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Gigi Fernandez Biography |
Beatriz Fernandez (born 1966), better known as Gigi Fernández, is a Puerto Rican former tennis player. She was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Fernández started playing at the age of seven. At 17, she turned professional and immediately captured the Puerto Rico Open title; a title that was very prestigious back then. By 1984, she was a ranked WTA player and had started a friendship with Martina Navratilova. That was the same year she and Navratilova played a nationally televised game in Puerto Rico, which garnered national attention. Fernández lost that game, but did well by most accounts.
Fernández was a ranked player most of her career, and all throughout the middle and late 1980s. She and Navratilova decided to join forces as doubles partners in the late 80s' and in 1992, 1993 and 1994, they won the doubles championship at Wimbledon. In 1992, Fernández obtained a gold medal in the Olympic doubles competition, and she repeated that success at the 1996 games. However, her gold medals did not count as gold medals for Puerto Rico as an Olympic nation because she participated for the United States on both games. She had been residing in Colorado for some time before competing in the Olympics.
One of the reasons why Fernández chose to live in Colorado was the training conditions there. Tennis training is similar to boxing training in that a tennis player needs to acquire stamina before competition and places with high altitude are generally considered to be excellent places where to jog and gain stamina.
Fernández was later named the Female Athlete of the Century in Puerto Rico. She was able to gain 17 doubles grand slam titles, and, in addition, she reached the semifinals at Wimbledon as a singles player in 1994. Now, she is involved as a coach with the University of South Florida varsity team.
Wimbledon doubles titles
1992, 1993, 1994, 1997
French Open doubles titles
1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997
U.S. Open doubles titles
1988, 1990, 1992, 1995, 1996
Australian Open doubles titles
1993, 1994 |
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