Carlos Alcaraz’s coach Juan Carlos Ferrero reckons his pupil and Jannik Sinner must train like animals to reach Novak Djokovic’s level. Djokovic is the most successful tennis player of all time with 24 Grand Slam titles and he is still going strongly on the tour despite being 36.

The Serbian recently lost the semifinal clash of the Australian Open against eventual champion Jannik Sinner. Carlos Alcaraz, on the other hand, lost to Germany’s Alexander Zverev in the quarterfinal of the Happy Slam.

Meanwhile, the Italian continued his supreme form as he also won the ATP Rotterdam Open by beating Australian Alex de Minaur in the summit clash in straight sets by 7-5, 6-4. With this win, the youngster climbed to third place in the ATP Rankings and he is hot on the heels of Alcaraz.

On the other hand, Carlos Alcaraz could not defend his Argentina Open title as he was stunned by Chile’s Nicolas Jarry in the semifinal clash. The Spaniard lost in straight sets by 6-7, 3-6.

Ferrero said Sinner deserved to win the Australian Open as he has been working hard in the last two years.

“We already saw Sinner working very well two years ago and we knew that this moment was going to come,” Ferrero told La Nacion.

“He has been knocking on the door for a long time, we saw him playing tennis to win Grand Slams.

“Physically, maybe it was a little doubt because he was a very thin player, but once he trained and matured, he achieved it. He is a player to keep in mind for all tournaments, an important candidate to win, just like Carlos.”

Meanwhile, after winning the US Open 2023, Djokovic lifted his seventh ATP Finals title in Turin.

“I told Carlos last year, when Novak won the Masters [ATP Finals] with that level: ‘Have you seen that? Now what we have to do is train like animals to reach Novak’s level. Jannik is going to do it and we have to do it.’ And he answered me: ‘Yes, yes, yes, let’s go with everything.’

“In other words, it is a motivation. It’s contagion. Between the three of them, and they have to pass to the others, to [Alexander] Zverev, to [Stefanos] Tsitsipas, to [Holger] Rune, they have to feed each other.”

Alcaraz had to pull out of the Rio Open after an ankle injury.