Pepe Imaz

Jose Imaz-Ruiz
Country (sports) Spain Spain
Born (1974-05-30) 30 May 1974
Logroño, Spain
Height 5'10" (178 cm)
Turned pro 1995
Plays Right-handed
Prize money $114,053
Singles
Career record 3-6
Career titles 0
Highest ranking No. 146 (11 May 1998)
Grand Slam Singles results
French Open 2R (1998)
Wimbledon Q1 (1994)
Doubles
Career record 2-6
Career titles 0
Highest ranking No. 167 (22 Apr 1996)

José "Pepe" Imaz Ruiz (born 30 May 1974 in Logroño) is a tennis coach and former professional tennis player from Spain.[1][2]

Playing career

Imaz made his debut on the ATP Tour at the 1995 Austrian Open.[3] He lost to Sergi Bruguera in the second round, having earlier beaten Christian Miniussi.[3]

His most noteworthy performance came in the 1998 French Open, the only Grand Slam of his career.[3] The Spaniard had a five set opening round win over Jean-Baptiste Perlant.[3] He then lost in straight sets to eventual champion Carlos Moyá, but would come close to winning the second set tiebreak, which lasted for 30 points.[3]

Coaching career

Imaz's tennis school is based at Marbella's Puente Romano resort. The school preaches a philosophy of Amor Y Paz (Love and Peace) as the overriding factors when coaching tennis, in which he uses meditation and the power of lengthy hugs. In 2013, then professional tennis player Marko Djokovic used Imaz's methodologies to cure himself of depression. In 2016, post-Novak Djokovic's win at the French Open, Imaz became part of Novak's support team from Wimbledon onwards, through the US Open and the Masters Tennis series.[4][5] During this partnership Djokovic's career took a sudden and dramatic downturn, going from one of the most dominant athletes in tennis to hardly winning tournaments. Djokovic later stopped working with him in April 2018.

ATP Challenger Tour finals

Doubles: (2-3)

Outcome No. Year Tournament Surface Partner Opponents Score
Win 1. 1993 Seville, Spain Clay Spain Emilio Benfele Álvarez United States Steve Campbell
United States John Yancey		 6–7, 6–1, 6–2
Win 2. 1994 Seville, Spain Clay Spain Emilio Benfele Álvarez Germany Patrick Baur
Germany Torben Theine		 6–1, 6–3
Loss 1. 1995 Scheveningen, Netherlands Clay Spain Emilio Benfele Álvarez Israel Eyal Ran
Romania Andrei Pavel		 4–6, 4–6
Loss 2. 1995 Graz, Austria Clay Spain Emilio Benfele Álvarez Argentina Pablo Albano
Czech Republic Vojtěch Flégl		 4–6, 3–6
Loss 3. 1997 Seville, Spain Clay Spain Emilio Benfele Álvarez Finland Tuomas Ketola
Germany Michael Kohlmann		 6–4, 1–6, 3–6

References

  1. ↑ Pepe Imaz Escuela internacional de tenis "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-08-05. Retrieved 2012-04-16. "When Pepe Imaz is asked “who are you” he answers “I am Pepe Imaz”. He wants to mean that a person is just that: one person."
  2. ↑ ITF Tennis Profile
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "Jose Imaz-Ruiz - Overview - ATP World Tour - Tennis".
  4. ↑ "Novak Djokovic splits with coach Boris Becker after three years". 6 December 2016 – via www.bbc.co.uk.
  5. ↑ "Djokovic turns to ex-journeyman player and spiritual guru Pepe Imaz".
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.