Emilio Ángel Sánchez Vicario (; born 29 May 1965) is a Spanish former doubles world No. 1
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. He won five Grand Slam doubles titles and the men's doubles silver medal at the 1988 Olympic Games. Sánchez is the older brother of multiple Grand Slam winner
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 ...
1990
Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...
. After retiring, he captained Spain to
Davis Cup
The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is organised by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and contested annually between teams from over 150 competing countries, making it the world's largest annual ...
victory in
2008
2008 was designated as:
*International Year of Languages
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*International Year of the Potato
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The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...
.
Career
Sánchez turned professional in 1984 and won his first top-level singles title in
Nice
Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one millionItalian Open in 1991. During his singles career, he achieved wins over top 5 players including
Ivan Lendl
Ivan Lendl (; born March 7, 1960) is a Czech-American former professional tennis player and coach. Widely regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time, he was ranked as the world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis ...
,
Stefan Edberg
Jan Stefan Edberg (; born 19 January 1966) is a Swedish former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the world No. 1 in both men's singles and men's doubles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), one of two players in the ...
,
Boris Becker
Boris Franz Becker (; born 22 November 1967) is a German former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). Becker won 49 c ...
and
Mats Wilander
Mats Arne Olof Wilander (; born 22 August 1964) is a Swedish former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) ...
. Sánchez's career-high singles ranking was world No. 7.
In doubles, Sánchez captured 50 doubles titles (44 of which partnering
Sergio Casal
Sergio Casal Martínez (born 8 September 1962) is a former professional tennis player from Spain. During his career, he won three Grand Slam doubles titles, as well as the men's doubles silver medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics.
Casal turned p ...
) including three at Grand Slam events. In 1988, he won the doubles titles at both the French Open (with
Andrés Gómez
Andrés Gómez Santos (; born 27 February 1960) is an Ecuadorian former professional tennis player. He was ranked as high as world No. 4 in singles and world No. 1 in doubles. Gómez won 21 singles titles and 33 doubles titles during his caree ...
) and the US Open (with Casal). He won the French Open title again (with Casal) in 1990. Sánchez and Casal were also the doubles runners-up 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 ...
in 1987, and the pair won the silver medal for Spain at the 1988 Olympic Games in
Seoul
Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...
. Sánchez was ranked world No. 1 in men's doubles in 1989.
He won two Grand Slam mixed-doubles titles in 1987, at the French Open (with
Pam Shriver
Pamela Howard Shriver (born July 4, 1962) is an American former professional tennis player and current tennis broadcaster, pundit, and coach. She was ranked as high as world No. 3 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), and List of W ...
) and at the US Open (with
Martina Navratilova
Martina Navratilova (, ; ; born October18, 1956) is a Czech-American former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the world No. 1 in women's List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, singles for 332 weeks (List of WTA number ...
).
Sánchez often played for Spain in international team events. He was a member of Spain's Davis Cup team from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, compiling a 32–23 record. Sanchez was also part of the Spanish teams that won the Hopman Cup in 1990 and the
World Team Cup
The World Team Cup was the international men's team championship of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). The inaugural edition of the tournament was contested in 1975 in Kingston, Jamaica and was called the Nations Cup. No tourname ...
in 1992.
Sánchez is the brother of Javier Sánchez Vicario. In 1987, Emilio and Javier met in the final at Madrid, with Emilio winning the match 6–3, 3–6, 6–2. Emilio and Javier faced each other 12 times during their professional careers, with Emilio winning 10 of their matches. In their two grand slam encounters, Emilio defeated Javier in the first round of the 1988 Wimbledon Championships in straight sets, and the third round of the 1992 US Open in five sets.
Emilio Sánchez retired from the professional tour in 1998.
Post-retirement
In 1998, alongside his former doubles partner Casal, Sánchez set up the Sánchez-Casal Tennis Academy 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 ...
. Former students have included
Andy Murray
Sir Andrew Barron Murray (born 15 May 1987) is a British former professional tennis player and coach. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professio ...
,
Grigor Dimitrov
Grigor Dimitrov Dimitrov (, ; born 16 May 1991) is a Bulgarian professional tennis player. He has been ATP rankings, ranked as high as world No. 3 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP, making him the highest-ranked Bulgari ...
Svetlana Kuznetsova
Svetlana Aleksandrovna Kuznetsova (born 27 June 1985) is a Russian former professional tennis player. She was ranked as high as world No. 2 in singles and world No. 3 in doubles by the Women's Tennis Association, WTA. Kuznetsova won 18 singl ...
.
Sánchez was the captain of the Spanish
Davis Cup
The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is organised by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and contested annually between teams from over 150 competing countries, making it the world's largest annual ...
team for three years; his tenure there culminated in Spain's 2008 Davis Cup victory. He resigned as captain after the win.
In 2009, he signed a contract with the Brazilian tennis confederation to coordinate the sport in Brazil.
Sánchez was tournament director for two wheelchair tennis events in 2012.Emilio Sanchez backs wheelchair tennis itftennis.com. 16 April 2012
In 2017, Sánchez was awarded by the ITF its highest accolade, the Philippe Chatrier Award, for his contributions to tennis.
Personal life
Sánchez was born in
Madrid
Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...
to Emilio Sánchez Snr and Marisa Vicario Rubin. His mother, Marisa, introduced Javier and his two sisters to tennis.
As well as siblings Arantxa and Javier, he also has an older sister – Marisa Sánchez Vicario – who briefly played professional tennis, peaking at world No. 368 in 1990.
In 1999, Sánchez married his Italian-born wife Simona, with whom he has four children.
Grand Slam record
French Open
*Singles quarterfinalist: 1988
*Doubles champion: 1988 (partnering Andrés Gómez), 1990 (partnering Sergio Casal)
*Mixed doubles champion: 1987 (partnering Pam Shriver)
US Open
*Singles quarterfinalist: 1988
*Doubles champion: 1988 (partnering Casal)
*Mixed doubles champion: 1987 (partnering Martina Navratilova)
Wimbledon
*Doubles finalist: 1987
*Mixed doubles semifinalist: 1986