Carlos Alcaraz had a hilarious message for his long-time coach after getting his first victory at the Laver Cup.
With Roger Federer watching in the front row, the world No. 3 beat Ben Shelton 6-4 6-4 to win two points for Team Europe and leave the scores tied with Team World.
Afterwards, Alcaraz threatened Juan Carlos Ferrero with his job after thriving off the team element of the Laver Cup.
Alcaraz is making his Laver Cup debut this weekend. He got off to a disappointing started when he partnered Alexander Zverev in Friday night’s doubles match, losing to Shelton and Taylor Fritz.
But the Spaniard avenged his defeat in singles, seeing off Shelton in straight sets. The 21-year-old received coaching advice from teammates like Grigor Dimitrov and Casper Ruud. Europe’s captain Bjorn Borg was also on hand for advice.
And Alcaraz loved it so much, he joked that Ferrero could get the sack. Asked how he felt about the team atmosphere, the four-time Grand Slam champion directly called his coach out.
“It’s totally different. For me, it’s a privilege to play for Bjorn and for my team. All I want to say is, Juan Carlos, if he’s watching this, be careful with the position of coach because I have great coaches here!” he laughed.
While he’s loving the team enviroment, Alcaraz is also feeling the pressure of representing them. He explained: “In other tournaments, I feel like that’s obvious that I’m playing for myself. And when you’re playing as a team, you’re playing for them as well, so you feel a little bit more the pressure because you feel like you have to win for them.”
However, he’s also thriving off their support. “I feel like a little bit more the pressure as I said, but at the same time I feel more the energy,” he added.
“In the tough moments during the match, I see them and [they are] always the first up and supporting, saying ‘come on’ all the time. For me, it relaxes me a little but during the match so it’s kind of both feelings.”
Alcaraz also likely would have thrived off the knowledge that Federer was watching him. The 20-time Grand Slam champion was also in the stands for the 21-year-old’s doubles loss with Zverev.
After Friday’s doubles defeat, Alcaraz admitted that he wanted to see Federer in the crowd when he played singles. And he got his wish a day later.
“It was great, honestly, playing in front of him. It’s the first time that he watch one of my matches in real life, and I’m really happy that he was there, you know, watching our doubles,” the world No. 3 said after losing on Friday.
“As I said, he watched [the] doubles match. Well, I think I’m good but I’m not as good as the singles, I guess. I hope to see him tomorrow in the singles. I hope he enjoyed the doubles match. Obviously was great seeing him in the practice.”
