José "Pepe" Checa Calvo (born 2 April 1985) is a Spanish
tennis
Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...
coach and former professional player.
Career
Born in the town of
Las Pedroñeras
Las Pedroñeras is a small town and municipality in the province of Cuenca, in the central region of the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha, southwestern Spain.
It was founded around 1500, and it is believed that the name comes from "Ped ...
, Checa is a product of the Cuenca Tennis Club, where he trained with his elder sisters. He began competing professionally in 2003.
Checa won 21 ITF singles titles during his career. On the
ATP Challenger Tour
The ATP Challenger Tour, known until the end of 2008 as the ATP Challenger Series, is a series of international men's professional tennis tournaments. The Challenger Tour events are the second-highest tier of tennis competition, behind the ATP T ...
, Checa was a
Montauban
Montauban (, ; oc, Montalban ) is a commune in the Tarn-et-Garonne department, region of Occitania, Southern France. It is the capital of the department and lies north of Toulouse. Montauban is the most populated town in Tarn-et-Garonne, an ...
semi-finalist in 2006 and beat world number 78
Bjorn Phau at the
Tampere Open
The Tampere Open is a professional tennis tournament played on clay courts. It is currently part of the ATP Challenger Tour, and has been held annually at the Tampere Tennis Center in Tampere
Tampere ( , , ; sv, Tammerfors, ) is a city ...
in 2009. After winning six ITF titles in 2013, he attained a career high singles ranking of 230 in April, 2014. He never made an
ATP Tour
The ATP Tour is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for men organized by the Association of Tennis Professionals. The second-tier tour is the ATP Challenger Tour and the third-tier is the ITF Men's World Tennis Tour. The equivalent women's organis ...
main draw but featured in several qualifying tournaments including the 2014 Torneo Godó (ATP Tour 500), beating
Ante Pavić
Ante Pavić (; born 7 March 1989) is an inactive Croatian professional tennis player. His highest singles ranking is No. 132 achieved on 13 October 2014. He qualified for the main draw in the 2014 French Open after saving a match point in the fina ...
in the first round.
Forced to retire from professional tennis in 2015 due to injuries, Checa transitioned straight into a career as a tour coach, taking charge of
Santiago Giraldo
Santiago Giraldo Salazar (, born 27 November 1987) is a retired Colombian professional tennis player. He played on the ATP tour and represented Colombia in the Davis Cup competition. His best tournament result is reaching the final in the 20 ...
. In 2017 he parted company with Giraldo and became coach of
Andrey Kuznetsov. He was the coach of
Ilya Ivashka
Ilya Uladzimiravich Ivashka ( be, Ілья Уладзіміравіч Івашка; russian: Илья Владимирович Ивашко; born 24 February 1994) is a Belarusian professional tennis player.
Ivashka has a career-high singles ran ...
, who rose to 50 in the world under his charge.
ITF Futures titles
Singles: (21)
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Checa Calvo, Jose
1985 births
Living people
Spanish male tennis players
Spanish tennis coaches
Sportspeople from the Province of Cuenca