Arantxa Sanchez Vicario was a defining figure in Spanish and global tennis during the 1990s, competing fiercely against legends like Monica Seles and Steffi Graf. She reached the pinnacle of the WTA rankings in 1995 and won multiple Grand Slam titles. However, her life took a dramatic turn after retirement, culminating in a prison sentence just a few years ago.
Born in Barcelona into a tennis-driven family, Sanchez Vicario quickly rose to prominence. She won her first Grand Slam at Roland Garros in 1989 at just 17, becoming the youngest French Open champion at the time.
She went on to claim three more French Open titles (1994, 1998) and a US Open title (1994), while also reaching finals at Wimbledon and the Australian Open. In total, she won 29 singles titles, over 60 doubles titles, and four Olympic medals, amassing nearly $17 million in prize money.
Reflecting on her playing style, she compared herself to Rafael Nadal. “Never giving up on a ball, fighting until the end. Those are traits very similar to the ones I had as a player. It makes me happy to be compared to him or for people to see similarities in our game. I suppose he is just as proud to have taken Spanish tennis to the top,” she told Eurosport in 2018.
Arantxa Sanchez Vicario celebrates winning the 1994 Australian Open (Clive Brunskill/ALLSPORT)
Financial struggles and family feud
Despite her success, Sánchez Vicario’s personal life became embroiled in controversy. In 2010, she publicly distanced herself from her family, later accusing her parents of mismanaging her fortune. In her 2012 memoir, ¡Vamos!, she exposed the rift, writing, “It was time to take off the masks and show that the myth of a united and happy Sánchez Vicario family was just that—a myth.”
She claimed that financial mismanagement left her in debt and unable to access her earnings, adding, “They left me with nothing. I am in debt to the tax authorities, and my properties are far fewer than those of my brother Javier, who earned much less than me. Can I accept this abuse and stay silent? No, I won’t.”
Sanchez Vicario insisted she had no reason to suspect mismanagement at the time. “I was fully dedicated to playing tennis. I knew I was earning money, but I placed all my trust in others to handle those matters. I had no reason to doubt them,” she told El Mundo.
Sanchez Vicario during the 2022 US Open (Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)
By then, she admitted to being financially ruined. “I still have a lot of strength and a huge fighting spirit, but money? Nothing. And in a way, I’m grateful because it pushes me to keep working like anyone else. That’s the Arantxa people don’t know,” she added.
Betrayal and legal troubles
After her fallout with her parents, Sachez Vicario initially supported her husband, Josep Santacana, but later blamed him for further financial losses and for turning her against her family. Their 2018 divorce triggered another legal battle, with her family accusing Santacana of controlling her assets.
In early 2024, a Barcelona court convicted Sánchez Vicario and Santacana of fraud for evading a €7.6 million payment to a Luxembourg bank. She was sentenced to three years and three months in prison but avoided jail time by agreeing to strict financial oversight for the next two and a half years.
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Starting over
Now based in Miami, Sánchez Vicario has launched a tennis coaching business. However, most of her income is directed toward repaying debts. “Everything I earned came from hard work, no one gave me anything,” she said in a 2023 interview with El País.
Sanchez Vicario waves the audience during a tribute to her career at the 2020 Fed Cup ( Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty Images)
Acknowledging the toll of her legal battles, she admitted, “I get by thanks to the money my friends lend me. That’s how I manage.” Despite the setbacks, she remains determined to regain control of her life. “What’s mine is mine, and my children’s. That’s what motivates me to recover it.”
Despite her financial and legal troubles, Vicario has undoubtedly left her mark in tennis, especially as one of the most successful Spanish players ever, even being the first player (male or female) of her country to be ranked world’s No. 1 in both singles and doubles simultaneously in 1995.
