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

Grand Slam finals

Singles: 3 (1–2)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
Winner	1994	Wimbledon	Grass	Martina Navrátilová	6–4, 3–6, 6–3
Runner-up	1998	Australian Open	Hard	Martina Hingis	6–3, 6–3
Runner-up	2000	French Open	Clay	Mary Pierce	6–2, 7–5

Doubles: 2 (0–2)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
Runner-up	1992	French Open	Clay	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	Gigi Fernández Natasha Zvereva	6–3, 6–2
Runner-up	2001	French Open	Clay	Jelena Dokić	Virginia Ruano Pascual Paola Suárez	6–2, 6–1

WTA Tour Finals

Singles 55 (33–22)

Legend
Grand Slam tournaments (1/2)
Olympic Gold (0/0)
WTA Championships
Tier I (9/4)
Tier II (7/10)
Tier III (5/4)
Tier IV & V (11/2)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
Winner	1.	8 August 1988	Sofia	Hard (i)	Barbara Paulus	6–1, 6–2
Winner	2.	6 February 1989	Wellington	Hard	Jo-Anne Faull	6–1, 6–2
Winner	3.	17 April 1989	Tampa	Clay	Gabriela Sabatini	6–3, 6–2
Runner-up	1.	28 May 1989	Geneva	Clay	Manuela Maleeva-Fragniere	6–4, 6–0
Winner	4.	11 September 1989	Phoenix	Hard	Elise Burgin	3–6, 6–4, 6–2
Runner-up	2.	22 October 1989	Bayonne	Hard (i)	Katerina Maleeva	6–2, 6–2
Winner	5.	17 September 1990	Paris	Clay	Patricia Tarabini	7–5, 6–3
Winner	6.	15 October 1990	Phoenix	Hard	Marianne Werdel	7–5, 6–1
Winner	7.	5 November 1990	Indianapolis	Hard (i)	Leila Meskhi	6–4, 6–2
Winner	8.	22 April 1991	Barcelona	Clay	Manuela Maleeva-Fragniere	6–4, 6–1
Winner	9.	15 July 1991	Kitzbühel	Clay	Judith Wiesner	6–1, 2–6, 6–3
Winner	10.	16 September 1991	Paris	Clay	Inés Gorrochategui	6–0, 6–3
Runner-up	3.	1 March 1992	Indian Wells	Hard	Monica Seles	6–3, 6–1
Runner-up	4.	8 March 1992	Boca Raton	Hard	Steffi Graf	3–6, 6–2, 6–0
Runner-up	5.	30 March 1992	Hilton Head	Clay	Gabriela Sabatini	6–1, 6–4
Winner	11.	6 July 1992	Kitzbühel	Clay	Manuela Maleeva-Fragniere	6–0, 3–6, 6–2
Runner-up	6.	24 August 1992	San Diego	Hard	Jennifer Capriati	6–3, 6–2
Winner	12.	4 January 1993	Brisbane	Hard	Magdalena Maleeva	6–3, 6–4
Runner-up	7.	28 February 1993	Linz	Carpet	Manuela Maleeva-Fragniere	6–2, 1–0 ret.
Winner	13.	22 March 1993	Houston	Clay	Sabine Hack	6–3, 6–2
Runner-up	8.	19 April 1993	Barcelona	Clay	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	6–1, 6–4
Winner	14.	3 May 1993	Rome	Clay	Gabriela Sabatini	7–5, 6–1
Winner	15.	26 July 1993	Stratton Mountain	Hard	Zina Garrison	6–3, 6–2
Runner-up	9.	31 October 1993	Essen	Carpet	Natalia Medvedeva	6–7(4), 7–5, 6–4
Winner	16.	8 November 1993	Philadelphia	Carpet	Steffi Graf	6–3, 6–3
Winner	17.	28 March 1994	Hilton Head	Clay	Natasha Zvereva	6–4, 6–0
Winner	18.	2 May 1994	Rome	Clay	Martina Navratilova	7–6(4), 6–4
Winner	19.	20 June 1994	Wimbledon	Grass	Martina Navratilova	6–4, 3–6, 6–3
Winner	20.	31 July 1994	Stratton Mountain	Hard	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	4–6, 6–3, 6–4
Runner-up	10.	12 March 1995	Delray Beach	Hard	Steffi Graf	6–2, 6–4
Winner	21.	27 March 1995	Hilton Head	Clay	Magdalena Maleeva	6–1, 6–1
Winner	22.	3 April 1995	Amelia Island	Clay	Gabriela Sabatini	6–1, 6–4
Winner	23.	1 May 1995	Hamburg	Clay	Martina Hingis	6–1, 6–0
Winner	24.	8 May 1995	Rome	Clay	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	6–3, 6–1
Winner	25.	31 July 1995	San Diego	Hard	Lisa Raymond	6–2, 6–0
Winner	26.	7 August 1995	Manhattan Beach	Hard	Chanda Rubin	4–6, 6–1, 6–3
Runner-up	11.	16 March 1996	Indian Wells	Hard	Steffi Graf	7–6(5), 7–6(5)
Runner-up	12.	29 April 1996	Hamburg	Clay	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	4–6, 7–6(4), 6–0
Winner	27.	6 May 1996	Rome	Clay	Martina Hingis	6–2, 6–3
Winner	28.	28 October 1996	Moscow	Carpet	Barbara Paulus	6–1, 4–6, 6–4
Runner-up	13.	11 May 1997	Rome	Clay	Mary Pierce	6–4, 6–0
Runner-up	14.	27 July 1997	Stanford	Hard	Martina Hingis	6–0, 6–2
Runner-up	15.	31 January 1998	Australian Open	Hard	Martina Hingis	6–3, 6–3
Runner-up	16.	12 April 1998	Amelia Island	Clay	Mary Pierce	6–7(8), 6–0, 6–2
Winner	29.	11 May 1998	Berlin	Clay	Amélie Mauresmo	6–4, 6–4
Winner	30.	13 July 1998	Warsaw	Clay	Silvia Farina Elia	6–0, 6–3
Winner	31.	12 July 1999	Sopot	Clay	Karina Habšudová	6–1, 6–1
Runner-up	17.	3 January 2000	Gold Coast	Hard	Silvija Talaja	6–0, 0–6, 6–4
Runner-up	18.	16 April 2000	Amelia Island	Clay	Monica Seles	6–3, 6–2
Winner	32.	8 May 2000	Berlin	Clay	Amanda Coetzer	6–0, 6–3
Runner-up	19.	10 June 2000	French Open	Clay	Mary Pierce	6–2, 7–5
Runner-up	20.	29 September 2002	Bali	Hard	Svetlana Kuznetsova	3–6, 7–6(5), 7–5
Runner-up	21.	21 June 2003	Eastbourne	Grass	Chanda Rubin	6–4, 3–6, 6–4
Runner-up	22.	12 April 2004	Charleston	Clay	Venus Williams	2–6, 6–2, 6–1
Winner	33.	31 January 2005	Pattaya	Hard	Anna-Lena Grönefeld	6–3, 3–6, 6–3

Doubles 41 (13–22)

Legend
Grand Slam tournaments (0/2)
Olympic Gold (0/2)
WTA Championships (0/0)
Tier I (5/9)
Tier II (5/10)
Tier III (2/3)
Tier IV & V (1/2)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents in the final	Score in the final
Winner	1.	8 August 1988	Sofia	Hard (i)	Barbara Paulus	Sabrina Goleš Katerina Maleeva	1–6, 6–1, 6–4
Runner-up	1.	17 July 1989	Estoril	Clay	Gabriela Castro	Iva Budařová Regina Rajchrtová	6–2, 6–4
Runner-up	2.	2 March 1992	Boca Raton	Hard	Linda Wild	Larisa Neiland Natasha Zvereva	6–2, 6–2
Winner	2.	20 April 1992	Barcelona	Clay	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	Nathalie Tauziat Judith Wiesner	6–4, 6–1
Runner-up	3.	25 May 1992	French Open	Clay	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	Gigi Fernández Natasha Zvereva	6–3, 6–2
Runner-up	4.	28 July 1992	Olympic Games	Clay	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	Mary Joe Fernández Gigi Fernández	7–5, 2–6, 6–2
Runner-up	5.	24 August 1992	San Diego	Hard	Mercedes Paz	Jana Novotná Larisa Neiland	6–1, 6–4
Runner-up	6.	19 October 1992	Brighton	Carpet	Radka Zrubáková	Larisa Neiland Jana Novotná	6–4, 6–1
Runner-up	7.	15 November 1992	Philadelphia	Carpet	Mary Pierce	Gigi Fernández Natasha Zvereva	6–1, 6–3
Winner	3.	4 January 1993	Brisbane	Hard	Larisa Neiland	Kimberly Po Shannan McCarthy	6–2, 6–2
Runner-up	8.	22 February 1993	Linz	Carpet	Judith Wiesner	Eugenia Maniokova Leila Meskhi	walkover
Winner	4.	25 April 1993	Barcelona	Clay	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	Magdalena Maleeva Manuela Maleeva-Fragniere	4–6, 6–1, 6–0
Runner-up	9.	14 November 1993	Philadelphia	Carpet	Larisa Neiland	Manon Bollegraf Katrina Adams	6–2, 4–6, 7–6(7)
Runner-up	10.	25 July 1994	Stratton Mountain	Hard	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	Pam Shriver Elizabeth Smylie	7–6(4), 2–6, 7–5
Runner-up	11.	7 May 1995	Hamburg	Clay	Patricia Tarabini	Gigi Fernández Martina Hingis	6–2, 6–3
Runner-up	12.	14 May 1995	Rome	Clay	Patricia Tarabini	Gigi Fernández Natalia Zvereva	3–6, 7–6(3), 6–4
Winner	5.	19 August 1996	San Diego	Hard	Gigi Fernández	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario Larisa Neiland	4–6, 6–3, 6–4
Runner-up	13.	11 May 1997	Rome	Clay	Patricia Tarabini	Nicole Arendt Manon Bollegraf	6–2, 6–4
Runner-up	14.	27 July 1997	Stanford	Hard	Patricia Tarabini	Lindsay Davenport Martina Hingis	6–1, 6–3
Winner	6.	5 April 1998	Hilton Head	Clay	Patricia Tarabini	Lisa Raymond Rennae Stubbs	3–6, 6–4, 6–4
Winner	7.	5 April 1999	Amelia Island	Clay	Patricia Tarabini	Lisa Raymond Rennae Stubbs	7–5, 0–6, 6–4
Winner	8.	26 September 1999	Tokyo	Hard	Patricia Tarabini	Amanda Coetzer Jelena Dokić	6–7(5), 6–4, 6–2
Runner-up	15.	23 April 2000	Hilton Head	Clay	Patricia Tarabini	Virginia Ruano Pascual Paola Suárez	7–5, 6–3
Winner	9.	14 May 2000	Berlin	Clay	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	Corina Morariu Amanda Coetzer	3–6, 6–2, 7–6(7)
Winner	10.	15 April 2001	Amelia Island	Clay	Patricia Tarabini	Martina Navratilova Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	6–4, 6–2
Runner-up	16.	28 May 2001	French Open	Clay	Jelena Dokić	Virginia Ruano Pascual Paola Suárez	6–2, 6–1
Runner-up	17.	7 April 2002	Sarasota	Clay	Els Callens	Jelena Dokić Elena Likhovtseva	6–7(5), 6–3, 6–3
Runner-up	18.	19 May 2002	Rome	Clay	Patricia Tarabini	Virginia Ruano Pascual Paola Suárez	6–3, 6–4
Runner-up	19.	28 July 2002	Stanford	Hard	Janette Husárová	Rennae Stubbs Lisa Raymond	6–1, 6–1
Runner-up	20.	12 January 2003	Sydney	Hard	Rennae Stubbs	Kim Clijsters Ai Sugiyama	6–3, 6–3
Runner-up	21.	13 April 2003	Charleston	Clay	Janette Husárová	Virginia Ruano Pascual Paola Suárez	6–0, 6–3
Winner	11.	28 February 2004	Dubai	Hard	Janette Husárová	Svetlana Kuznetsova Elena Likhovtseva	6–0, 1–6, 6–3
Runner-up	22.	5 March 2004	Doha	Hard	Janette Husárová	Svetlana Kuznetsova Elena Likhovtseva	7–6(4), 6–2
Runner-up	23.	3 May 2004	Berlin	Clay	Janette Husárová	Nadia Petrova Meghann Shaughnessy	6–2, 2–6, 6–1
Runner-up	24.	19 July 2004	Los Angeles	Hard	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Nadia Petrova Meghann Shaughnessy	6–7(2), 6–4, 6–3
Runner-up	25.	22 August 2004	Olympic Games	Hard	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Sun Tiantian Li Ting	6–3, 6–3
Winner	12.	17 April 2005	Charleston	Clay	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Iveta Benešová Květa Peschke	6–1, 6–4
Winner	13.	7 August 2005	San Diego	Hard	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Daniela Hantuchová Ai Sugiyama	6–7(7), 6–1, 7–5
Runner-up	26.	15 August 2005	Toronto	Hard	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Anna-Lena Grönefeld Martina Navrátilová	5–7, 6–3, 6–4
Runner-up	27.	9 October 2005	Bangkok	Hard	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Shinobu Asagoe Gisela Dulko	6–1, 7–5
Runner-up	28.	30 October 2005	Linz	Hard (i)	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Gisela Dulko Květa Peschke	6–2, 6–3

Olympic Games

Doubles: 3 finals (2 silver medals, 1 bronze medal)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Silver	1992	Barcelona	Clay	Arantxa Sánchez	Gigi Fernández Mary Joe Fernandez	5–7, 6–2, 2–6
Bronze	1996	Atlanta	Hard	Arantxa Sánchez	Manon Bollegraf Brenda Schultz-McCarthy	6–3, 6–1
Silver	2004	Athens	Hard	Virginia Ruano	Li Ting Sun Tiantian	3–6, 3–6

Singles performance timeline

Tournament	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	Career SR
Grand Slam Tournaments
Australian Open	A	2R	A	A	4R	4R	QF	SF	QF	4R	F	3R	SF	2R	2R	1R	1R	1R	0 / 15
French Open	4R	QF	QF	QF	QF	QF	SF	SF	SF	4R	4R	QF	F	3R	2R	QF	2R	1R	0 / 18
Wimbledon	A	A	A	A	2R	SF	W	SF	4R	3R	3R	3R	2R	QF	3R	3R	1R	3R	1 / 14
U.S. Open	1R	4R	3R	QF	1R	4R	3R	SF	SF	3R	4R	4R	3R	A	2R	2R	1R	1R	0 / 17
SR	0 / 2	0 / 3	0 / 2	0 / 2	0 / 4	0 / 4	1 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 3	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 4	1 / 64
Year-End Championship
Virginia Slims or Chase Championships	A	1R	QF	1R	QF	QF	QF	QF	QF	1R	1R	1R	QF	A	A	A	A	A	0 / 12
WTA Tier I Tournaments
Rome	–	–	QF	SF	A	W	W	W	W	F	3R	3R	A	SF	2R	QF	3R	QF	4 / 14
Berlin	–	–	QF	A	A	SF	A	A	A	3R	W	3R	W	QF	2R	1R	1R	3R	2 / 11
Charleston	–	–	QF	A	F	A	W	W	SF	SF	2R	3R	SF	SF	2R	3R	F	1R	2 / 14
Philadelphia	Not Tier I or Was Not Held					W	1R	QF	Not Tier I or Was Not Held										1 / 3
Boca Raton	–	–	–	2R	F	Not Tier I or Was Not Held													0 / 2
San Diego	Not Tier I or Was Not Held																3R	1R	0 / 2
Tokyo	Not Tier I or Was Not Held					A	A	QF	SF	QF	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	0 / 3
Moscow	Not Tier I or Was Not Held									SF	QF	1R	A	A	A	A	A	A	0 / 3
Miami	A	A	SF	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	4R	3R	4R	A	2R	A	A	A	0 / 5
Montreal/Toronto	–	–	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	SF	QF	3R	SF	A	A	A	A	3R	0 / 5
Zurich	Not Tier I or Was Not Held					A	A	A	2R	A	2R	A	A	A	SF	1R	A	1R	0 / 5
Indian Wells	Not Tier I or Was Not Held								F	QF	QF	3R	QF	2R	2R	SF	QF	QF	0 / 10
Chicago	–	–	A	Not Tier I or Was Not Held															0 / 0
Career statistics
Tournaments Won	1	3	3	3	1	5	4	6	2	0	2	1	1	0	0	0	0	1	33
Year End Ranking	40	7	11	9	8	4	3	2	5	12	8	15	5	35	34	18	42	32	N/A

A = did not participate in the tournament.

SR = the ratio of the number of Grand Slam singles tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played.

– = tournament either not held or was not classified as a Tier I event on the Women’s Tennis Association tour at the time it was held.