From 830 to Profession Excessive: A Journey of Perception, Work, and Psychological Power
Eduardo Santana is an expert coach who has labored with each skilled gamers, and non-professional.
In September 2021, I left my residence nation, Spain, to start a brand new skilled and private chapter in Mexico. I arrived on September 15 with a transparent goal: to start out working with a younger Mexican tennis participant, María José Portillo, who was ranked 830 within the WTA singles rankings at that second. She was 22 years previous, filled with potential, and standing at a crossroads that {many professional} athletes know all too effectively — the purpose the place expertise have to be remodeled into consistency, perception, and outcomes.
From the very first day, we immersed ourselves in work. Lengthy hours on the court docket, intense bodily periods within the gymnasium, and numerous conversations with María José, her household, and the group laid the muse for our course of. For me, this stage isn’t non-obligatory; it’s important. Understanding an athlete’s background, private story, emotional world, and aggressive id permit a coach to really perceive the place the participant is, why she is there, and what have to be carried out to maneuver ahead. Solely by realizing her strengths, fears, habits, and character might we construct a path that made sense.
What impressed me most about María José from the start was her work ethic. Regardless of cultural variations, misunderstandings, and moments of rigidity that naturally come up in anyhigh-performance surroundings, she confirmed a unprecedented dedication to enchancment. She labored relentlessly from day one, and the outcomes quickly adopted. Six months later, in March 2022, she had climbed greater than 400 positions within the WTA rating, reaching a career-high at the moment of 413 within the WTA in singles. It was a robust affirmation that we have been on the fitting path.
However elite sport is rarely a straight line. The 12 months 2022 ended with María José round 650 WTA, and from the second half of 2022 by means of most of 2023, the outcomes we have been chasing merely didn’t arrive. She completed 2023 across the 500 WTA mark. This was, with out query, probably the most demanding part of our journey.
Week after week, we labored intensely on the psychological, emotional, and aggressive facets of her sport. Every coaching session and every event turned a battle to enhance, even when solely by one %. That is the true actuality {of professional} tennis. Technical and bodily talents matter, however mentality is the pillar that sustains the athlete. It have to be skilled day by day,with out pause, each in occasions of success and in occasions of wrestle. These are two sides of the identical coin, and each require equal consideration.
What stored us transferring ahead was María José’s refusal to give up. Her persistence throughout tough moments is one thing for which I’ll all the time be grateful. She by no means stopped believing, by no means stopped working, and by no means stopped displaying up with braveness.
Then got here 2024 — probably the most profitable and satisfying season of her skilled profession. From January to September, María José climbed greater than 300 positions within the WTA rankings. She reached 5 semifinals in ITF 35Okay tournaments, received 5 ITF 35Okay titles in doubles, being semifinalist of the ITF 100Okay of Vitoria, Spain, each in singles and doubles, quarterfinals on the ITF 75Okay in Vienna, passing qualy and reaching the quarterfinals, beating Victoria Mboko within the first spherical in straight units, present High 20 within the WTA rating. With this victory and with a number of extra wins through the 12 months towards gamers contained in the High 150 WTA, María José reached the perfect second of her profession to date — each in rating and in degree.
I might additionally like to focus on a particular achievement in doubles: the title on the ITF 100Okay event in Biarritz, France (July 2025), partnering with Spanish participant Irene Burillo and defeating very sturdy pairs (High 150), demonstrating an infinite degree and giving all of us a variety of pleasure.
As a coach, I’ve by no means believed that there’s one single issue that “ensures” success for any athlete. However from my expertise, I do firmly consider that if the next facets should not current, there isn’t a actual chance of success in sport or in life: CONSTANT WORK, PERSISTENCE IN DIFFICULT MOMENTS (in good moments, it’s straightforward; it doesn’t inform me a lot), PASSION AND INTENSITY IN DAILY EFFORT, AND HIGH MINIMUM STANDARDS (for me, that is VITAL as a result of daily, each week, each month, and yearly, all of us expertise totally different feelings and conditions in our private life and internal world that may usually grow to be a continuing brake within the pursuit of our goal. Working in order that daily, it doesn’t matter what we really feel or how we really feel, we will nonetheless ship a excessive minimal degree of efficiency is the pillar of my perception and my work as a coach.
María José Portillo’s journey is a robust instance of what will be achieved when perception meets self-discipline. I’m deeply proud to have been a part of this journey and to have been capable of assist her.
