Juan Carlos Ferrero || Juanqui.net || A Juan Carlos Ferrero website » personal

Defending the French

kat — Wed, 02 Jun 2004 04:54:33 +0000

from Tennis Life Magazine by Eleanor Preston
June 2004

Watching Juan Carlos Ferrero shaping up to hit one of his trademark blistering forehands is a fascinating sight. He stands his ground, legs taut and eyes on the ball, and just when you think he’s going to whack seven bells out of it, everything goes into slow motion. At that moment, as he makes contact, he is suddenly gentle, as though stroking a sleeping kitten.

Of course there’s nothing remotely gentle about it by the time it comes cannoning over the net, as all Ferrero’s opponents can testify. Of all the skills Ferrero has in his talented hands, it’s the forehand that took him to the top of the world rankings and won him the French Open title last year, and it’s the forehand that may count as the most penetrating weapon when he returns to Paris to defend his title.

However, Ferrero is anything but a one-trick pony. There’s the serve, the movement, the glacial coolness under pressure and most of all the belief that it’s his destiny to be this good.
If Ferrero is a fatalist then life has given him bitter cause to be. For although his childhood in Onteniente, near the south-eastern Spanish city of Valencia, was happily spent with sisters Ana and Laura and parents Rosario and Eduardo, the family was devastated when Ferrero’s mother was stricken with cancer. He was only 16.

“It was tremendous blow and by far the saddest time of my life,” says Ferrero. “I took it very badly and I was on the verge of giving up tennis but then I thought of carrying on for her because she liked me to play tennis for her.”

Rosario Ferrero was the first person he thought of when he fell to his knees on the Court Philippe Chatrier after hitting the winning point, having overwhelmed Martin Verkerk in the French Open final. He looked up to the skies and blew her a kiss.

“In my mind, she was in the first row,” he says. “I felt a lot of emotions, a lot of joy for myself, for people around me, my family, my coach and all those people who supported me all along my career. I thought about them all at that moment. I thought about myself, too, because it was the first time I was living such a situation. I was watching the ground, and I thought, ‘This is in my pocket, and nobody can take it away from me.’”

Ferrero is not a man to pour his heart out to strangers. In matches his face barely registers emotion, save for the occasional muttered exhortation in Spanish. Off the court, in interviews, he worries about his English and so spends much of his post-match press conferences avoiding eye contact and speaking quietly and quickly, as though he wants to get the whole thing over with as soon as possible. Even in his native Spanish Ferrero is a reticent interviewee.

Since first being promoted by the ATP three years ago as one of the faces of their “New Balls Please” advertising campaign, however, Ferrero has been forced to embrace fame, albeit reluctantly.

Record crowds packed the Recinto Ferial de la Casa Campo stadium to see him win the Masters Series tournament in Madrid last October, and more than 3,000 turned up to one of his autograph sessions. He finds it hard to walk down a street anywhere in Spain without a gaggle of excited teenage girls following him.

He even has a posse of celebrity friends. As a huge fan of superstar soccer team Real Madrid he has met the squad several times and big-name players such as Zinedine Zidane, Raul and Roberto Carlos, and David Beckham came to watch him play in Madrid.

His best friends are Spanish golfer Sergio Garcia (who is, incidentally, an old flame of Martina Hingis) and World No. 2 motorcycle racer Sete Gibernau, and his hobbies have the jet-set smack you’d expect from a man who has earned more nearly $9.97 million in career prize money. When he is not watching Gibernau race bikes, he is racing them himself or picking out another sporty number to add to his collection of fast cars.

“I’m the same as always,” he says, when asked how the riches and glamour of a successful athletic career have affected his personality. “The money does not change me, the travel does not change me, the victories do not change me. I am the same person as 10 years ago, so people see me as the same person as before. I think that people see me as a normal person, that I am a good guy, not only on the court but out of the court.”

Ferrero is anxious to remain as unspoiled as possible by the money and success his talents have afforded him. And his recipe for the perfect life could not be simpler: “I want to win some matches; spend some time with my family because we are often apart; go to watch Real Madrid play soccer and to watch motorbikes and rallies because it is different from tennis.”

If Ferrero is ever tempted to get carried away with his success, he need only think back to his humble beginnings and the day when his father handed him a racket at age 4.

“When I first got a racket I aimed at the electrical sockets that were in one of the walls of the textile shop my father owned,” he says, smiling. “I don’t know how many electrical sockets I broke, but I’m sure it was more than 20. The truth is that I loved to hit and it didn’t matter to my dad that he had to change the electrical sockets, because he loves to play tennis himself.”

Eduardo Ferrero is still his son’s mentor and travels with him all over the world, alongside Antonio Martinez, the man who has coached Ferrero since he was 9 years old and saw him through the troubled times of his teenage years. Ferrero boarded at Martinez’ academy in Villena, about 25 miles from the family home and the coach remembers the Ferrero of that time as an awkward young man, introverted and suffering under the burden of his mother’s illness.“

From then on, we began a relationship that gradually transformed into a great friendship and deep affection,” Ferrero says of Martinez. “I could say that he became my best friend and almost my second father because we were together much of the time. Dur-ing those days my mother would bring me to practice after school. I remember that she always prepared a snack with milk for me and that I had to do homework during the car ride that took almost half an hour.”

He still lives at the academy, which is now run in his name for promising youth aged between 14 and 21, sharing a modest apartment with Spanish satellite player Israel Matos. A playboy’s life in some sun-drenched tax haven is not for Ferrero.

He is such a homebody that at 14 he turned down an offer most budding tennis players would kill for when he was asked to go and work at Nick Bollettieri’s academy. He said no to that offer, and a similar request from the Spanish Tennis Federation’s Center of High Performance in Sant Cugat, because he could not stand to be away from home. “I didn’t want to go because I was much more comfortable in Villena, with my family and my friends,” he says.

Indeed, Spain could scarcely hope for a more fervent patriot or Davis Cup servant. He was the hero of the hour in 2000 when he beat Lleyton Hewitt in the deciding rubber of the Davis Cup final in Barcelona, a moment that shares equal billing with the French Open in Ferrero’s personal pantheon of achievements.

On that occasion the Spanish crowd created a memorably voluble atmosphere. Oddly, for such a man so determinedly low-profile, Ferrero thrives in the noisiest, most daunting arenas in the world—he thrills at playing Davis Cup, thought nothing of taking on Andy Roddick in the cauldron of the Arthur Ashe Stadium and regards the Court Philippe Chatrier as his backyard.

“I like to play in front of big crowds and in big stadiums,” he says simply.

For a man bred with clay in his veins, they don’t come any bigger than the Stade Roland Garros. Time will tell whether he is ready to make it his own once more.

In the King’s name

kat — Tue, 02 Mar 2004 06:49:10 +0000

from Ace Magazine – special thanks to Kiara for typing it up!
March 2004

>> Scans from the magazine

“Inconspicuous” would be the kindest way to describe the small bungalow that Juan Carlos Ferrero lives in at his tennis academy in central Spain. So modest that if the local estate agent were to stick a photo of it up in his shop window it would barely catch the eye of a passer by.

It’s a nondescript, two bedroom, peach coloured building over looking a flat, featureless farmland.

When he’s not on tour this is where the world number 3 spends most of his time. And he doesn’t even live there alone- he shares accommodation with Israel’s Matos Gil, ranked 598 on the ATP computer.

To be fair Ferrero also owns a rather large home in Valencia which far more befits his status as a millionaire several times over. But when he’s training at the academy – The JC Ferrero Equelite Acedemia de Tenis- The French Open champion likes to keep things unpretentious.
He’s the only world top 10 player based at the academy. In fact he’s the only world top 100 player based there, while others of his stature train among the worlds elite in Florida, California, Monaco or Barcelona, Ferrero is quite happy to remain on the outskirts of Villena, a small unassuming town 30 miles from Costa Blanca in the hills of the Valencia region.

“The big academies in Barcelona have called me many times and asked me to train there” Ferrero says, when asked why he hasn’t, like all his compatriots been enticed to Spain’s Tennis capital.

“But I have always felt very good here. I always felt I have a good coach and good conditions to practice. I was never tempted. I had good results training here and now I am better than the guys practicing in Barcelona. So why should I change ?”

His coach Antonio Martinez, agrees. “Yes, Barcelona is the centre of Tennis” he says, talking though an impromptu interpreter. “But don’t forget that this region has produced two world number one players Juan Carlos and of course Marat Safin who, who grew up here. It’s an area that becoming more important worldwide. Players like David Ferrer and Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo come from this area. Juan Carlos is absolutely not missing anything by not being in Barcelona”

One could argue that in Villena, Ferrero is lacking players of his level to hit with. “Juan Carlos became number one in the world without having top 10 or even top 100 players to practice with”, his coach contends.” It’s not in my interests to have lots of top players here. Juan Carlos has demonstrated that it’s possible to be world number one without this”.

Ferrero himself claims that he doesn’t need peers like Moya, Robredo, Mantilla , Corretja or Costa training with him every day. “I am very close to them anyway.” He says. I travel with them all the year and I practice with them when we are on the Tour there aren’t too many players in the world with my level to practice with anyway.”

The other reason Ferrero prefers to stay in the perhaps less inspiring surroundings of Vilenna is that he can remain close to his family home. He was born 20 miles north of the academy site in 1980 in a small town called Onteniente. His father, Eduardo, who now travels to the major tournaments with his son, used to own a small bed linen factory. It was against the walls of this factory that young Juan Carlos first hit a tennis ball.

When he was 9 years old Ferrero met up with his local coach Antonio Martinez, the same man who looks after him today. “When we first met, Toni was strict and very serious” remembers Juan Carlos. “I respected him a lot and we’ve been close friends ever since”. At first the duo, one of the longest running partnerships in current tennis, trained at a small hard-court club also near Vilenna. Then when Ferrero was 14 they started playing at Equelite, a club whose name means “elite team”. “This place was a smaller club back then” recalls Toni. “It just had two clay courts and a small house” Juan Carlos used to come here to play on clay and then had to go to the old club for the gym.”

As Ferrero’s success grew, so did the academy. At first he lived in a 12 square metre room in the main building, next to all the kids. Nowadays thanks to Ferrero’s patronage and financial guarantee, the main house has expanded, there are 13 courts (hard, clay, indoor and artificial grass), a huge gym, a pool a bungalow and a golf course. Ferrero is also investing in a luxury hotel nearby.

We’ve flown out to Spain to meet with the world number 3 while he test the latest models from his racket sponsor, Prince. Steve Davis, the company’s American research and development advisor, looks ready to pull his hair out. He’s only recently arrived from the airport after a long transatlantic flight and right now he’s trying to convince Ferrero of the merits of the new Tour NX Graphite. He’s not having much luck. “If you don’t believe in it, you wont get it” he says, the exasperation just detectable in his otherwise reassuring tone.

Ferrero looks anything but reassured. He’s halfway through the second day of his annual racket testing and he’s having trouble getting to grips, quite literally, with the new bat.

During the next break in play we resume the interview for ACE. The discussion turns to Ferrero’s Sampras-like coolness on court. “I’m not very emotional and I’m happy with this” Juan Carlos says. “I try to keep positive and concentrate all the time. Being cool on the court helps me concentrate. If I become very emotional then maybe I will do things differently than before. I have to stay with the same style because it works”

His coach concurs with this ‘If it ain’t broke don’t fix it’ approach. But he would like to see his protégée display a bit more emotion. “For me it would be better for Juan Carlos to demonstrate more his feelings- his positive feelings, not his negative ones” Toni says. “He can easily improve two or three percent if he’s more positive on court. We’re trying, we’re working on it”.

Two or three percent may not sound like a great deal, but when you’re at Ferrero’s level it can make all the difference. Last year the player won four titles in seven finals, including, most importantly, the French open. After losing to Andy Roddick in the US Open final he became the second ever Spaniard to reach the ATP world number one spot. (Carlos Moya was the first.)

He was also a mainstay of the Spanish team which faced Australia in the Davis cup final in December last year. All told, during his career, he has won a total of 11 titles: eight on clay, two on outdoor hard and one on indoor hard. Even on Wimbledon’s grass (last year) he has reached the fourth round.

This variety of surfaces is what makes him stand out from the crowd of Spanish players on the tour. Toni is keen to stress that unlike most of his compatriots, his player is not a clay court specialist. “The major difference is that he plays very well on almost all surfaces” he says, becoming animated. Other players like Costa and Corretja have major problems adapting their games to hard courts because they grew up playing on clay. Juan Carlos played a lot on hard courts when he was younger. Now he plays better on hard-courts and better on clay courts. He’s more of an all round performer”.

“In fact we have a situation which is very strange for a Spanish player. Juan Carlos finds it more difficult to go from hard courts to clay courts than the opposite way round. Most Spanish players are different; they can’t wait to play on clay courts. So you see Juan Carlos is not an all round clay-court specialist. He’s a complete player.”

Anyone who has seen Ferrero win a match knows that, immediately after victory, he kisses his fingers and reaches up towards the sky. “I kiss to my mum”, he says, “To remember her.” When he was 17, Juan Carlos’ mother Rosario died of breast cancer. The youngster was so devastated that he considered giving up tennis for good. “I took it very badly”, he remembers. “It was the worst moment of my life. I almost left tennis because it was a tremendous blow. But then I thought of carrying on for her because she liked me to play so much. Yes, I thought of giving up tennis back then. Then I kept going and never thought about it again.”

Despite his regular kisses to heaven, Juan Carlos says he’s not particularly religious. “I don’t believe in God so much, you know” he admits. “When I do the kiss I don’t know if my mother is watching or not, I do the kiss also for my father. He likes me to do it.”

Just as he opens up and talks about his personal life, Juan Carlos has second thoughts and clams up again. You can see how uncomfortable he is talking about his family and religion. Some squirming is detectable in his body language. He’s also finding it hard to concentrate on the questions being put to him. He’s far more interested in our photographer’s digital camera “I want to buy a camera for my girlfriend” he tells James, pulling a Spanish version of ‘what digital camera’ from his racket bag. “What do you think?” (His girlfriend is called Patricia. She lives in Valencia where she is a college student.) After a brief discussion about Patricia’s photographic requirements, James has no hesitation in recommending a £1000 Canon EOS 300D. Juan Carlos doesn’t bat an eyelid. He may live modestly but when you earn £2 million a year (in prize money alone), a cool grand for your girlfriend is hardly going to get your bank manager sweating.

The next interruption is canine one. Juan Carlos has two dogs- a tiny little Ihasa apso called Roca and a quite enormous St Bernard called Laska. (Side by side their dissimilarity is hilarious.) Both of these man’s best friends are jealous of all the attention their master is getting. While Roca runs around yapping at all the players’ clay covered ankles, Laska is lolloping about, sniffing every ball in site. To the embarrassment of all present, most of the balls he’s sniffing are not of the tennis variety. Fortunately Laska’s genital inquisitiveness earns him a slap from Toni.

Juan Carlos laughs and excuses him from the interview. It’s time for his daily work out in the gym. He wanders off to his peach coloured bungalow to change. Laska follows him, still sniffing.

ATP Player Profile: Juan Carlos Ferrero

kat — Fri, 30 May 2003 04:42:58 +0000

The ATP this week begins a new series featuring the personalities behind the players of the ATP circuit.

2002 in Review
I think I played very well, from January to the end of the year because when I started the year I had a few injuries and I could not play Australia and some tournaments in the beginning. But I think finally I played very well, reaching the final of the Masters Cup and finishing No.4.

Greatest victory in 2002
Maybe Monte-Carlo. I played the final in Roland Garros but I could not win, so I think the greatest victory for me was in Monte-Carlo.

Greatest victory in my career
The Davis Cup was the most important one for me and for Spain.

Goals for 2003
If I am not No.1, I would like to be in the top five and to try and win one Grand Slam because I have played two big finals but I could not win. I try to improve mentally. It is tough to be positive the whole year because the year is very long.
My coach (Antonio Martinez)
My coach is very normal. I have been practicing with him since I was nine years old so I have been with him a long time. I know him a long time; he’s a happy person and it’s easy to travel with him.

Other sports
I am not sure but before I started playing tennis I was playing soccer; I liked it so much and I think I played well. I was playing in my home city team. Motorbikes, rallies, soccer. I like Real Madrid and I like skiing.

What I like about tennis
When I go to the court I enjoy seeing the people cheering me in the big stadiums.

Strongest part of my game
For me it is mentally because if I feel well mentally I am going to play well. I think it is not only for me but the same for all the other players.

Toughest opponent
There are a lot of difficult players. Maybe Marat Safin.

Ideal dinner guest
My girlfriend

Favorite music
I like everything: rock, hip hop, Spanish music, U2, J-Lo. I like Eminem.

What makes me happy
To win some matches, spend some time with my family because we are often apart, to go to watch soccer, Real Madrid. To watch motorbikes and rallies because it is different from tennis.

Life after tennis
I am not thinking of this now but maybe I will work in my Academy in Spain to try and help young guys growing up and bringing or giving some money to help all these people.

Best part about playing tennis
You are working in something that you love and also you win money and the most important thing is that you are doing the work that you like.

How I would describe myself
The same as always: the money does not change me, the travel does not change me, the victories do not change me. I am the same person as 10 years ago, so people see me as the same person as before. I think that people see me as a normal person, that I am a good guy, not only on the court but out of the court.

Rising stars
There are some guys coming up very quickly, like [Richard] Gasquet, like [Paul-Henri] Mathieu. It is good for tennis; people like to see new faces coming up and playing well like Safin, me or Hewitt a few years ago.

Tournament I would most like to win
I would like to do well in the Australian Open and also Indian Wells, Miami and the US Open. Last year I could not play Australia. I played in the US Open and Miami and I could not play my high level.