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Beatriz "Gigi" Fernández (born February 22 1964, in San Juan, Puerto Rico) is a former professional tennis player. She is widely considered to be one of the greatest doubles players of all time. During her career, she won 17 Grand Slam doubles titles and two Olympic Gold Medals, and was ranked the World No. 1 woman doubles player. She was also ranked among the world's top 30 singles players for most of her career. Since retiring from the professional tour, Fernández has been a successful tennis coach.
Fernández's father Tuto was a well-known doctor in Puerto Rico. Her cousin José Ferrer was a famous Puerto Rican actor and director. Fernández started playing tennis when she was eight. When she turned professional in 1983, she become Puerto Rico's first-ever female professional athlete. Prior to turning prfoessional, she played tennis for one season at Clemson University, South Carolina, in 1982-83, where she was a singles and doubles All-American and reached the NCAA singles final.
Recognized primarily as a doubles specialist during her professional career, Fernández won 17 Grand Slam women's doubles titles – six French Open, five US Open, four Wimbledon and two Australian Open. She won 14 of her 17 Grand Slam titles partnering Natasha Zvereva. This makes them the second-most successful women's doubles pair in Grand Slam history after Martina Navratilova and Pam Shriver. Though she never won a Grand Slam mixed doubles title, Fernández did finish runner-up in three of the four Grand Slam mixed doubles events in 1995 (Australian Open, Wimbledon and US Open) partnering Cyril Suk. Fernández reached the World No. 1 doubles ranking in 1991, and held the No. 1 spot on and off through to 1995. She won a total of 68 doubles titles during her career.
Fernández represented the United States at the Olympic Games in both 1992 (Barcelona) and 1996 (Atlanta). She teamed-up with Mary Joe Fernández (no relation) to win the women's doubles Gold Medal on both occassions.
Fernández was also on the United States team which won the Fed Cup in 1990.
As a singles player, Fernández won two top-level titles and reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon in 1994, and the quarter-finals at the US Open in 1991 and 1994.
Fernández retired from the professional tour in 1997. In 1999, she was named Puerto Rico's Female Athlete of the Century.
Since retiring from the tour, Fernández has worked as a tennis coach. She has coached players including the former World No. 1 doubles player Rennae Stubbs. She has also coached for the Puerto Rican national team and the University of South Florida. She also manages the Gigi Fernández Charitable Foundation, which has contributes to various Hispanic and Puerto Rican organizations.
External links
- Official WTA profile (http://www.wtatour.com/players/playerprofiles/PlayerBio.asp?PlayerID=60014)