Conchita Martinez

Bio

Inmaculada Concepción (“Conchita”) Martínez Bernat (born 16 April 1972) is a former professional tennis player from Monzón, Aragón, Spain. She is the only Spanish woman to have won the singles title at Wimbledon, when she beat Martina Navrátilová in the 1994 Women’s Singles. She also was the singles runner-up at the 1998 Australian Open and the 2000 French Open. Martinez is currently the tournament director at the Andalucia Tennis Experience.

Playing style

Martínez used extreme topspin on her forehand and slower topspin and slice on her backhand. She was a patient baseliner who won matches by disrupting her opponents’ rhythm through changes of spin, pace, depth, height, and angle.

Career

Born in Monzón, Martínez turned professional in 1988. At the age of just 16, she reached the fourth round at the French Open in her third professional tournament. She upset Lori McNeil en route. In 1989, her breakthrough year, Martínez beat Gabriela Sabatini to win the title at Tampa and won two other tournaments. She also reached the quarterfinals of the French Open, losing to Steffi Graf. 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 in 1991).

The following year, Martínez was a silver medalist in doubles at the Olympic Games in Barcelona (partnering Arantxa Sánchez Vicario) and the runner-up in women’s doubles at the French Open. Once again, she 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. In 1993, Martínez became the first Spanish woman since Lilí de Álvarez in 1928 to reach the semifinals at Wimbledon, where she lost to Graf 7–6, 6–3. Martínez beat Graf for the first & only time in her career, at a tournament in Philadelphia in the final. At the Italian Open, Martínez became 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 battle with Anke Huber 6–7, 6–4, 6–4.

Martínez reached the Wimbledon singles final in 1994 already beating Lindsay Davenport in the quarter final and Lori McNeil in the semi final where the third set went to 10–8, where she faced nine-time former Wimbledon champion Martina Navrátilová. Navrátilová’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 courts. Martínez, however, won the match 6–4, 3–6, 6–3 and became the first Spanish woman ever 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 she beat Lindsay Davenport in the semi-final before losing to Mary Pierce in the semi-final. At Wimbledon, she beat Sabatini in the quarterfinals before losing to Sánchez Vicario in the semifinals. She also had a new coach that year, Carlos Kimayer.

 

In 1996, Martínez became the only player to win the Italian Open singles title four consecutive years. She also partnered Sánchez Vicario to claim a women’s doubles Olympic bronze medal in Atlanta, Georgia. Two years later, Martínez reached her second career Grand Slam singles final. She beat Lindsay Davenport in the semi-final in the Australian Open in 1998. She was defeated in the final of the Australian Open by Martina Hingis 6–3, 6–3. She also helped Spain win the Fed Cup that year, beating Patty Schnyder of Switzerland 6–3, 2–6, 9–7 in 3 hours, 19 minutes in the final.

In January 2000 in the Australian Open Conchita Martinez beat Elena Likhovsteva in the quarter final after Likhovsteva twice failed to serve for the match to reach the semi-final where she was beaten by Martina Hingis. Martínez reached the final of the French Open in 2000, where she lost to Mary Pierce 6–2, 7–5 after beating Sánchez Vicario in a semifinal. She also won the German Open, beating Hingis in a semifinal and Amanda Coetzer in the final. In 2001, Martínez was a runner-up in the women’s doubles at the French Open (partnering Jelena Dokić). Martínez also reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon for the first time in six years but lost to Justine Henin of Belgium. In 2003 Conchita reached her last grand slam quarter-final in the French Open losing to Kim Clijsters. Also that year she reached the final at Eastbourne 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, Thailand, bringing her career total to 33 top-level singles titles, 9 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, having won more professional singles tournaments than any other Spanish female tennis player.

In 2008 Conchita expressed her delight on seeing Rafael Nadal win the Men’s singles at Wimbledon saying It is a big boost for Spanish grass court tennis again with a Spanish player winning Wimbledon like after her win in Wimbledon in 1994

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

Career Stats