Once the training is over, four security employees the width of a door are drawing a corridor and surrounding the exit of Carlos Alcaraz, who is being demanded by the fans at the Inalpi Arena in Turin: despite the crowd rushing at him, the tennis player ends up arriving safely and his wake is lost as he approaches the access door to the locker room. A few meters away, the player with whom the Murcian has been training tells his story, that of another of many dreamers who aspire to one day join the elite or make a living from their sport. Still soaked in sweat, the result of the effort required to keep up with number one, Pedro Vives expresses himself.
“I’m lucky that I’m only two years older than Carlos, so we already knew each other from the youth ranks. I’ve been here since day one, playing sparring for the ATP, and I have had the opportunity to warm up and train with him. For me it is a pleasure, because I am here to help tennis players,” introduces this 24-year-old young man born in Mallorca who shared the ranks with the number one – scheduled this Tuesday with Taylor Fritz, at 2:00 p.m. (Movistar+) – in the junior and youth team of the Reial Club de Tennis Barcelona 1899. Later, he continues, he continued his training at Rafael Nadal’s academy and later moved to the Texas Christian University (TCU).
There, in a line that is gaining more and more strength, he turned to the university system as a pipeline to the elite and today, installed in the 463rd position in the rankingenjoy the experience with the teachers. “After the covid I went to the United States, this year I finished and now I am going to dedicate myself to playing as a professional, to see how things go. I will get where I have to go,” he says. In his homeland he fought numerous times with Nadal and now he exchanges balls with Alcaraz, who as a child, he specifies, “you could already see that he had things that other boys his age did not have, that he was very advanced and that he had enormous potential.” They were measured only once. He laughs when answering: “He won…”.
Now, after having graduated in Economics, he has returned to his homeland and takes advantage of opportunities like this, combining them with competition on the ITF circuit (the prelude to professionalism). At the age of 16 he achieved his first point in the ATP and hoping to make a place for himself, he absorbs these days of the best and helps them grow. “They are two very different boys. When he trains, Rafa only knows how to go 100 or 200 physically and mentally, while Carlos, being very serious, takes his time more. One has already done everything he had to do and is the best athlete in the history of Spain, and the other I suppose aims to get as far as possible. I hope the injuries spare Carlos,” Vives continues.
The via sparring It was also the one used by Alejandro García Cenzano from Madrid, who answers from the Austin (Texas) airport. He explains that today he is the coach of the Canadian Marina Stakusic, because his final wish was to sit on the benches, and that he previously contributed for several years to the filming of figures such as Nadal, Dominic Thiem, Garbiñe Muguruza or Paula Badosa. In his case, he first received a proposal from the Madrid tournament and the organizers and players liked his role; So much so that, from then on, his phone began to ring and after making himself known in various settings, he signed private contracts with several players.
“They ask you for specific things,” he says. “That you reproduce certain blows that the opponent is going to pose during the match: sliced backhands, flatter shots…”, he details. Most of his income did not come from tournaments, “because very few pay,” but from direct links with tennis players. He, specifically, rehearsed with up to ten number ones – he cites, among others, Ashleigh Barty, Victoria Azarenkza and Simona Halep – and remembers with special affection the sessions that led Muguruza to the master title in 2021. He also does not forget the days with Alcaraz at the 2022 Indian Wells or those he shared with Nadal and Garbiñe in Cincinnati, 2018, just before they both occupied the throne.
Some sparrings They end up reaching the category of specialists and in addition to being nourished by the game of professionals, they soak up the knowledge of their coaches. García Cenzano, from , mentions Conchita Martínez (Muguruza, Pliskova or Andreeva) and Wim Fissette (Klijsters, Osaka or Swiatek), and now it is he who transmits his knowledge; Players like Veronica Cepede, Tamara Zidansek, Liv Hovde (junior Wimbledon champion) and Olga Danilovic have followed her criteria. “In my case it was an intermediate stop, because I wanted to be a WTA coach, but the journey has been worth it, without a doubt,” concludes the Madrid native.
This was confirmed during the talk by Vives, who was called up this week by Alcaraz to warm up on the first day, against Alex de Miñaur, and also in the run-up to the second match of the group stage, against the American Fritz. The Murcian’s “looseness and ease” stands out and his ability to “generate force when hitting, even if it seems like he is not making a great effort.” He comments that Nadal and Alcaraz are radically different; that the first is, from his point of view, “the best Spanish athlete” he has ever seen; and, cautiously, he does not dare to venture how far the one who was once a colleague on the RCTB slopes will go: “Hopefully his injuries will be respected. Then, we will see.”
