![]() She was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2010. Fernandez was also a distant cousin of actor José Ferrer. After racking up 17 Grand Slam doubles titles in a storied career spanning a decade and a half, Gigi Fernandez hasn’t slowed down one bit during retirement. 1995, Jana Novotna, Czech Republic, Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, Spain. Her long-time partner was Jane Geddes, a former LPGA golfer who became an executive with the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment). 1994, Gigi Fernndez, USA, Natasha Zvereva, Belarus. She is director of tennis at Chelsea Piers in Connecticut. In all Fernandez won 69 WTA Tour doubles titles, adding two singles titles.įernandez became a tennis coach and entrepreneur, and earned a college degree from the University of South Florida in 2003. She won 14 of her 17 Grand Slam doubles titles alongside Russian player Natasha Zvereva. She won a doubles Grand Slam each year from 1990-97, and in 1992-94, won three of the four titles. Geddes is now the senior vice president for talent at WWE wrestling. Gigi Fernandez won 17 Grand Slam doubles titles – two Australians, six French, four Wimbledons, and five US Opens. Tennis: Where Are They Now: Portrait of former LPGA professional Jane Geddes with her wife Gigi Fernandez, a retired WTA tennis player, and their twin children Madison and Karson during photo shoot at home. ![]() Primera tenista puertorriqueña en jugar en torneos importantes y también primera en ganar una medalla de oro olímpica. ![]() ![]() Gigi also won two gold medals, in both singles and doubles at the 1983 Pan American Games, representing her native Puerto Rico. Jugador de Tenis Cumpleaños Febrero 22, 1964. Fernandez later became one of the world’s top players, especially in doubles, and competed at the 19 Olympics for the United States, winning the doubles gold medal both times alongside her namesake Mary Joe Fernandez, who is no relation. Although she had been working out of a tennis club in Connecticut in recent years, she was familiar with Innisbrook from clinics she had done previously.Gigi Fernandez was a Puerto Rico native who played for the island nation at the 1984 Olympics in the tennis demonstration event. Fernandez, 58, has been doing camps and clinics for years - and spent a few seasons as the tennis coach at the University of South Florida - as well as coaching doubles players on the WTA Tour.įernandez had family living in Tampa Bay in the 1990s, and she often trained here during her playing days at Bardmoor or Saddlebrook. That second career is getting new roots this month. I’ve been very fortunate and blessed to have this second career.” I have made some amazing friends through tennis - all of my best friends have been through tennis - after retiring. “To me, tennis was cutthroat, competitive, dog-eat-dog. Tennis is supposed to be social, right? I never knew that. “That’s when I started learning the social side of tennis. “I had the misconception that adults couldn’t improve in tennis, but when I got on the court with them and watched them get better, it became a lot of fun for me,” Fernandez said. Years of coaching children and adults in clinics around the world has shown Fernandez the game’s joy in different ways than winning always had. The newly hired touring pro at Innisbrook Resort has discovered a kinder, gentler, more social world exists within the baselines. Now, all these years later, Fernandez understands why.
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