The former world No.1 underwent knee and wrist surgery in late October 2010, taking him out of the early part of 2011.

When Juan Carlos Ferrero returned in April, after last playing at the US Open in August 2010, he immediately reached the quarterfinals in Barcelona. In July, in only his third tournament of the year, Ferrero lifted his 16th tour title in Stuttgart.

He went on to reach the semifinals in Umag, and then missed out on what would have been his best result of the year as he failed to convert two match points over David Ferrer at the ATP Masters in Shanghai.