Gigi Fernandez

Fernandez started playing at the age of seven. At the age of 17, she turned professional. She 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, in a game which garnered national attention. Fernandez lost that game, but did well by most accounts.

Fernandez was a ranked player most of her career, and all throught 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, Fernandez 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 she chose to live in Colorado was the training conditions there. Tennis training is similar to boxing training in that a tennis player needs to adquire stamina before competition and places with high altitude are generally considered to be excellent places where to jog and gain stamina.

Fernandez 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