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)
I share his vision of creating value and transferring the knowledge and experience accumulated throughout our many years in high-performance tennis, and I am certain that any type of collaboration with him would meet the highest standards of quality.
Juanma has collaborated with our academy since its founding year in an advisory and consulting capacity, providing valuable guidance on how to structure both the methodological framework and the business development. During that period, he also carried out several on-site consulting weeks with us, sharing his first-hand experience—an absolute privilege.
Juanma brings together all the qualities required to be a great coach and consultant: knowledge and passion for the sport, strong communication skills, ethics, and personal values.
