On the outskirts of Villena, around an hour inland from Alicante, former world number one Juan Carlos Ferrero has built one of the most influential training bases in modern tennis. The Ferrero Tennis Academy, once a modest rural project, is now known worldwide as the place where Carlos Alcaraz developed from precocious junior to global star under Ferrero’s guidance.
Their partnership has now formally ended, in a split Ferrero has described as heartbreaking. Yet the academy he helped shape remains central to the men’s game. It is where Alcaraz still returns to train, where his rivalry with Jannik Sinner first took form, and where a new generation of Spanish hopefuls are quietly learning their trade.
From farmhouse to Ferrero Tennis Academy
The academy’s roots go back to 1995, when Villena‑born coach Antonio Martínez Cascales set up a small training base outside the town. From that unglamorous start, he began working with a group of talented youngsters. Among them was a slim, quick teenager from Ontinyent: Juan Carlos Ferrero. Cascales guided him all the way to world number one and a Roland Garros title.
What began under the name Equelite grew steadily in scale and reputation until its founder decided to add Ferrero’s name, formalising the transition to the Ferrero Tennis Academy.
A “small village” for high‑performance tennis near Alicante
Over nearly three decades, the academy has been transformed into a self‑contained training hub. Today, spread over more than 1,000 m², it features 25 tennis courts, including clay and hard courts, threaded through landscaped grounds that give it the feel of a compact village.
On site, there is a physiotherapy clinic, a fully equipped gym, restaurant, student accommodation, a swimming pool and extensive gardens, supported by nutritionists and sports psychologists. More than a hundred students live at the academy on a permanent basis, alongside a steady stream of visiting juniors.
Carlos Alcaraz’s training base in Spain
When a teenage Carlos Alcaraz first arrived in Villena, he was already well known inside Spanish junior tennis. He was 15 years old when he joined the academy full‑time. At that point, Ferrero made a decisive move: he chose to coach the youngster personally. Under his guidance, Alcaraz evolved from a gifted junior to Grand Slam champion and world number one.
Alcaraz's living quarters in the academy
At first, Alcaraz lived in a shared residence alongside other teenagers. As he stepped fully into the professional circuit, he took over a prefabricated 90 m² house within the academy grounds that Ferrero himself had previously used.
Where Alcaraz first faced Sinner
The academy’s role in shaping the current balance of power in men’s tennis goes beyond Alcaraz. One of its clay courts, number four, has acquired particular historical weight. It was there that Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner played their first match against each other in 1997, long before Grand Slam finals and primetime night sessions.
The split: Ferrero and Alcaraz go their separate ways
After seven years together, the partnership between Juan Carlos Ferrero and Carlos Alcaraz has come to an end. The decision, taken after the pair had already reached the sport’s summit together, has been one of the most discussed changes in Spanish tennis in recent seasons.
For the academy, the split represents both a closing chapter and a new phase. Its most famous graduate is no longer directly coached by the man whose name is on the gate, but he remains closely linked to Villena as a training base and personal reference point.
What comes next for Juan Carlos Ferrero?
With the Alcaraz era at the academy formally over, attention has turned to Ferrero’s next move. In interviews, he has hinted that he is open to starting a new project with a different player, even joking that he might “change sport” in terms of profile or style.
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