{"id":1552,"date":"2026-01-05T11:30:33","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T11:30:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/?p=1552"},"modified":"2026-01-05T11:30:33","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T11:30:33","slug":"grand-slam-winning-legend-suggests-carlos-alcaraz-has-an-asterisk-against-his-name","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/?p=1552","title":{"rendered":"Grand Slam-winning legend suggests Carlos Alcaraz has an asterisk against his name"},"content":{"rendered":"

Carlos Alcaraz<\/a> has big questions to answer as he heads into the 2026 season, according to Grand Slam-winning legend Mark Woodforde.<\/p>\n

While defending champion Jannik Sinner<\/a> will head into the Australian Open<\/a> as the big favourite to defend the title he has won in conclusive fashion for the last two years, his big rival is heading to Melbourne after a turbulent off-season that saw the shock exit of his long-time coach Juan Carlos Ferrero.<\/p>\n

Alcaraz will be quizzed relentlessly by the world\u2019s media when he speaks for the first time about the split with Ferrero and if he fails to reach his lofty levels in the first Grand Slam of the year, his decision to part ways with the coach who has worked with him since he was a teenager will be highlighted.<\/p>\n

Now 12-time Grand Slam doubles winning champion Woodforde has given Tennis365 his verdict on the Alcaraz coaching split, as he suggested it could play into the hands of Sinner\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere is an asterisk against the name of Carlos Alcaraz right now,\u201d declared Woodforde, who is an ambassador for this week\u2019s Bank of China Hong Kong Tennis Open.<\/p>\n

More Tennis News<\/h2>\n

Potential new reason why Carlos Alcaraz split with coach Juan Carlos Ferrero revealed<\/a><\/p>\n

Former British No 1 pours cold water on Jannik Sinner\u2019s biggest dream for 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cAll eyes are going to be on him once he gets to Australia to see how he navigates the landscape without Ferrero alongside him.<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing has changed with Sinner. The coaching situation is still very solid and to return as a two-time defending champion, it looks good for him heading into 2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith Alcaraz, we just have to wait and see how he handles it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Woodforde went on to admit he is in awe of the tennis served up by Alacarz and Sinner over the last couple of years, when the duo have shared the last eight Grand Slam titles between them.<\/p>\n

The ATP Tour may have been concerned about how the sport would react to the end of the long era dominated Novak Djokovic<\/a>, Rafael Nadal<\/a> and Roger Federer<\/a>, with Woodforde claiming Alcaraz and Sinner have \u2018saved\u2019 men\u2019s tennis.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were spoiled by the success of those three, Nadal, Djokovic and Federer for a long time,\u201d added Woodforde.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were legitimate questions for the men\u2019s tour to ask about what it\u2019s going to be like when they stop. We are two thirds into that now, as Djokovic is still out there playing, but to have Alcaraz and Sinner jump in so quickly has been a huge saviour for men\u2019s tennis.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is also a huge nightmare for some players out there because they are having to readjust their game plan again to try and combat these two fantastic champions.<\/p>\n

Want more from Tennis365? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for tennis coverage you can trust.<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cThese two are going to be compared to the generation before and that is Djokovic, Nadal and Federer. The accumulation of Grand Slams those players had was extraordinary, but I have to say it takes my breath away when I watch Alcaraz and Sinner live at court level.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am astounded by how ferociously they hit the ball and the speed that it comes off their racket. And they seem to do it with ease. It\u2019s just pure ball striking. I\u2019m just glad my career was over 20-plus years ago and I didn\u2019t have to deal with that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Pat\n

Pat Cash and Mark Woodforde spoke to Tennis365 at the Bank of China Hong Kong Open<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The post Grand Slam-winning legend suggests Carlos Alcaraz has an asterisk against his name<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Carlos Alcaraz has big questions to answer as he heads into the 2026 season, according to Grand Slam-winning legend Mark Woodforde. While defending champion Jannik Sinner will head into the Australian Open as the big favourite to defend the title he has won in conclusive fashion for the last two years, his big rival is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1553,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1552"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}