Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, back to basics for the 2025 season
At the start of the year, Davidovich Fokina found himself languishing down in 68th in the ATP rankings, a world away from his career-high rank of 21.
Among his radical changes were an overhaul of his backroom team. The Málaga man brought in David Sánchez, who he had been working with the previous year, and Félix Mantilla as his key coaches.
“There are many aspects, but I think the main one has been the life change that I made, the recruitment of the team that I really want,” Davidovich Fokina explains. “I left my former coach, moved to Monaco and said, ‘I have to start my whole team from scratch’.
“With my manager, Gianmarco [Amatiste], who is also my best friend, we started to make calls and build the team bit by bit. We have a very good team, we are now looking for another coach, a second coach, but for now we are all here.”
Hailing from the coastal town of Rincón de la Victoria, the world no. 27 is the second-highest ranked Spanish ATP player, behind five-time major champion Carlos Alcaraz.
“There are quite a few Spaniards who are playing quite well nowadays,” he explains, “we also have a very good team for the Davis Cup, so I think that more young players will emerge to make us even stronger in the future.”