About Me
Jose Antonio Fernandez High Performance Coach
Chilean born tennis player and coach. Third generation of tennis professionals, grandfather, Armando Ibarra, was one of the first tennis Pros in Chile. Mother, Carmen Ibarra, was Chilean Nr.1 Player for 15 years and 4 times South-American Champion. Uncle Patricio Cornejo was a top Professional Player and Davis Cup finalist
The Tennis Professional
José Antonio played on the ATP tour for 12 years, reaching a career-high rank of 202 in 1991. During this time, he was a member of the Chilean Davis Cup team (1986-1992). In 1979, he had the privilege to win the Orange Bowl World Championship for Juniors.
The Coach
After retiring from the pro tour, he started his coaching career focusing on the human inside of the tennis player. In his 25 plus years as a coach, he spent 15 years as Director of Tennis at one of the most prestigious clubs in Germany. After that he created SPORTmind© where he aspired to develop players from the inside out. He also had the privilege of coaching Steffi Graf, as well as working to develop the maximum potential of many promising juniors. Jose Antonio was acted as Official Agent for the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar until 2018. He was a member of the Tennium Tennis Platform between 2018-2020. Now he works in his own High Performance Program.
The Student
Wanting to understand Tennis from the different perspectives, he has been a student through out his career. His curiosity and hunger of knowledge has led him to interact with great coaches and successful people from a variety of walks of life. He is an avid reader, took courses ,studied Sport & Tourism Manager and Mental Fitness, always having the human development as a corner stone. Jose Antonio is also a successful author of Evolution in Clay® and Evolve your Game©. Since 1985, he has been living mostly outside of his native Chile, allowing him to add the valuable treasure of multicultural perspective. Jose Antonio is fluent in Portuguese, Spanish, German, English, and can deal with some French and Italian if needed.
The Philosophy
Based on my experience of a life time in tennis, being the third generation of a tennis family, having passed through the Junior Tour, then the ATP professional Tour and after that as a Coach, I can honestly say that no matter if it is a Tennis match or the ‘Game of Life’; the best way to achieve personal success and win at different levels, is found by taking ownership of our own growth and self development in order to express our full potential. You also need a strong commitment to learn, the ability to be disciplined and consistent on your efforts as well as the will to take responsibility to take risks, fail and stand up again as many times as needed. With the insights that arise from honest introspection, commitment and delivering your very best as a person and as a player, you will gain the tools to influence and improve the quality of your process and outcomes of your game, harnessing the power of fulfillment on a whole deeper level.
I wish I could have known all this at the beginning of my own journey to becoming a professional Tennis player, which is why I feel compelled to share my wealth of acquired knowledge and experience with others. Let us work together to develop your own personal success strategy on your path to the totality of who you can become.
