Arantxa Sánchez Vicario

Arantxa Sánchez Vicario started playing tennis at the age of four, when she followed her older brothers Emilio Sánchez and Javier Sánchez (both of whom became professional players) to the court and hit balls against the wall with her first racquet. As a 17-year-old, she became the youngest winner of the women's singles title at the 1989 French Open, defeating World No. 1 Steffi Graf in the final. (Monica Seles broke the record the following year when she won the title at age 16.)

Sánchez Vicario quickly developed a reputation on the tour for her tenacity and refusal to concede a point. Commentator Bud Collins described her as "unceasing in determined pursuit of tennis balls, none seeming too distant to be retrieved in some manner and returned again and again to demoralize opponents" and nicknamed her the "Barcelona Bumblebee".^[3]

She won six women's doubles Grand Slam titles, including the US Open in 1993 (with Helena Suková) and Wimbledon in 1995 (with Jana Novotná). She also won four Grand Slam mixed doubles titles. In 1991, she helped Spain win its first-ever Fed Cup title, and helped Spain win the Fed Cup in 1993, 1994, 1995, and 1998. Sánchez Vicario holds the records for the most matches won by a player in Fed Cup competition (72) and for most ties played (58). She was ITF world champion in 1994 in singles.^[4] She was also a member of the Spanish teams that won the Hopman Cup in 1990 and 2002.

Over the course of her career, she won 29 singles titles and 69 doubles titles before retiring in November 2002.^[5] She came out of retirement in 2004 to play doubles in a few select tournaments as well as the 2004 Summer Olympics, where she became the only tennis player to play in five Olympics in the Games' history.^[6] Sánchez Vicario was the most decorated Olympian in Spanish history with four medals—two silver and two bronze.^[7] Her medal count has since been surpassed by David Cal and Saúl Craviotto with five medals each.^[8]

In 2005, TENNIS magazine ranked her in 27th place in its list of 40 Greatest Players of the TENNIS era and in 2007, she was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. She was only the third Spanish player (and the first Spanish woman) to be inducted.

In 2009, Sánchez Vicario was present at the opening ceremony of Madrid's Caja Mágica, the new venue for the Madrid Masters. The second show court is named Court Arantxa Sánchez Vicario in her honour.^[9]

She has been married twice: her first marriage to the sports writer Juan Vehils in July 2000 ended in 2001. She then married businessman Josep Santacana in September 2008, with whom she has a daughter (born 2009) and son (born 2011).^[10][11][12] In 2019, Sánchez Vicario and Santacana divorced.^[13]

In 2012, Sánchez Vicario published an autobiography in which she claimed that, despite having earned $60 million over the course of her career, her parents had exerted almost total control over her finances and lost all of her money.^[14] The same year, Sánchez Vicario sued her father and older brother Javier for the alleged mishandling of her career earnings. The court case continued over three years, and in 2015 concluded in a private settlement.^[15]

She has faced multiple court proceedings relating to charges of tax evasion and fraud. In 2009, Sánchez Vicario was found guilty of tax evasion and ordered to repay €3.5 million.^[16] In 2015, Banque de Luxembourg successfully filed complaint against her for credit and property fraud amounting to $5.2 million; however, they were unable to recoup it. In 2018, Sánchez Vicario was once again charged with fraud, for deliberately misleading the courts on her financial set-up during the previous case.^[17] As of 2021, Barcelona prosecutors are seeking a four-year jail term for Sánchez Vicario, due to further allegations of fraud relating to the transfer of assets to avoid paying her debts from a previous lawsuit.^[18] In 2024, she received a suspended sentence.^[19]

As well as tennis-playing siblings Javier and Emilio, Sánchez Vicario also has an older sister—Marisa—who briefly played professional tennis, peaking at world no. 368 in 1990.^[20][21]

Result	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1989	French Open	Clay	Steffi Graf	7–6(8–6), 3–6, 7–5
Loss	1991	French Open	Clay	Monica Seles	3–6, 4–6
Loss	1992	US Open	Hard	Monica Seles	3–6, 3–6
Loss	1994	Australian Open	Hard	Steffi Graf	0–6, 2–6
Win	1994	French Open	Clay	Mary Pierce	6–4, 6–4
Win	1994	US Open	Hard	Steffi Graf	1–6, 7–6(7–3), 6–4
Loss	1995	Australian Open	Hard	Mary Pierce	3–6, 2–6
Loss	1995	French Open	Clay	Steffi Graf	5–7, 6–4, 0–6
Loss	1995	Wimbledon	Grass	Steffi Graf	6–4, 1–6, 5–7
Loss	1996	French Open	Clay	Steffi Graf	3–6, 7–6(7–4), 8–10
Loss	1996	Wimbledon	Grass	Steffi Graf	3–6, 5–7
Win	1998	French Open	Clay	Monica Seles	7–6(7–5), 0–6, 6–2

Result	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1992	Australian Open	Hard	Helena Suková	Mary Joe Fernandez Zina Garrison	6–4, 7–6(7–3)
Loss	1992	French Open	Clay	Conchita Martínez	Gigi Fernández Natasha Zvereva	3–6, 2–6
Win	1993	US Open	Hard	Helena Suková	Amanda Coetzer Inés Gorrochategui	6–4, 6–2
Loss	1994	Wimbledon	Grass	Jana Novotná	Gigi Fernández Natasha Zvereva	4–6, 1–6
Win	1994	US Open	Hard	Jana Novotná	Katerina Maleeva Robin White	6–3, 6–3
Win	1995	Australian Open	Hard	Jana Novotná	Gigi Fernández Natasha Zvereva	6–3, 6–7(3–7), 6–4
Loss	1995	French Open	Clay	Jana Novotná	Gigi Fernández Natasha Zvereva	7–6(8–6), 4–6, 5–7
Win	1995	Wimbledon	Grass	Jana Novotná	Gigi Fernández Natasha Zvereva	5–7, 7–5, 6–4
Win	1996	Australian Open	Hard	Chanda Rubin	Lindsay Davenport Mary Joe Fernandez	7–5, 2–6, 6–4
Loss	1996	US Open	Hard	Jana Novotná	Gigi Fernández Natasha Zvereva	6–1, 1–6, 4–6
Loss	2002	Australian Open	Hard	Daniela Hantuchová	Martina Hingis Anna Kournikova	2–6, 7–6(7–4), 1–6

Result	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	1989	French Open	Clay	Horacio de la Peña	Manon Bollegraf Tom Nijssen	3–6, 7–6, 2–6
Win	1990	French Open	Clay	Jorge Lozano	Nicole Provis Danie Visser	7–6, 7–6
Loss	1991	US Open	Hard	Emilio Sánchez	Manon Bollegraf Tom Nijssen	2–6, 6–7
Loss	1992	Australian Open	Hard	Todd Woodbridge	Nicole Provis Mark Woodforde	3–6, 6–4, 9–11
Win	1992	French Open	Clay	Todd Woodbridge	Lori McNeil Bryan Shelton	6–2, 6–3
Win	1993	Australian Open	Hard	Todd Woodbridge	Zina Garrison Rick Leach	7–5, 6–4
Loss	2000	Australian Open	Hard	Todd Woodbridge	Rennae Stubbs Jared Palmer	5–7, 6–7
Win	2000	US Open	Hard	Jared Palmer	Anna Kournikova Max Mirnyi	6–4, 6–3

Result	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent	Score
Bronze	1992	Barcelona	Clay	Tied	DNP
Silver	1996	Atlanta	Hard	Lindsay Davenport	6–7(8–10), 2–6

Note: Arantxa Sánchez Vicario lost in the semi-finals to Jennifer Capriati 3–6, 6–3, 1–6. In 1992, there was no bronze medal play-off match, both beaten semi-final players received bronze medals

Result	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Silver	1992	Barcelona	Clay	Conchita Martínez	Gigi Fernández Mary Joe Fernandez	5–7, 6–2, 2–6
Bronze	1996	Atlanta	Hard	Conchita Martínez	Manon Bollegraf Brenda Schultz	6–3, 6–1

Result	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	1993	New York City	Carpet	Steffi Graf	1–6, 4–6, 6–3, 1–6

Result	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	1990	New York City	Carpet	Mercedes Paz	Kathy Jordan Elizabeth Smylie	6–7(4–7), 4–6
Win	1992	New York City	Carpet	Helena Suková	Larisa Neiland Jana Novotná	7–6(7–4), 6–1
Loss	1994	New York City	Carpet	Jana Novotná	Gigi Fernández Natasha Zvereva	3–6, 7–6(7–4), 3–6
Win	1995	New York City	Carpet	Jana Novotná	Gigi Fernández Natasha Zvereva	6–2, 6–1
Loss	1996	New York City	Carpet	Jana Novotná	Lindsay Davenport Mary Joe Fernandez	3–6, 2–6
Loss	1999	New York City	Carpet	Larisa Neiland	Martina Hingis Anna Kournikova	4–6, 4–6

• WTA Awards
• World number 1 ranked female tennis players

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Arantxa Sánchez Vicario.

• Arantxa Sánchez Vicario at the Women's Tennis Association
• Arantxa Sánchez Vicario at the International Tennis Federation
• Arantxa Sánchez Vicario at the Billie Jean King Cup
• Arantxa Sánchez Vicario at the International Tennis Hall of Fame
• Arantxa Sánchez Vicario at Olympedia
• Arantxa Sánchez Vicario at Olympics.com
• Arantxa Sánchez Vicario at the Comité Olímpico Español (in Spanish)
• sportec.com: Tax evasion issue of Arantxa Sanchez Vicario at the Wayback Machine (archived 28 September 2007) (in Spanish)
• Arantxa Sanchez Vicario's induction speech to the Hall of Fame at the Wayback Machine (archived 8 August 2007)
• Golden Heart Award 1997 granted by Spanish Heart Foundation

Sporting positions
Preceded by Steffi Graf Steffi Graf Steffi Graf	World No. 1 6 February 1995 – 19 February 1995 27 February 1995 – 9 April 1995 15 May 1995 – 11 June 1995	Succeeded by Steffi Graf Steffi Graf Steffi Graf
Awards
Preceded by Steffi Graf	ITF World Champion 1994	Succeeded by Steffi Graf
Preceded by Spanish Marathon team	Prince of Asturias Award for Sports 1998	Succeeded by Steffi Graf