SnchezVicario Arantxa

Spanish tennis player, who, in 1994, became the first Spanish woman to win the U.S. Open. She participated in the Olympic Games in 1988, 1992, 1996 and 2000, earning four medals. Her father, Emilio, is an engineer, and her mother, Marisa, is a retired teacher who travels with her on the tour. Sanchez-Vicario uses both of her family names, and in 1998, she added the hyphen. She has one older sister, Marisa and two older brothers, Emilio Jr. and Javier. She began playing tennis when she was only four years old by following her brothers, both of whom competed on the men’s tour, to the courts. She took her racquet to meals with her, and it even had its own chair; she called it her "best friend." She turned professional in June 1985, and is coached by her brother Emilio. She received the ESPN ESPY Award as Best Female Tennis Player of 1994, and in 1998, she became the first Spanish woman to receive Spain’s highest award, the Principe De Asturiasö, which is equivalent to a Nobel Prize, given for her lifetime achievement in tennis. Right-handed, the 5 6½", 123 lb. Sanchez-Vicario is nicknamed "The Barcelona Bumblebee." She is an animal lover with two dogs, and her other nicknames are all animal names like "Bunny," "Lion" and "Tiger." She enjoys soccer, both playing and watching the local team, in addition to water skiing, bicycling and jet skiing. She describes how she drives by saying, "veeery fast!" She is fluent in many languages, including Spanish, French, German, Italian, English and Catalan, and loves to read, particularly enjoying murder mysteries and fashion magazines. Sanchez-Vicario wrote "The Young Tennis Player: A Young Enthusiast’s Guide to Tennis," released in 1996, and has an endorsement contract with Reebok. She is celebrity chairperson for the Fundraiser for Enriqueta Vilavecchia, an organization that raises money to help terminally-ill children in Spain, and in 1996, she was honored as a "Player Who Makes a Difference" in recognition of her charity work. On 7/21/2000, she married Joan Vehils. Link to Wikipedia biography Read less