Beatriz "Gigi" Fernández is a former professional tennis player. She is an American born in Puerto Rico. Gigi turned professional in 1983. she is the first Puerto Rican born athlete to win a Gold Medal (Represented the US Olympic Team), and the first to be inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
Background
Beatriz Fernández was bom on February 22, 1964, in San Juan, Puerto Rico. She is the eldest daughter of physician Tuto Fernández and his wife Beatriz. She grew up with four younger siblings in a well-to-do family, with boundless access to her parents' attention and affluence.
Education
She attended the best private schools in San Juan. Her parents, who were recreational tennis players, gave her a racquet and tennis lessons for her eighth birthday. Four years later, she won the women's open doubles title in Puerto Rico and was well on her way to leaving her mark on the sport. On the island, her journey to success included wide media coverage of her extravagances her speedy black sports car and shopping sprees abroad as well as her tournaments.
Fernández earned a Bachelor of Arts in psychology from the University of South Florida in 2003. She later graduated from Rollins College's Crummer School of Business where she earned a Master of Business Administration.
Career
During the mid-1980s, she became undisciplined and was prone to outbursts on the courts resulting in the loss of many matches and payment of fines. Although her family and her talent were instrumental at the beginning of her career, Fernández acknowledges that there were others who have influenced and mentored her career. Among them is tennis star Martina Navratilova, whom she credits with guiding her career with positive advice and, later, an opportunity to play doubles.
In 1988 her career began to look up when she teamed with fellow tennis player Robin White; together they took the U.S. Open Doubles Championship. In Puerto Rico she was named Puerto Rican Female Athlete of the Year. Two years later, she teamed with Navratilova and repeated the U.S. doubles victory. By 1991 she was ranked number one in the world in doubles. She and Mary Joe Fernández (no relation) captured the gold medal in women's doubles during the 1992 Olympics, beating Spanish favorites Conchita Martínez and Arantxa Sánchez. In 1994, the U.S. Tennis Association and the U.S. Olympic Committee named her Female Athlete of the Year after her 1993 performances at the Australian Open, French Open, and Wimbledon.
In 1992 she began to play with Natasha Zvereva, her third and filial doubles partner, with whom she won the most championships. In two years (1992-93) they won six grand slams, the second longest streak in the history of the sport. By the time Fernandez retired in 1997, she had won at least one doubles grand slam title every year since 1988 (except 1989). In 1995 she won her fifth consecutive Roland Garros doubles title, the U.S. Open doubles title, and was a finalist in the Australian Open and Wimbledon doubles and mixed doubles as well as the U.S. Open mixed doubles.
Her success, however, has not been without controversy. She played on the U.S. Federation Cup team eight times (1988, 1990-1992, 1994-1996) and won a second gold medal in the 1996 Olympics as a member of the U.S. team. Her decision to play for the United States as part of the Federation Cup team and her decision to play for the U.S. Olympic team were very controversial in Puerto Rico. Fernández herself characterized these choices as among the most difficult in her professional life.
Fernandez's success and earnings led her to establishing the Gigi Fernández Charitable Foundation in 1992, which hosts the annual Gigi Fernández Invitational Cup and raises money for various Puerto Rican charities.
In addition to continuing to play tennis at the master's level in senior doubles, she has also recently turned to playing golf and occasionally plays in celebrity tours and for charitable causes, following her long-held belief in using her talents to help those who are less privileged.
Fernández has moved on from professional player to professional instructor of the game. Since 1999, Fernández has coached the Puerto Rican national tennis team, and in July 2002 she was appointed head coach of women's tennis at the University of South Florida. She has also established Gigi Fernández Tennis Camps, which rim every summer for boys and girls between the ages of 6 and 18, as her way of mentoring new talent and "giving back my knowledge of the game and helping others".
Connections
She is the mother of twins, Karson Xavier and Madison Jane, and the partner of retired professional golfer and former LPGA and WWE executive Jane Geddes.