Gigi Fernandez

Beatriz "Gigi" Fernández (San Juan, Puerto Rico, February 22, 1964) is a former Puerto Rican professional tennis player and coach. She is the only Puerto Rican who has been in the number 1 position in the world tennis ranking, to be admitted to the International Tennis Hall of Fame and to have won a Grand Slam, obtaining 17 in total.

Trajectory

Considered one of the best tennis doubles players, she began playing the sport at the age of 8. At 17, she became a professional player, being the first tennis player rented from Puerto Rico. Along with Natasha Zvereva, she was part of one of the greatest women's doubles pairings in the history of the sport.

In 1984 she was ranked in the WTA (Women's Tennis Association) and began a friendship with Martina Navratilova.

He represented Puerto Rico internationally by winning a bronze medal at the San Juan 1979 Pan American Games, at the time he was 15 years old. Wearing the Puerto Rican flag, he competed until 1984, winning a gold medal in doubles (Central Americans Cuba 1982) and another silver medal in the same competition, but in the individual modality.

At the end of the 1980s, Navratilova and Fernández decided to team up as a doubles couple and for the years 1992, 1993 and 1994 they won the Wimbledon doubles championship. On April 1, 1991, she was considered the number 1 tennis player in doubles. She won the French Open 5 years in a row, from 1991 to 1995.

After being in the number one position in the world tennis ranking in doubles and not having a tennis partner in Puerto Rico, he decided to play with the United States team in the 1992 Olympics. Fernández obtained a gold medal in the Olympic Games and another in the 1996 Olympics representing the United States.

He won 17 Grand Slam tag team titles and in 1994 reached the singles semifinals at Wimbledon. She retired as a professional tennis player in 1997 and since then she has dedicated herself to working as a coach for the Puerto Rico national tennis team, she has also been a coach at the University of South Florida.

On April 7, 2009, she was the first-time mother of twins: Madison and Karson.