Juan Carlos Ferrero landed in Dubai early this morning to watch the Hero Dubai Desert Classic live, a DP World Tour tournament held at the Majlis course of the Emirates Golf Club. Just over a month ago, it was practically impossible to think that the Valencian would be anywhere other than Melbourne, at the Australian Open following every step of his protégé Carlos Alcaraz. However, as you can see, things can change very quickly.
On December 17th, Alcaraz and Ferrero announced to the world a piece of news with great impact. They parted ways after being together for more than seven years and achieving a formidable haul of 24 titles, including six Grand Slams. Well, taking advantage of his free time, Ferrero has decided to dedicate some time to his other great sporting passion: golf.
Recently, he has developed a very good relationship with the Malaga professional Ángel Ayora and his entire team, especially his coach Juan Ochoa and his manager Javier Ballesteros. In fact, a few days ago they were playing golf together at the Real Club de Golf de Sotogrande and La Hacienda Links (by the way, interestingly, Ferrero (official handicap 1.4) scored seven over at the first with a hurricane and playing from the back tees, no joke, and one under par at the second. That day at La Hacienda, Ayora scored ‘only’ ten under).
Well, following this connection, Ferrero has decided to watch live one of the most important tournaments of the year on the DP World Tour, an event that features eleven Spanish golfers, as well as Rory McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood, Shane Lowry, and Viktor Hovland, among others. Today he arrived at the green of the 7th hole, in the final stretch of the ProAm that Ayora played, after a journey that was severely complicated by various delays.
It is not the first time Ferrero has watched golf live. He attended a couple of Masters Tournaments with Sergio García, about ten years ago, and in 2024 he also attended the Spanish Open at the Club de Campo Villa de Madrid. The former world Number One in tennis and Roland Garros champion, among his many achievements as a professional tennis player, is a great golf enthusiast. He almost always took advantage of tennis tournaments to play a round of golf wherever he was with Carlos Alcaraz. He has also watched a lot on television. In fact, while walking down the 9th hole of the Majlis course, he perfectly remembered watching Tiger Woods play this tournament.
Of course, he does not rule out taking the opportunity to play a round of golf if the chance arises while he is here. By the way, this is not Ferrero’s first time in Dubai. In fact, he won the Dubai Tennis Championship in 2001, an ATP 500 tournament where he defeated Marat Safin in the final. The previous year he had been a finalist.
