for players. This union, for me, has been a bit aggressive, exaggerated. There could be more dialogue and reach more things with patience and understanding.
