Jorda Sanchis after long-awaited first Tour win: ‘I’d like to climb as high as possible’

At 29 years of age, David Jorda Sanchis claimed his first ATP Tour win this week at the Millennium Estoril Open. He did so after a career so far plagued by injury problems (undergoing as many as four operations) and a huge display of personal sacrifice, belief and determination.

After his win, the No. 329 in the PIF ATP Rankings sat down with ATPTour.com to evaluate his achievement and tell his story.

What does it mean to you to win your first ATP Tour match at 29?
Honestly the feeling of winning my first ATP match at 29 is a feeling of pride, happiness, of thinking about all the difficulties we’ve been through over the years — not being able to compete, being sidelined, even not being on the Tour anymore and thinking I’d never make it.

Persistence, hard work, tenacity, craziness... that craziness inside me to think that sooner or later my opportunity would come. I knew I’d be there, that I’d get there, even though the situation didn’t look favourable. The feeling of winning the other day was one of pride.

What do you think is the reason for your first ATP win?
It’s totally due to my capacity to endure hardship. My ability to work hard, persistence when things go badly and giving myself another chance. Falling down and giving yourself another chance and losing and giving yourself another chance.

It’s also due to a change I made this year, in January. I went to train in Barcelona, with a good structure, at the Club de Tenis Barcelona. We’re doing things really well. The daily routine is very good, I’m still learning a lot, I’m in a very relaxed environment, very healthy. It all revolves around tennis, which helps me focus at a great club that gives me that peace of mind.

I’m someone who needs to be at a tennis club, with members, with the people, and to go in the morning and see people there playing tennis, bump into them in the locker room and say hello. That environment gives me the peace of mind I need to go and practise every day and be happy.

Have your goals changed now?
My goals haven’t changed because my goal has always been to enter the Top 100. I always say that, without downplaying anything, I’m working to get into the Top 100. If they asked me tomorrow if I would sign on the dotted line to be in the Top 150 in the world, I’d say that if I had to sign that piece of paper I’d stop playing. I’d like to climb as high as possible.

For all the people that didn’t know you, but do now... What is your story?
I’ve been playing tennis for so many years. I started when I was little, like most of the guys on the Tour, at the Club de Tenis Tarragona. At 17 years of age, at one of the Spanish championships, I finished runner-up, when I’d never got through round one before. That’s when I realised my level was good, although I was a long way off being on the ATP Tour.

At 18-19 the injuries started, I had to have an operation on my right shoulder. I remember the whole recovery process, it took six to seven months for my shoulder to recover, and I perfectly remember the feeling of going to play my first tournament and looking at my coach and saying: “There’s something wrong here, the pain is the same as before.” I played that match and lost, but the big news was that I had to go under the knife again.

After two years I played again and I decided to make a change to my training. I decided to leave Tarragona, which had been my home my whole life, with the coach I’d had my whole life, and I went to train in Barcelona. After a year, I was playing really well.

At a Futures event in Javea, in the second game of the match, I slipped on court and dislocated my shoulder, a bad injury that really destroyed part of my shoulder: ligaments, capsule, etc. That was devastating. It was the third time I had to have an operation, and I was practically out of competition for another year.

When I returned, mentally I was exhausted and it led me to decide not to play anymore. I remember when we practised we’d have the odd good day, but there were so many bad days because I really couldn’t find the desire to do it. The months went by and I had a problem; I competed a little and I started getting a pain in my wrist that prevented me from playing. Then, undoubtedly with a little push from my father, very wisely, I looked for a plan B.

I’d already finished my degree, which took me four years, and that’s where the opportunity came up to work with Nastic de Tarragona, the football club I worked at from 2018 until January 2024, almost five years in total.

Until very recently, you were still working at the football club of your home city (Nastic) and playing tennis at the same time. How did you manage that?
A couple of years ago, having worked for a long time at Nastic, I decided to give myself one good final opportunity. I got to 700 in the [PIF ATP Rankings], and that year I won my first Futures event at 27 years of age in Alcala de Henares. I’d always longed for something like that, after so many years playing Futures, having entered thousands of tournaments, I finally had the chance to win one.

The challenge of winning a Futures event was already an achievement to me. Ending the year so well, it meant that the next season I decided to play much more and I started to work remotely and play tournaments all over the world, playing a very long season because I played so many weeks and ended up with my best ranking last year; 320.

Editor’s note: This story has been translated from ATPTour.com/es.