Gigi Fernández
Beatriz "Gigi" Fernández ( born February 22, 1964 in San Juan, Puerto Rico) is a former American tennis player.
With 17 Grand Slam singles titles and two Olympic gold medals (1992 and 1996), it is one of the most successful doubles players in tennis history.
Career
At the age of eight she began the sport of tennis and in 1983 the first female professional athlete Puerto Rico.
Fernández won the double six times the French Open, five times the U.S. Open four times at Wimbledon and the Australian Open twice. 14 of her 17 Grand Slam titles won Fernández together with Natallja Swerawa. This makes them the second most successful at Grand Slam tournaments double - team after Martina Navratilova and Pam Shriver. Overall Fernández won 69 tournaments in doubles, in 1991 she was the first time ( as from time to time from 1993 to 1995 ) the No. 1 doubles world ranking. In individual, she won two tournaments and reached the semifinals at Wimbledon in 1994.
She joined the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona and 1996 in Atlanta for the team U.S. and won the doubles with her namesake (they are not related to one another ) Mary Joe Fernández both times the gold medal. With the U.S. Fernández won the 1990 and the Fed Cup.
In 1997 she retired from professional tennis. She was elected in Puerto Rico for female athlete of the century in 1999.
After her career as a player it was tennis coach.
On 1 March 2010 Gigi Fernández was nominated for induction into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
Private
Fernández had a relationship with the Spanish tennis player Conchita Martínez. Today she lives with her partner, Jane Geddes, a former professional golfer, together. She is the mother of twins.