The Open Era
Spain · born Barcelona, 1971 · right-handed · former world No. 1, twice Wimbledon singles finalist and 1995 Wimbledon doubles champion
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2
Wimbledon singles finals, 1995 and 1996, both lost to Steffi Graf
1995
Wimbledon doubles champion with Jana Novotná
32
Points in the 20-minute game that decided the 1995 Wimbledon final
14
Major titles: 4 singles, 6 doubles, 4 mixed
No. 1
World ranking in singles in 1995 and in doubles from 1992
Arantxa Sánchez Vicario was born in Barcelona on 18 December 1971 and began playing at four, following her brothers Emilio and Javier, both touring professionals. At 17 she won the 1989 French Open, beating Steffi Graf in the final, and she won Roland Garros again in 1994 and 1998 and the US Open in 1994, the first Spanish woman to do so. She reached the final of all four majors in singles, 12 in all.
She was No. 1 in doubles from October 1992 and briefly No. 1 in singles in 1995. She won 14 major titles in all, including the 1995 Wimbledon doubles with Jana Novotná, played at five Olympics from 1988 to 2004, winning four medals, and won the Fed Cup five times with Spain, setting records for ties played and matches won. She retired in November 2002, returned for some doubles in 2004, and was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2007. She captained Spain's Fed Cup team in 2012.
Her later years were marked by disputes over her earnings. In January 2024 a Barcelona court found her guilty of fraud for concealing assets to avoid repaying a debt to a bank; under a deal with prosecutors she admitted the charges, and her two-year prison sentence was waived as a first offence.
| Wimbledon singles finals | 1995, seeded 2: lost to Steffi Graf 4-6, 6-1, 7-5 in 122 minutes. 1996, seeded 4: lost to Graf 6-3, 7-5 |
|---|---|
| Wimbledon doubles | 1994 final with Jana Novotná: lost to Gigi Fernández and Natasha Zvereva 6-4, 6-1. 1995 final: beat Fernández and Zvereva 5-7, 7-5, 6-4 in 125 minutes. 1992 semi-final with Helena Suková: lost to Fernández and Zvereva 6-1, 6-7 (2-7), 7-5 after holding a match point |
| A Wimbledon marathon | 1997 third round with Martina Hingis: beat Chanda Rubin and Brenda Schultz-McCarthy 7-6 (14-12), 6-7 (6-8), 13-11 over two days, 3 hours 9 minutes, listed in the Wimbledon record books among the longest women's doubles matches |
| Grass tour titles | Newport 1990 singles: beat Jo Durie 7-6 (7-2), 4-6, 7-5. Eastbourne doubles with Novotná: 1995, beat Fernández and Zvereva 0-6, 6-3, 6-4; 1996, beat Rosalyn Nideffer and Pam Shriver 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 |
| Wimbledon | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Women's doubles | with Jana Novotná |
| Eastbourne | ||
| 1995 | Women's doubles | with Jana Novotná |
| 1996 | Women's doubles | with Jana Novotná |
| Newport, Rhode Island | ||
| 1990 | Women's singles Virginia Slims of Newport | |
Leading grass titles only: the grass majors, tour-level grass events since 1968 and the leading grass championships before 1968. † single source; ‡ sources disagree. Roll of champions
"I was always complaining that grass is for cows."
The person behind the player.
Barcelona
The youngest of a tennis family, she followed her older brothers Emilio and Javier on to the local clay courts at four. Bud Collins called her the Barcelona Bumblebee, "buzzing and flitting the width and breadth of arenas across the planet".
Source: International Tennis Hall of Fame; Tennis.comParis, 1989
At 17 she came back from 3-5 down in the third set to beat Steffi Graf in the French Open final. "I had fought until then, and I thought I could continue fighting," she said.
Source: Tennis.comWimbledon
"To tell the truth, I've never really prepared well for this tournament," she said in 1995. "I never thought about the good things here, only the bad. I was always complaining that grass is for cows." She added: "It took me longer than most people, but finally I changed my mind."
Source: Sports Illustrated, 1995Wimbledon, 1995
Serving at 5-5 in the third set of the final, she played a game of 32 points and 13 deuces that lasted 20 minutes. She held eight game points; Graf broke at the sixth break point and served out the title. "The game took energy from both of us, and then maybe I went for too much," she said, and added: "I have to be very proud."
Source: Spokesman-Review (1995); Sports IllustratedFed Cup
She played the Fed Cup for Spain for 16 years, winning it five times between 1991 and 1998, and holds the competition's records for ties played (58), matches played (100) and matches won (72). She also played at five Olympics, winning silver and bronze medals in Barcelona in 1992 and in Atlanta in 1996.
Source: International Tennis Hall of FameFree membership: player news, the grass court Atlas, the rankings and the grass season calendar.
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