Arantxa Sánchez Vicario

Arantxa Sánchez Vicario

Nickname(s)	The Barcelona Bumblebee
Country	Spain
Residence	Barcelona
Date of birth	December 18 1971 (1971-12-18) (age 37)
Place of birth	Barcelona
Height	1.69 m (5 ft 6+1⁄2 in)
Weight	56 kg (120 lb/8.8 st)
Turned Pro	1985
Retired	2002
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Career Prize Money	US$16,942,640
Singles
Career record:	759-295
Career titles:	29
Highest ranking:	No. 1 (February 6, 1995)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open	F (1994, 1995)
French Open	W (1989, 1994, 1998)
Wimbledon	F (1995, 1996)
US Open	W (1994)
Doubles
Career record:	676-224
Career titles:	69
Highest ranking:	No. 1
Infobox last updated on: March 7, 2007.

Aránzazu (Arantxa) Isabel Maria Sánchez Vicario^[1] (born December 18, 1971, in Barcelona, Spain) is a former World No. 1 professional tennis player from Spain. During her career, she won 4 Grand Slam singles titles and 6 Grand Slam doubles titles.

Career

Sánchez Vicario started playing tennis at age 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.

Sánchez Vicario surprised the tennis world in 1989 when, as a 17-year-old, she became the youngest winner of the women's singles title at the 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 tenacious fighting spirit and willingness to scamper around the court, refusing to concede a point. She was the ultimate counterpuncher. Affectionately known as the "Barcelona Bumblebee," she "stung" some of the major competitors of her era.

Sánchez Vicario's most successful year as a singles player was 1994, when she won both the French Open and U.S. Open singles titles. She won eight tournaments that year.

Sánchez Vicario was a singles finalist at least twice in all four Grand Slam singles events. Her win-loss record in Grand Slam singles finals was 4-8 (3-7 against Graf and Seles). Her fourth and final Grand Slam singles title was at the 1998 French Open.

Sánchez Vicario was the World No. 1 singles player in 1995 for 12 weeks. She was the first woman since Martina Navrátilová in 1987 to simultaneously hold the No. 1 ranking in both singles and doubles.

Sánchez Vicario won six women's doubles Grand Slam titles, including the U.S. Open in 1993 (with Helena Suková) and Wimbledon in 1995 (with Jana Novotná). She also won four Grand Slam mixed doubles titles.

In 1991, Sánchez Vicario helped Spain win its first-ever Fed Cup title, defeating the United States in the final. She was a member of Spanish teams that won the Fed Cup four additional times in 1993, 1994, 1995, and 1998. Sánchez Vicario holds the record for the most singles and doubles wins by any player in Fed Cup competition, with 72 victories. She also holds the records for most ties played (58) and most years played (16).

Sánchez Vicario was also a member of the Spanish teams that won the Hopman Cup in 1990 and 2002.

She represented Spain in five events at the 1992 and 1996 Olympic Games, winning two silver and two bronze medals.

Over the course of her career, Sánchez Vicario won 29 singles titles and 69 doubles titles. She married in August 2000 to sports journalist Joan Vehils, but her marriage lasted only 10 months. She separated from her husband in May 2001, then announced her retirement from the game shortly after. She attempted a return to the tour in 2004, playing in selected doubles events.

In 2005, TENNIS Magazine put her in 27th place in its list of 40 Greatest Players of the TENNIS era.

In 2007, Sánchez Vicario was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. She was only the third Spanish player (and the first Spanish woman) to be inducted.

Career statistics

Grand Slam singles finals

Wins (4)

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
1989	French Open	Steffi Graf	7-6, 3-6, 7-5
1994	French Open (2)	Mary Pierce	6-4, 6-4
1994	U.S. Open	Steffi Graf	1-6, 7-6, 6-4
1998	French Open (3)	Monica Seles	7-6, 0-6, 6-2

Runner-ups (8)

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
1991	French Open	Monica Seleš	6-3, 6-4
1992	U.S. Open	Monica Seleš	6-3, 6-3
1994	Australian Open	Steffi Graf	6-0, 6-2
1995	Australian Open (2)	Mary Pierce	6-3, 6-2
1995	French Open (2)	Steffi Graf	7-5, 4-6, 6-0
1995	Wimbledon	Steffi Graf	4-6, 6-1, 7-5
1996	French Open (3)	Steffi Graf	6-3, 6-7, 10-8
1996	Wimbledon (2)	Steffi Graf	6-3, 7-5

Grand Slam women's doubles finals

Wins (6)

Year	Championship	Partnering	Opponents in Final	Score in Final
1992	Australian Open	Helena Suková	Mary Joe Fernandez Zina Garrison	6-4, 7-6
1993	U.S. Open	Helena Suková	Amanda Coetzer Ines Gorrochategui	6-4, 6-2
1994	U.S. Open (2)	Jana Novotná	Katerina Maleeva Robin White	6-3, 6-3
1995	Australian Open (2)	Jana Novotná	Gigi Fernandez Natalia Zvereva	6-3, 6-7, 6-4
1995	Wimbledon	Jana Novotná	Gigi Fernandez Natalia Zvereva	5-7, 7-5, 6-4
1996	Australian Open (3)	Chanda Rubin	Lindsay Davenport Mary Joe Fernandez	7-5, 2-6, 6-4

Runner-ups (5)

Year	Championship	Partnering	Opponents in Final	Score in Final
1992	French Open	Conchita Martínez	Gigi Fernandez Natalia Zvereva	6-3, 6-2
1994	French Open (2)	Jana Novotná	Gigi Fernandez Natasha Zvereva	6-7, 6-4, 7-5
1994	Wimbledon	Jana Novotná	Gigi Fernandez Natasha Zvereva	6-4, 6-1
1996	U.S. Open	Jana Novotná	Gigi Fernandez Natasha Zvereva	1-6, 6-1, 6-4
2002	Australian Open	Daniela Hantuchová	Anna Kournikova Martina Hingis	6-2, 6-7, 6-1

Grand Slam mixed doubles finals

Wins (4)

Year	Championship	Partnering	Opponents in Final	Score in Final
1990	French Open	Jorge Lozano	Nicole Provis Danie Visser	7-6, 7-6
1992	French Open (2)	Mark Woodforde	Lori McNeil Bryan Shelton	6-2, 6-3
1993	Australian Open	Todd Woodbridge	Zina Garrison Rick Leach	7-5, 6-4
2003	U.S. Open	Jared Palmer	Anna Kournikova Max Mirnyi	6-4, 6-3

Runner-ups (4)

Year	Championship	Partnering	Opponents in Final	Score in Final
1989	French Open	Horacio de la Peña	Manon Bollegraf Tom Nijssen	6-3, 6-7, 6-2
1991	U.S. Open	Emilio Sánchez	Manon Bollegraf Tom Nijssen	6-2, 7-6
1992	Australian Open	Todd Woodbridge	Nicole Provis Mark Woodforde	6-3, 4-6, 11-9
2000	Australian Open (2)	Todd Woodbridge	Jared Palmer Rennae Stubbs	7-5, 7-6

WTA Tour Championships singles finals

Singles

Runner-up (1)

Year	Location	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
1993	New York City	Steffi Graf	6-1, 6-4, 3-6, 6-1

Doubles

Wins (2)

Year	Location	Partnering	Opponents in Final	Score in Final
1992	New York City	Helena Suková	Larisa Neiland Jana Novotná	7-6, 6-1
1995	New York City	Jana Novotná	Gigi Fernandez Natasha Zvereva	6-2, 6-1

Runner-ups (4)

Year	Location	Partnering	Opponents in Final	Score in Final
1990	New York City	Mercedes Paz	Kathy Jordan Elizabeth Smylie	7-6, 6-4
1994	New York City	Jana Novotná	Gigi Fernandez Natasha Zvereva	6-3, 6-7, 6-3
1996	New York City	Jana Novotná	Mary Joe Fernandez Lindsay Davenport	6-3, 6-2
1999	New York City	Larisa Neiland	Martina Hingis Anna Kournikova	6-4, 6-4

Grand Slam singles performance timeline

Singles

A = did not participate in the tournament.

SR = the ratio of the number of Grand Slam singles tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played.

Doubles

A = did not participate in the tournament.

SR = the ratio of the number of Grand Slam singles tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played.

Career finals

Singles

Titles (29)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	July 11, 1988	Brussels	Clay	Raffaella Reggi	6-0, 7-5
2.	April 25, 1989	Barcelona	Clay	Helen Kelesi	6-2, 5-7, 6-1
3.	June 11, 1989	French Open	Clay	Steffi Graf	7-6(6), 3-6, 7-5
4.	April 29, 1990	Barcelona	Clay	Isabel Cueto	6-4, 6-2
5.	July 22, 1990	Newport	Grass	Jo Durie	7-6, 4-6, 7-5
6.	August 25, 1991	Washington, D.C.	Hard	Katerina Maleeva	6-2, 7-5
7.	March 22, 1992	Miami	Hard	Gabriela Sabatini	6-1, 6-4
8.	August 23, 1992	Montréal	Hard	Monica Seles	6-3, 4-6, 6-4
9.	March 21, 1993	Miami	Hard	Steffi Graf	6-4, 3-6, 6-3
10.	April 11, 1993	Amelia Island	Clay	Gabriela Sabatini	6-2, 5-7, 6-2
11.	April 25, 1993	Barcelona	Clay	Conchita Martínez	6-1, 6-4
12.	May 2, 1993	Hamburg	Clay	Steffi Graf	6-3, 6-3
13.	April 10, 1994	Amelia Island	Clay	Gabriela Sabatini	6-1, 6-4
14.	April 24, 1994	Barcelona	Clay	Iva Majoli	6-0, 6-2
15.	May 1, 1994	Hamburg	Clay	Steffi Graf	4-6, 7-6(3), 7-6(6)
16.	June 5, 1994	French Open	Clay	Mary Pierce	6-4, 6-4
17.	August 21, 1994	Montréal	Hard	Steffi Graf	7-5, 1-6, 7-6(4)
18.	September 11, 1994	U.S. Open	Hard	Steffi Graf	1-6, 7-6(3), 6-4
19.	September 25, 1994	Tokyo	Hard (I)	Amy Frazier	6-1, 6-2
20.	November 6, 1994	Oakland	Carpet (I)	Martina Navrátilová	1-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(3)
21.	April 30, 1995	Barcelona	Clay	Iva Majoli	5-7, 6-0, 6-2
22.	May 21, 1995	Berlin	Clay	Magdalena Maleeva	6-4, 6-1
23.	April 7, 1996	Charleston	Clay	Barbara Paulus	6-2, 2-6, 6-2
24.	May 5, 1996	Hamburg	Clay	Conchita Martínez	4-6, 7-6, 6-0
25.	January 18, 1998	Sydney	Hard	Venus Williams	6-1, 6-3
26.	June 7, 1998	French Open	Clay	Monica Seles	7-6(5), 0-6, 6-2
27.	April 25, 1999	Cairo	Clay	Irina Spîrlea	6-1, 6-0
28.	April 8, 2001	Porto	Clay	Magüi Serna	6-3, 6-1
29.	May 26, 2001	Madrid	Clay	Ángeles Montolio	7-5, 6-0

WTA Tour career earnings

* As of August 28, 2006.

Notes

1. ^ Vicario is not her married name. It is her mother's maiden name. In the Spanish naming system, every person has two surnames: the first one comes from the father, the second from the mother. A woman therefore never changes surnames, regardless of whether she marries or divorces. When she started her professional career, she was known as Sánchez but later requested that her mother's maiden name be added. Her two brothers, Emilio and Javier, were also known as Sánchez Vicario in the Spanish-speaking world.

External links

• Arantxa Sánchez Vicario profile on the WTA Tour's official website
• Fed Cup profile for Arantxa Sánchez Vicario
• (Spanish) sportec.com: Tax evasion issue of Arantxa Sánchez Vicario
• Arantxa Sánchez Vicario's induction speech to the Hall of Fame

ar:أرانشا سانشيز فيكاريو

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