Mary Joe Fernández Godsick (born María José Fernández; August 19, 1971) is an American former professional tennis player, who reached a career-high ranking of world No. 4 in both singles and doubles. In singles, Fernández was the runner-up at the

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 ...

and

1992 Australian Open The 1992 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played on Hardcourt, outdoor hard courts at Melbourne Park, Flinders Park in Melbourne, Australia and was held from 13 through 26 January 1992. It was the 80th edition of the Australian Open and the ...

, and the 1993 French Open. She also won a bronze medal at the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics (, ), officially the Games of the XXV Olympiad (, ) and officially branded as Barcelona '92, were an international multi-sport event held from 25 July to 9 August 1992 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Beginning in 1994 ...

. In doubles, she won the 1991 Australian Open with Patty Fendick and the 1996 French Open with

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 ...

, plus two Olympic gold medals.

Career

Fernández first came to the tennis world's attention as an outstanding junior player who won four straight

Orange Bowl The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Miami metropolitan area. Played annually since 1935 Orange Bowl, January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in ...

junior titles. In 1985, aged 14 years and eight days, she became the youngest player to win a main draw match at the US Open when she defeated Sara Gomer in the first round. Turning professional in 1986, she won her first tour doubles title in 1989 at

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

, partnering Betsy Nagelsen. She was also semifinalist at the 1989 French Open, losing to

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 ...

2–6, 2–6. She reached her first Grand Slam singles final in 1990 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 ...

, where she was defeated by

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 ...

3–6, 4–6 (having held a 4–1 lead herself in the second set). She won her first

WTA Tour The WTA Tour (also known as the Hologic WTA Tour for sponsorship reasons) is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for women and organized by the Women's Tennis Association. The second-tier tour is the WTA 125 series, and third-tier is the ITF Wome ...

singles title the same year at the Tokyo Indoor championships, and finished the year ranked a career-high world No. 4 in singles. In 1991, Fernández reached the semifinals of the Australian Open, where she was match point up against

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 ...

, before eventually losing 3–6, 6–0, 7–9. She teamed with Patty Fendick to win the women's Australian Open doubles title. At Wimbledon, she reached the semifinals, losing to Steffi Graf in straight sets. She reached the Australian Open singles final again in 1992, beating world No. 3, Gabriela Sabatini, in the semifinals before losing to Seles, 2–6, 3–6. She also reached the semifinals of the US Open, beating Sabatini in the quarterfinals and losing once again to Seles. At the 1992 Olympic Games 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 ...

, Fernández was selected to represent the United States and won both a gold medal in women's doubles (with

Gigi Fernández Beatriz "Gigi" Fernández (born February 22, 1964) is a Puerto Rican former professional tennis player. Fernández won 17 Grand Slam (tennis)#Tournaments, major doubles titles and two Olympic gold medals representing the United States, and reach ...

) and a bronze medal in singles. In 1993, she won the title in Indian Wells, defeating

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. At the French Open, she defeated world No. 5 Sabatini in the quarterfinals and world No. 3 Sánchez Vicario in the semifinals. In the final against Steffi Graf, Fernandez held several points to lead 3–0 in the final set, but eventually lost 4-6, 6-2, 6-4. Fernández won her second Grand Slam doubles title in 1996 at the French Open, partnering with

. The pair went on to capture the year-end WTA Tour Championships doubles title later that year. She was a late replacement for Chanda Rubin on the United States team for the 1996 Olympic Games in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

. She won a second straight women's doubles gold medal, again in partnership with Gigi Fernández. She was also entered in the singles competition (owing to a withdrawal), and reached the semifinals, defeating world No. 2,

Conchita Martínez Conchita Martínez Bernat (born 16 April 1972) is a Spanish former professional tennis player and current coach. She was the first Spaniard to win the women's singles title at Wimbledon, doing so in 1994. Martínez also was the runner-up at th ...

, in the quarterfinals. She was defeated for the bronze medal by Jana Novotná. Later that year, Fernández was a member of the U.S. team that won 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 ...

. Fernández reached the semifinals of the Australian Open in 1997, losing to

Martina Hingis Martina Hingis (, ; born 30 September 1980) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for 209 weeks ( fifth-most of all time) and as the world No. ...

1–6, 3–6. In May, she won her first and only

Tier I The WTA Tier I tournaments were Women's Tennis Association tennis elite tournaments held from 1990 until the end of the 2008 season. From 1988 to 1990, the different levels of WTA tournaments were referred to by the term 'Category', and there ...

tournament in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, beating Jana Novotná in the semifinals and Mary Pierce in the final. At the end-of-year WTA Finals, she defeated world No. 2, Lindsay Davenport. In 1999, she defeated

Serena Williams Serena Jameka Williams (born September 26, 1981) is an 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 (WT ...

in the third round of the French Open and in her last Grand Slam appearance she lost to

Venus Williams Venus Ebony Starr Williams (born June 17, 1980) is an American inactive tennis player. She has been 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 11 wee ...

in the fourth round of the US Open the same year. She retired from the tour in 2000, having won a total of 24 titles: seven WTA singles titles and 17 doubles titles.

Post retirement

Fernández coached the US Fed Cup team from 2008 to 2016 and served as the woman's coach for the 2012 U.S. Olympic tennis team in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. She currently works as an analyst and commentator for

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

Personal life

Fernández was born in the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

; her parents were immigrants to the country. Her father José is from

Asturias Asturias (; ; ) officially the Principality of Asturias, is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in northwest Spain. It is coextensive with the provinces of Spain, province of Asturias and contains some of the territory t ...

, Spain, and her mother Silvia Pino is from

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

. She completed her high school education at the Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart in

Miami, Florida Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

. In April 2000, Fernández married Anthony (Tony) Godsick, a sports agent with International Management Group. Monica Seles was a bridesmaid at the wedding. They have two children. Her husband is the current agent of

Roger Federer Roger Federer ( , ; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss 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) for 3 ...

. One of their children, Nicholas Godsick, is also a tennis player. She has homes in

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–United States border, Canada–U.S. maritime border ...

, and

Key Biscayne, Florida Key Biscayne is a village in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. Located on the island of Key Biscayne, the village is part of the Miami metropolitan area of South Florida. The population was 14,809 at the 2020 United States census, 20 ...

Significant finals

Grand Slam tournaments

Singles: 3 (3 runner-ups)

Doubles: 7 (2 titles, 5 runner-ups)

Olympics

Singles: 1 (bronze medal)

Mary Joe Fernández lost in the semifinals to

, 4–6, 2–6. In 1992, there was no bronze medal play-off match, both beaten semifinal players received bronze medals.

Doubles: 2 (2 gold medals)

Year-end championships

Doubles: 1 title

WTA career finals

Singles: 16 (7–9)

Doubles: 41 (17–24)

Grand Slam performance timelines

Singles

Doubles

References

External links

* * *
Mary-Joe Fernandez ESPN Bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fernandez, Mary Joe 1971 births American female tennis players American people of Asturian descent American sportspeople of Cuban descent American people of Spanish descent American sportspeople of Dominican Republic descent Tennis coaches from Florida Australian Open (tennis) champions Dominican Republic emigrants to the United States Dominican Republic people of Spanish descent French Open champions Grand Slam (tennis) champions in women's doubles Hopman Cup competitors Living people Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in tennis Olympic gold medalists for the United States in tennis People from Key Biscayne, Florida Sportspeople from Miami-Dade County, Florida Schools of the Sacred Heart alumni American tennis commentators Tennis players from Miami Tennis players at the 1992 Summer Olympics Tennis players at the 1996 Summer Olympics White Dominicans American women sports commentators ITF World Champions 20th-century American sportswomen