Juan Carlos Ferrero, coach of Carlos Alcaraz, believes that the scheduling of his pupil's semi-final match at the US Open against Novak Djokovic may prove crucial in the overall result.
The Spaniard and the Serb will meet for a ninth time in the last four of the New York Grand Slam, with Djokovic holding a 5-3 lead in their head-to-head.
Djokovic has won all three of their hard-court meetings and claimed the victory in four of their five most recent clashes.
However, Alcaraz, unlike his opponent, has yet to drop a set at the US Open, cruising past every opponent with ease.
Ferrero, a former world No 1 and coach of Alcaraz since 2019, believes that the Spaniard is not, inherently, the favourite.
"Carlos is playing spectacularly, with a lot of confidence, but I don't dare say that he is a favourite," said the former French Open champion, whilst speaking to Spanish media on Wednesday.
"Novak will give everything, it will be very tough.
"What happened in Australia was painful because of how everything happened, but the conditions will be different here.
"We played there at night and that favored him a little, with a lower ball bounce.
"The ball was flatter and that suited him better.
"Here, I think that if we play during the day, it will be better for us."
Their next meeting will complete their Grand Slam collection of encounters, having previously met at all of the other three such events.
Coming into the clash, Alcaraz has won 35 of his last 36 matches, with the sole loss coming to world No 1 Jannik Sinner in the final of Wimbledon.
Ferrero also added that he has been particularly impressed by his pupil's mental strength during his New York matches.
"We have always known that he was very good tennis-wise, but on a mental level I am seeing him better than ever," the Spaniard stated.
"In this tournament he is showing that consistency of not having ups and downs and reaching the potential that we saw he could have.
"He is still very young, despite the experience he has. It is in the process of maturing and improving. Little by little he was giving details of improving, but in this tournament is where he is being most noticed.
"He barely makes five, six or seven errors per set. That is the difference compared to before."
Djokovic has had multiple physical issues throughout the tournament, taking medical time-outs for shoulder, foot, and back discomfort.
After his quarter-final victory over Taylor Fritz, the 24-time Grand Slam champion admitted that he does not 'feel very fresh' heading into the semi-finals.
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"Good thing about the schedule is now that I have two days without a match, so that helps a lot," he said.
"So I don't feel very fresh at the moment. But hopefully in two days will be different.
"It's not going to get easier, I tell you that. But look, as I said, I'm going to try to take one day at a time, really take care of my body, try to relax and recover.
"The next couple of days is really key for me to really get my body in shape and ready to battle five sets if it's needed.
"So I just would really love that, would love to be fit enough to play and to play, you know, potentially five sets with Carlos. And I know that my best tennis is going to be required, but I rise to the occasion.
"Normally, I like to play the big matches on a big stage. It's just that I'm not really sure how the body is going to feel in the next few days. But, you know, I'm going to do my very best with my team to be fit for that.
"There's going to be a lot of running involved, that's for sure. I mean, there's not going to be short points."
If Djokovic does beat the five-time Grand Slam champion, he would reach his first Grand Slam final in 14 months, and his first at the US Open in two years.
On the other hand, should Alcaraz be victorious, the Spaniard would make his first US Open final since his famous victory at the 2022 edition of the event.