Served 5 Setter
Escaping Dubai, Juan Carlos Ferrero's side of the story and pickleball's $1 million mystery.
Welcome to your weekly 5 Setter, an express roundup of all things racquet sports with Producer Mike. In this episode:
The ATP’s Dubai difficulty
Juan Carlos Ferrero speaks
Novak Djokovic’s recovery secret
Aryna Sabalenka’s new furball and fiancé
Pickleball’s $1 million mystery
Tiebreak Trivia
Click below to watch today’s 5 Setter on YouTube, and come back here for this week’s bonus stories.
Juan Carlos Ferrero: “Nothing bad happened, seriously”
We know how Carlos Alcaraz has coped with the split from former coach Juan Carlos Ferrero. He’s thriving.
Ferrero seems to be holding up well, too. Yesterday, he appeared on the Spanish podcast El Cafelito con Josep Pedrerol and devoted 20 minutes to the Alcaraz situation.
TL;DR:
The split stung, but JCF is in a good place.
He has talked to Alcaraz recently and expects they will meet up soon.
He’s open to coaching Alcaraz again.
The disagreement wasn’t over money or where to train—it was over “the environment.”
The tea is private and will stay that way.
In Ferrero’s own words…
On His Netflix Remarks
Pedrerol: In the Netflix documentary, you said [Alcaraz] left before Wimbledon, and you said, “His understanding of work and sacrifice is different from ours. It makes me doubt if he can become the best in history.’” Did you think that phrase hurt him?
Ferrero: Maybe. He never told me that hurt him. But it’s a phrase that I maintain. There are many players who can, let’s say, live in both worlds, which is work, talent, sacrifice, discipline, and at the same time mix it with, I go on vacation four or five times here and there, I spend five or six days without training, and then I come back and everything is the same. … So from my understanding, from the beginning, I thought he wouldn’t make it that way. But he’s proving that he’s the type that can do it. But in the future, who knows? Nobody can predict. I hope so. I hope I was wrong.
Specifically…
Ferrero: After winning Roland Garros, [Alcaraz said], “Hey, I need a week of rest.” And I used to say, “OK, but then we’ll have Queen’s and Wimbledon, and we will only have a couple of days to train.” My biggest fear, and those of my team, were more about injuries than tennis-wise. [Grass] is very demanding physically, and he is a very explosive guy. What I mean by that: He needs to be fresh, muscularly speaking, so he doesn’t get injured. That fatigue from not having slept and done different things [on vacation], we were having a bit of short circuits.
On Unfollowing Alcaraz on Instagram
Ferrero: I needed a little time to separate. But at the same time, if I look at Instagram [and I follow him], he will appear everywhere. I didn’t do it out of spite.
On the Relationship Status
Ferrero: I wrote him after the Australian and spoke to him again after Doha. I really have no problem, to tell you the truth. I look forward to seeing him and being able to give him a hug and really tell each other goodbye. Not like goodbye, but normalize everything that has happened and be able to play golf if it comes up.
Here’s the full interview on YouTube. We anticipate the press will ask Alcaraz for a response after his first-round match tomorrow.
Coaching Carousel Update
Enough of the sad. These new coaching relationships are in the honeymoon phase.
Zheng Qinwen has added Marcos Baghdatis to her team, which is still headed by Pere Riba. If it seems like an odd couple, they have at least one thing in common—both were Australian Open finalists, Zheng in 2024 and Baghdatis in 2006.
Arthur Fils hired Goran Ivanisevic, who is moving on after his summer fling with Stefanos Tsitsipas. Fils returned to the Tour this year after an eight-month injury break and made a 500 final in Doha, only to run into peak Carlos Alcaraz.
Andre Agassi sat in Marcos Giron’s player’s box during his first-round match at Indian Wells. His daughter, Jaz Agassi, is part of Giron’s training team, led by Agassi’s former guru, Gil Reyes.
Aleksandar Kovacevic brought on David Witt in January, worth a shout-out now because Kovacevic ended a dubious record yesterday by beating Hubert Hurkacz.
Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard has hooked up with Francisco Roig, a longtime member of Rafael Nadal’s camp. Most recently, Roig tried to introduce variety and finesse into Emma Raducanu’s aggressive baseline game, and they pulled the rip cord after six months.
Meanwhile, Raducanu has reunited with former coach (and Tennis Channel analyst) Mark Petchey on an ad-hoc basis. She’s also bringing in others as needed. At Indian Wells, she told the BBC that she won’t rush to hire another full-time coach, and if she ever does, she will be in control, Alysa Liu–style.
Quick Hits
Lucrezia Stefanini of Italy received a grisly threat before her Indian Wells qualifying match and responded with remarkable courage by reporting and publicizing it. (Yahoo Sports)
Harri Heliovaara, who won the Doha–Dubai double in doubles with Harry Patten, detailed their five-day saga on his blog. It’s in Finnish, but Google will translate. It sounds like their kids were troopers.
Taylor Fritz and Elena Rybakina defended their Eisenhower Cup title at Indian Wells.
If you have an Indian Wells grounds pass, head’s up—it no longer gets you into Stadium 2. That’s the trade-off for the tournament opening Stadiums 1 and 2 for $10 general admission during qualifying.
On the bright side, the seats at the practice courts have been upgraded.
Felix Auger-Aliassime took Canada’s Olympic hockey result well ⬇️
Q&Andy Recap
Yesterday’s new episode was all about Indian Wells—where to see pros at dinner, the playing conditions that are worse than the wind and why the tournament should never become a fifth Grand Slam.
You can hear his answer to the newsletter-exclusive question in Tuesday’s edition.
📮Submit a question by emailing askandy@servedmediagroup.com or send it through our website or social media.
Love All Recap
Martina Hingis (!!) joined Kim and Blair this week. The Hall of Famer reminisced, strategized, compared today’s power game to her era’s, and so much more. If you’re a longtime tennis fan, it’s pure candy. If you’re a novice Chucker, it’s a crash course from one of the sport’s best tacticians.
The Weekend Draw
ATP Masters 1000 and WTA 1000 Indian Wells
Indian Wells, California
Fri., March 6: men’s and women’s 2nd round, women’s doubles 1st round
Sat., March 7: men’s and women’s 2nd round, women’s doubles 1st round
Sun., March 8: men’s and women’s 3rd round, women’s doubles 2nd round, men’s doubles 1st round
Full international WTA and ATP broadcast lists
Tiebreak Trivia
In today’s 5 Setter, we were inspired by Aryna Sabalenka’s new puppy, named after Arthur Ashe, and asked which WTA icon christened her dog after Pete Sampras.
Answer: Serena Williams. She named a pooch Jackie Violet Pete after one of her childhood idols and later had a dog named Christopher “Chip” Rafael Nadal. If you have a pet named after a tennis player, send us a photo.
📝 We’ll be back Tuesday with a new episode. In the meantime, join us on Substack for live chats during the weekend’s biggest matches.
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I’m kinda tired of Ferrero’s victim mode. Carlitos has more than proven him wrong and he’s still mad he needs some time off. Time to move on.