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Jose Higueras Pro Journey: First & Last Matches
3 Comments · Posted by Scoop Malinowski in Bios
USTA Coach Jose Higueras was at the US Open watching the Aragone vs Kwon match and the Spaniard who reached no. 6 in the world and won 16 singles titles with a career record of 455-237, shared his memories of his first and last professional matches.
FIRST: My first match…I don’t remember to be honest. Because I was always a professional. I never was an amateur, so [smiles]. But I was 15 or 16. (According to the ATP site, Higueras officially turned pro in 1973 at age 20 but his first pro match was as a wildcard at age 15 in Barcelona in 1968, where he lost to Filipino Alexander Marcial 46 46.)
LAST: I retired at the end of 1985 actually. There was a tournament in Indian Wells (LA Quinta) and they asked me if I wanted a wildcard (1986). I said no. They said, you’re a local so why don’t you play? So I played. I won a couple of matches (beat ATP 45 Guy Forget 63 46 63 and ATP 23 Matt Anger 75 75). And I played (Boris) Becker in the third round. That was my last match. I lost 46 46 (actually 26 46).
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Andrew Miller · August 20, 2019 at 10:04 am
Higueras among better coaches out there.
Scoop Malinowski · August 20, 2019 at 10:44 am
USTA certainly thinks so. He had a part in the careers of Courier, Tiafoe, Todd Martin, Federer on clay, Moya, Coria, Bruguera, and Sampras. Helped coach Chang to the Roland Garros title and Courier to no. 1. Pretty solid coach.
Andrew Miller · August 20, 2019 at 11:24 am
And Ginepri! Ginepri went nowhere without Higueras and went back to nowhere when their partnership ended. Ginepri, of all players!!!
Whoever coached Fish did a fine job too. And Fish’s trainer who got him to run and train hard. Whoever motivated Querrey.