Arantxa Sánchez Vicario was once Steffi Graf’s toughest Grand Slam rival. Now, she has been at the center of unpleasant headlines and an ugly family feud for years.
She made history on the tennis court and was one of the greatest rivals of German player of the century Steffi Graf—off the court, however, she has repeatedly made less than favorable headlines in recent years.
Thirty-one years ago today, Arantxa Sánchez Vicario became the first Spanish woman to top the world tennis rankings. However, after the end of her successful career, the 54-year-old’s second life was full of unpleasant turmoil.
About two years ago, she escaped a bitter low point when she avoided a looming four-year prison sentence in court. Nevertheless, she has been through a lot in recent years and decades, not least due to bad influences in her immediate family.
Arantxa Sánchez Vicario faced Steffi Graf in seven major finals
Sánchez Vicario, born on December 18, 1971, in Barcelona, followed her brothers Emilio and Javier into the professional circuit in 1985 and became the most successful representative of the tennis dynasty.
In 1989, the then 18-year-old Catalan surprised everyone by ending Graf’s winning streak at major tournaments after her Golden Slam year in 1988: the combative and counter-attacking Sánchez Vicario defeated Graf in the final of the French Open – her first of a total of four Grand Slam singles titles.
In 1994 and 1998, Sánchez Vicario triumphed twice more at Roland Garros (with final victories over Mary Pierce and Monica Seles), and in 1994 she also defeated Graf in the final of the US Open – although she lost five more Grand Slam finals to her (once at the Australian Open, twice each in Paris and Wimbledon).
Graf faced 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.
On February 6, 1995, Sánchez Vicario became only the seventh player ever to reach No. 1 in the WTA world rankings, where she remained for eleven weeks – and No. 1 in doubles for 111 weeks.
Sánchez Vicario won a total of 29 titles during her career, celebrating final victories over numerous other top stars such as Gabriela Sabatini, Martina Navratilova, and the young Venus Williams. She also faced Serena Williams several times between 1998 and 2000. Sánchez Vicario also enjoyed success at the Olympics, winning two silver and two bronze medals in 1992 in her home city of Barcelona and in 1996 in Atlanta, in singles and doubles with her compatriot Conchita Martinez. She ended her career in 2002, but was apparently unable to reap much of the rewards of her hard work.
Entire fortune allegedly embezzled
In a biography published in 2012, she accused her parents of spending all the earnings from her career (around 56 million euros) and sued her father Emilio Sr. and brother Javier for embezzlement. The case ended with an out-of-court settlement.
The relationship within the family remained fractured after the death of Arantxa’s father in 2016: when she and her then-husband Josep Santacana wanted to visit his final resting place, ugly scenes ensued. Santacana was verbally abused by the other relatives and asked to leave; it is said that he almost came to blows with Javier, and her mother Marisa fainted. Sánchez Vicario, who moved to the US in 2014, has herself been the subject of several legal investigations into financial and tax matters, which ultimately led to a rift with Santacana, the father of her two children, Arantxa Jr. and Leo.
Sánchez Vicario now also accuses businessman Santacana of concealing his wife’s assets in order to avoid a €7.5 million payment to a bank where she had taken out loans to cover her tax debts.
Because co-defendant Sánchez Vicario tearfully convinced the court that she had acted in bad faith and was clueless about financial matters, she got off with a suspended sentence. Her ex-husband was sentenced to three years and three months in prison.
