In 1995, Antonio Martínez Cascales (62 years old) bought an old house in Casas de Menor, a district of his town, Villena (Alicante), and next to it he ordered the construction of two clay courts. There he took five boys he trained at the tennis school that he had started in 1980 and that he directed with Samuel López, current technician of Pablo Carreño. One of those kids was Juan Carlos Ferrero, Roland Garros champion and world number one in 2003. Today, 25 years later, they are still together and their Academy, the JC Ferrero Equelite, is becoming increasingly prestigious.
“I perfectly remember the night I tried Juan Carlos. In 1994 he was champion in Tarbes (the children's ‘World’) and many offers came out, Barcelona, Florida … But his mother was already ill (he died in 1996) and he wanted to stay. He came to live with me and then to the house, which was in poor condition. The light went out if we lit two stoves, so I put the boys as punishment to go and take branches for the fireplace, ”says Cascales.
“There was nothing around here, only fields and orchards. Little by little we grew to what Equelite is now (20 tracks, gym, sauna, soccer field), residence, school, summer camp, rural hotel, swimming pools, paddle tennis … with 60 employees) ”, says Ferrero, who remembers his arrival“ with much affection ”. “Seeing it from scratch to what it is today is very beautiful.”
“Ours is a personal and family story”
Ferrero:
The international rise of the tennis player born in Ontinyent in 1980 facilitated the development of the Academy, founded on a relationship of unique loyalty between him and Cascales. “He never openly dedicated a title to me, but when his daughter was born I was his godfather. And we have been together for 30 years even though we had huge fights and during two courses José Perlas trained him, against his will, because I convinced him, “explains Antonio, the 'grandfather' of the two children of Ferrero, who confirms this: “Ours is a story that went from the coach-disciple relationship to something personal and family. Antonio is very important to me ”.
Thanks to that fidelity and the work of Cascales to obtain the support of the institutions of the region (“I had no idea of the organizational issue,” he admits), a center that competes with the best in the world emerged in a village in the Levantine interior. and through which they passed players of the stature of Ferrer and Almagro. Sharapova lived in one of her cabins to prepare for several years the ground tour and now a top-10 coexist like Carreño and the great hope of Spanish tennis, Carlos Alcaraz, whom Ferrero himself prepares. “We don't want to put pressure on it, although we all think it can go very high and very fast,” argues the Valencian, who has signed his countryman Carlos Gimeno, Wimbledon junior runner-up in 2019.
“He never dedicated a title to me, but I am the godfather of his daughter”
Martínez Cascales:
And it is that the Academy attracts. “We are very involved and the atmosphere is familiar. Antonio lives here, me too, like many of the coaches. It is a personal and personalized treatment ”, says, proud, who gives it a name. “My philosophy is to put the interest of the player ahead. This is what I did with Juan Carlos ”, concludes Cascales. So is Equelite.