In 2014, Andis Juška ended his playing career and then started training Latvia’s young talent Aļonas Ostapenko at the junior level. In October 2017, Ostapenko joined the team already in the adult competition as a sparring partner and also a coach. In the spring of 2019, she started working with American tennis player Amanda Anisimov – that year she also played in the semi-finals of the “French Open”, but the following year she reached the third round of the “Grand Slam” twice. Worked with the Czech sisters Linda and Brenda Fruhvirtova for three weeks and trained the former number three player in the world Elina Svitolina (Ukraine) for less than half a year. After that, cooperation was renewed with the American Anisimov, who had a successful 2022 under Juška’s leadership (two “WTA 1000” quarterfinals, the “French Open” round of 16 and the Wimbledon quarterfinals), rising to the 22nd place in the world ranking.
The Latvian specialist has not been on the world tour lately. “At the moment, the family is growing, so I don’t want to go anywhere at the moment,” coach Andis Juška explains the situation. “I have told the agent that I am currently on a break. There were a couple of offers on the other side of the ocean, but nothing that really made me want to go there.” It was offered to work with American Madison Keys and Kazakh Yulia Putintseva, but both live in the United States. In addition, the Czech Karolina Pliskova offered cooperation last year.
Given the accumulated experience and capabilities, it should not be a problem to get back into circulation. “I can play [kā sparingpartneris], and being a coach – performing two functions at the same time. It’s quite in demand, especially on the women’s tour. That’s why it was much easier for me to find that job and choose among the players,” says the Latvian.
When could you return to the world level? “I haven’t thought about it at the moment. But not yet this year. I will see the new season, which will take place after the Australian Open. Usually, after Australia, many players change their coaches. Last year, if I’m not mistaken, about 10 coaches changed. When the preparation for the season ends , everyone is waiting for the result in that Australia. If there is no result there, the coaches change. If the coach stays after Australia, then usually stays the whole year. Australia is such a breaking point. You prepare for two months and put in hard work – if the result is not what you want, then everything changes,” informs Andis Juška. “More like Australia.”
Now is the time to work in your own tennis academy, which has been operating since 2019 and is located in Jurmala. Anda’s parents also help in this work – coach Jānis Juška and coach Daiga Juška mostly work with groups, while the son trains more individually. The academy works with children, trying to nurture young talents. This work is largely financed by the students’ parents. If additional sponsors appeared, the results would grow even faster.
2023-10-11 21:55:00
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