At the US Open, he reached the fourth round but lost convincingly to eventual champion Marat Safin. He then represented Spain at the Summer Olympics in Sydney, he reached the quarterfinals losing to France's Arnaud di Pasquale. He then suffered loses in his first match in his next four events, at the CA–TennisTrophy to Richard Krajicek 4–6, 4–6, the adidas Open de Toulouse to Magnus Gustafsson 2–6, 6–7(9–11), the Davidoff Swiss Indoors to Richard Krajicek 4–6, 3–6, and the Stuttgart Masters to Younes El Aynaoui 6–7(4–7), 4–6. The drought ended when he reached the semifinals of Paris Masters, losing to eventual champion Marat Safin, 2–6, 2–6. However, he lost at the first round of the Scania Stockholm Open to Adrian Voinea 7–6(7–5), 2–6, 3–6. He then led Spain win the Davis Cup against Australia with a 3–1 win, when Ferrero won both his matches against Patrick Rafter 6–7(4), 7–6(2), 6–2, 3–1 RET and Lleyton Hewitt 6–2, 7–6(7–5), 4–6, 6–4, handing Spain their first Davis Cup title. Although he did not win any titles in 2000, his significant performances in major tournaments helped him end the year ranked No. 12.