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Conchita Martínez Bernat (born 16 April 1972) is a Spanish former professional
tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...
player and current coach. She was the first Spaniard to win the women's singles title at
Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * W ...
, doing so in
1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...
. Martínez also was the runner-up at the 1998 Australian Open and the 2000 French Open. She reached a career-high ranking of world No. 2 in October 1995, and was in the year-end top 10 for nine years. Martínez won 33 singles and 13 doubles titles during her 18-year career, as well as three Olympic medals. She was inducted into the
International Tennis Hall of Fame The International Tennis Hall of Fame is located in Newport, Rhode Island, United States. It honors both players and other contributors to the sport of tennis. The complex, the former Newport Casino, includes a museum, 13 grass tennis courts, an ...
in 2020. A five-time winner of the
Fed Cup The Billie Jean King Cup (or the BJK Cup) is the premier international team competition in women's tennis, launched as the Federation Cup in 1963 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the International Tennis Federation (ITF). The name was cha ...
as a player, Martínez was the Spanish team captain from 2013 to 2017 and the Spanish Davis Cup team captain from 2015 to 2017, leading the Davis Cup team back into the top-tier World Group under her captaincy. She has also served as a part-time coach to
Garbiñe Muguruza Garbiñe Muguruza Blanco (; born 8 October 1993) is a Venezuelan-born Spanish former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Asso ...
, guiding her to the 2017 Wimbledon Championships title, and was the full-time coach to Karolína Plíšková through 2018 and 2019. She began coaching Muguruza on a full-time basis in November 2019. Martínez won the 2021 WTA Coach of the Year award for her work coaching Muguruza. She is currently a coach to Mirra Andreeva.


Career


1988–1992: Breakthrough, top 10, Grand Slam quarterfinals

Born in Monzón, Martínez turned professional in 1988. At the age of just 16, she reached the fourth round at the
French Open The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...
in her third professional tournament. She upset ninth-seed
Lori McNeil Lori McNeil (born December 18, 1963) is an American tennis coach and former top 10 player. McNeil was a singles semifinalist at the US Open (tennis), US Open in 1987 and The Championships, Wimbledon, Wimbledon in 1994, a women's doubles finalis ...
en route, before losing to Bettina Fulco in two sets. In 1989, her breakthrough year, Martínez defeated Gabriela Sabatini to win the title at
Tampa Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...
and also won two Tier V tournaments (
Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...
, Phoenix). She also reached the quarterfinals of the French Open, losing to
Steffi Graf Stefanie Maria Graf ( , ; born 14 June 1969) is a German former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for a r ...
. She finished the year world No. 7. In 1990 and 1991, Martínez won a further six titles and again reached the quarterfinals at the French Open both years (losing to Graf in 1990 and
Monica Seles Monica Seles (born December 2, 1973) is a Serbian–American former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for ...
in 1991). The following year, Martínez was a silver medalist in doubles at the
Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...
in
Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...
(partnering
Arantxa Sánchez Vicario Aránzazu Isabel María "Arantxa" Sánchez Vicario (; born 18 December 1971) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for 12 weeks, as well as ...
) and the runner-up in women's doubles at the French Open. Once again, Martínez was a quarterfinalist at the French Open, losing a tight match with Sabatini. In 1992, she was runner up in Indian Wells and San Diego.


1993–1996: Highest ranking, Wimbledon singles title

In 1993, Martínez became the first Spanish woman since Lilí de Álvarez in 1928 to reach the semifinals at
Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * W ...
, where she lost to
Steffi Graf Stefanie Maria Graf ( , ; born 14 June 1969) is a German former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for a r ...
in two sets. In November, Martínez defeated Graf for the first and only time in her career, at a tournament in
Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
in the final. At the Italian Open, Martínez defeated Sabatini in the final in straight sets to become the first Spaniard to win the tournament since de Álvarez in 1930. She again reached the quarterfinals at the French Open for the fifth year in a row, losing a 2-hour, 45-minute three-set battle with
Anke Huber Anke Huber (born 4 December 1974) is a German retired professional tennis player. She was the runner-up in women's singles at the 1996 Australian Open and the 1995 WTA Finals. Huber won 12 singles and one doubles title on the WTA Tour. She fi ...
. Martínez reached the
Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * W ...
singles final in 1994 beating Rene Simpson, Nana Smith, Nathalie Tauziat, Kristine Kunce and
Lindsay Davenport Lindsay Ann Davenport Leach (born June 8, 1976) is an American former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for 98 weeks (including as the year-end No. 1 four ...
in the quarterfinal and Lori McNeil in the semifinals where the third set went to 10–8, where she faced nine-time Wimbledon champion Martina Navratilova. Navratilova's last Wimbledon triumph had come four years earlier, but many observers felt that the 37-year-old Czech-born American was the favourite going into the match given her long track record of success on grass courts, whereas Martínez's most significant tournament victories up to that time had been on slower-playing surfaces, particularly on
clay court A clay court is one of the types of tennis court on which the sport of tennis is played. Clay courts are built on a foundation of crushed stone, brick, shale, and other construction aggregate, aggregate, with a thin layer of fine clay particles ...
s. Martínez, however, won the match in three sets and became the first Spanish woman to win Wimbledon. In 1995, Martínez was a semifinalist at all four Grand Slam tournaments and reached her career-high singles ranking of World No. 2. In the
Australian Open The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...
, she beat Lindsay Davenport in the quarterfinals before losing to Mary Pierce in the semifinals. At
Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * W ...
, Martínez beat Sabatini in the quarterfinals before losing to Arantxa Sánchez Vicario in the semifinals. She also had a new coach that year, Carlos Kirmayr. In 1996, Martínez became the only player to win the Italian Open singles title four consecutive years, after a straight-sets victory in the final against 15-year-old Martina Hingis. She also partnered Sánchez Vicario to claim a women's doubles Olympic bronze medal in Atlanta.


1997–2006: Out of top 10 and return, Australian and French Open runner-up

In 1998, Martínez reached her second career Grand Slam singles final at the
Australian Open The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...
. She beat Lindsay Davenport in the semifinals, before losing to Martina Hingis in the final in straight sets. At the German Open in May, she defeated Amélie Mauresmo to win her first singles title in 18 months. She also helped Spain win the
Fed Cup The Billie Jean King Cup (or the BJK Cup) is the premier international team competition in women's tennis, launched as the Federation Cup in 1963 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the International Tennis Federation (ITF). The name was cha ...
that year, beating
Patty Schnyder Patty Schnyder (born 14 December 1978)
Weltwoche, 14. September 2011
is a Swiss reti ...
of Switzerland 6–3, 2–6, 9–7 in 3 hours, 19 minutes in the final. In January 2000 at the
Australian Open The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...
, Martínez beat
Elena Likhovtseva Elena Alexandrovna Likhovtseva ( ; born 8 September 1975) is a Kazakhstani-born Russian former tennis player. She turned professional in January 1992, at the age of 16. Together with Mahesh Bhupathi she won the Wimbledon Mixed doubles in 20 ...
in the quarterfinals after Likhovtseva twice failed to serve for the match to reach the semifinals where she was beaten by Martina Hingis. Martínez reached the final of the
French Open The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...
in 2000, where she lost to Mary Pierce in two sets after beating Sánchez Vicario in the semifinals. She also won the German Open, beating Hingis in a semifinal and
Amanda Coetzer Amanda Coetzer (born 22 October 1971, in Hoopstad) is a South African former professional tennis player. Coetzer finished in the WTA rankings top 20 for ten consecutive seasons (1992–2001), peaking at world No. 3. She reached three Grand Sla ...
in the final. In 2001, Martínez was a runner-up in the women's doubles at the French Open (partnering Jelena Dokic). Martínez also reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon for the first time in six years but lost to
Justine Henin Justine Henin (; born 1 June 1982) is a Belgian former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for 117 weeks, i ...
of Belgium. In 2003, she reached her last Grand Slam quarterfinal in the French Open losing to Kim Clijsters. Also that year, she reached the final at
Eastbourne Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. It is also a non-metropolitan district, local government district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, bor ...
losing to Chanda Rubin. Martínez won her second Olympic silver medal in the women's doubles in 2004 in Athens, Greece (partnering Virginia Ruano Pascual). In 2005, Martínez won her first singles title in five years at
Pattaya Pattaya is a city in Eastern Thailand, the second-largest city in Chonburi province and the List of municipalities in Thailand, eighth-largest city in Thailand. It is on the east coast of the Gulf of Thailand, about southeast of Bangkok, and h ...
, Thailand. It was her last singles title, bringing her career total to 33 top-level singles titles, nine of which were Tier I events, and 13 doubles titles. On 15 April 2006, aged 33 and after 18 years of playing professionally, she announced her retirement. As of 2025, she is still the Spanish female player with the most singles titles so far.


2008–2010

In 2008, 2009 and 2010, Martínez played at Wimbledon in the Ladies Invitations Doubles. In 2010, her partner in doubles was Nathalie Tauziat.


Playing style

Nicknamed Señorita Topspin, Martínez was a patient, right-handed baseline player who won matches by disrupting her opponents' rhythm through changes of spin, pace, depth, height, and angle. She had a strong backhand, played single-handedly, and used heavy topspin on her forehand and slower topspin and slice on her backhand. A characteristic shot of Martínez was to hit a deep, looping forehand with a lot of topspin with the intent to drive her opponent to the back of the court and make her hit the ball at shoulder height. She often sought out the ball with which she had won the previous point. This sometimes irritated her opponents;
Patty Schnyder Patty Schnyder (born 14 December 1978)
Weltwoche, 14. September 2011
is a Swiss reti ...
once pocketed the ball to prevent Martínez from retrieving it, and rejected the traditional handshake at the end of the match.


Performance timelines


Singles


Doubles


See also

* Performance timelines for all female tennis players who reached at least one Grand Slam final


References


External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Martinez, Conchita 1972 births Hopman Cup competitors Living people Olympic bronze medalists for Spain Olympic silver medalists for Spain Olympic medalists for Spain in tennis Olympic tennis players for Spain People from Cinca Medio Sportspeople from the Province of Huesca Spanish female tennis players Tennis players at the 1992 Summer Olympics Tennis players at the 1996 Summer Olympics Tennis players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Tennis players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Wimbledon champions Grand Slam (tennis) champions in women's singles Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Tennis players from San Diego Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics Spanish lesbian sportswomen LGBTQ tennis players Mediterranean Games gold medalists for Spain Competitors at the 1987 Mediterranean Games Spanish tennis coaches Mediterranean Games medalists in tennis 21st-century Spanish LGBTQ people