Igor del Busto

In my life there are people I have worked with and with whom I have always had good chemistry. They are people you run into and feel you’d like to spend some time with, to talk calmly about important things — and about not-so-important ones too.

With Juanma Esparcia, it’s not just chemistry; it’s also admiration.

As a player, I crossed paths with him in the mid-1980s at national tournaments, and I remember that he played the Trofeo Landatxueta, which I organized.

We both worked at the Nick Bollettieri Academy in Florida, USA, although we missed each other by just a couple of weeks. I returned at the end of 1989 and he arrived in early 1990. He had the thoughtful gesture of bringing me from there a pair of rackets that were owed to me for having previously completed the USPTA tennis coaching course there. A true gentleman.

A few months ago, Alberto Sanz — brother of Eduardo Sanz — interviewed Juanma and me together on Cadena COPE to talk about Bollettieri. It was a pleasure to reminisce about old times.

In 2004, as the person responsible for the Chinese Davis Cup team, Juanma was instrumental in organizing a friendly tie between Euskadi and China at the RCT San Sebastián. Organizing any activity involving China is extremely difficult, slow, and complex… yet it turned into a fantastic weekend in which Juanma helped us at every step. Without him, it would not have been possible.

Later, in 2017, he delivered a brilliant conference at the Basque Tennis Federation Seminar, where he shared with Basque coaches many of his experiences with developing players and top-level professionals such as Guillermo García López, among others. The titles of his presentations were Coaches, Players and Parents: “The Key to Success” and The Coach–Player Working Relationship.

I later had the chance to welcome him at the ITF M25 Kiroleta Bakio, where he attended as coach of the Chinese players Sun Fajing and Cui Jie.

Continuing with what I mentioned at the beginning about “our chemistry,” I must add that he is a person it is a pleasure to work with. In addition to being deeply knowledgeable about the “tennis business” in all its facets, he is serious, reliable, loyal, well-mannered, grateful, sensible, reasonable, patient, entrepreneurial, and always able to put himself in your place.

…and he is a true tennis person (those who are tennis people will understand what I mean).

My friend Juanma, I wish you the very best of luck in everything you do.

Igor Del Busto Madariaga
President, Basque Tennis Federation
Director, 40th ITF $25,000 Kiroleta Bakio
Board Member, Royal Spanish Tennis Federation (RFET)
Member, ITF World Tennis Tour Committee
President, Spanish Association of Tennis Collectors and Historians (ACHTE)