Shocked Alejandro Davidovich Fokina reveals bizarre split with coach over text during French Open - 'He blocked me and my wife'

Alejandro Davidovich Fokina said his coach, Mariano Puerta, bailed on him and his team without saying anything following the Spaniard's French Open first-round win over Damir Dzumhur.

Speculation had surfaced in the French media that Davidovich Fokina and his coach had not been working together beyond the first-round victory.

And, following his second-round defeat by Thiago Tirante on Wednesday, the world No. 23 confirmed in his post-match press conference that he and Puerta were no longer working together, with the coach having made a swift exit, only leaving behind a text message.

"After the match against Dzumhur, we had lunch and after that, I went to cool down a little bit," Davidovich Fokina said.

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"He said he was feeling bad. He was going to the hotel and everything was normal. Nothing happened between us.

”In the afternoon, like two or three hours later, he texted me this message that he will not continue and whatever.

”He didn’t say anything to anybody in the team. He just took the flight and flew to Miami without saying a word to us.”

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Davidovich Fokina denied that there was any sort of rift between himself, Puerta and the rest of his team.

"He is an adult who makes his own choices. I don’t know if I’m going to respond to that message,” he continued. "As a person, for all the team, he failed.

”We didn’t fight. Everything was normal. In the match, everything was normal. I don’t know what to say because it was strange, but nothing can surprise me anymore.

”I’ve had a lot of things through my career. So this is another thing. 

”I thought that he was a very good person. After that, I discovered that he had done it a couple of times before with other players. I was like, okay, it was my fault to hire him.”

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Several outlets have also quoted Davidovich Fokina saying Puerta had gone as far as blocking him and his wife on his phone.

”We had a very good relationship. Nothing ever happened, not a single tense moment, nothing at all. In fact, he's even blocked my wife on his phone, and me too,” he said, in quotes carried by the Daily Express.

”So, I don't want to make a big deal out of it. In the end, he lives his life, and I live mine. If he acts like this, in his forties, well, those are his decisions.”

Puerta is himself a former player, and among his career highlights was his run to the French Open final in 2005, where he lost to Rafael Nadal - who claimed the first of his 14 majors on the Paris clay.

Just months after his run in Paris, Puerta tested positive for etilefrine, a banned cardiorespiratory stimulant, and was partially suspended from the sport for eight years, before the penalty was reduced to two years. It was the second time he returned a positive doping test.

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Davidovich Fokina's partnership with Puerta began in January, and the early origins of their work together resulted in a run to the third round of the Australian Open.

The 26-year-old has yet to progress beyond the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam, having reached the final eight of the French Open in 2021.

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