On the tennis court, she was one of the greatest rivals of the German player of the century Steffi Graf – but this is not the only reason why Arantxa Sánchez Vicario is remembered in her Spanish homeland today.
Financial problems, a rift within the family, trouble with the judiciary: Sánchez Vicario made the headlines several times after her career for unpleasant reasons.
Arantxa Sánchez Vicario met Steffi Graf in 7 major finals
Sánchez Vicario, born on December 18, 1971 in Barcelona, followed her brothers Emilio and Javier into the professional circus in 1985 and became the most successful representative of the tennis family.
In 1989, the then 19-year-old Catalan surprised by ending her streak of victories in major tournaments after Graf’s Golden Slam year in 1988: The strong and counter-strong Sánchez Vicario defeated Graf in the final of the French Open – her first of a total of four Grand- Slam successes in individual.
In 1994 and 1998 Sánchez Vicario triumphed two more times in Roland Garros (with final successes over Mary Pierce and Monica Seles), in 1994 she also won the final of the US Open against Graf – against which she however lost five other Grand Slam finals (once in the Australian Open, twice each in Paris and Wimbledon). Graf met no other rival more often on the big stage.
Many famous companions
Sánchez Vicario won six more Grand Slam titles in doubles – together with Helena Sukova, the late Jana Novotna and the American Chanda Rubin.
As the seventh player ever, Sánchez Vicario reached number 1 in the WTA world rankings in 1995, she was at the top for eleven weeks – in doubles 111.
Sánchez Vicario bagged a total of 29 titles in the course of her career and also celebrated final wins over numerous other top stars such as Gabriela Sabatini, Martina Navratilova and the young Venus Williams – there were also several duels against Serena Williams between 1998 and 2000. Sánchez Vicario also celebrated successes at the Olympics, winning two silver and bronze medals in her home town of Barcelona in 1992 and in Atlanta in 1996, in singles and doubles with compatriot Conchita Martinez.
Allegedly embezzled all assets
In 2002, she ended her career – but apparently did not have much of the fruits of her work: In a biography published in 2012, she accused her parents of having spent the entire income of her career (around 45 million euros), and sued her father and brothers Misappropriation, the case ended in a settlement.
Sánchez Vicario – who moved to the USA in 2014 – has herself been targeted by the judiciary several times for property and tax matters, most recently in 2018: Bank Luxembourg filed a criminal complaint for an outstanding payment of 7.5 million euros and demanded pre-trial detention for her and her allegedly jointly detained Husband Josep Santacana.
It was about a debt of 5.2 million euros resulting from tax proceedings in 2009, which since then had totaled 7.5 million euros. The bank accused Sánchez Vicario, who describes himself as insolvent, of covering up her true circumstances.
From businessman Santacana, father of their two children Arantxa jr. and Leo, she has been divorced since 2019.
