The fourth and final Grand Slam tournament of the year is underway in New York City. With current and previous collegiate stars frequenting the draws for decades, ITA Hall of Fame member Gigi Fernandez (Clemson) is among those to have found success in Flushing Meadows.
Recruited to play for Clemson, the Puerto Rican native earned All-American honors her freshman year, posting a 40-7 singles record and 30-9 in doubles. After just one year with the Tigers, Fernandez turned professional after reaching the national collegiate singles finals.
From 1983-1997, Fernandez would go on to capture 17 Grand Slam doubles titles, with 5 of them coming at the US Open; 1988 (with Robin White), 1990 (with Martina Navratilova), 1992, 1995 and 1996 (with Natasha Zvereva). From her 17 Grand Slam titles, 14 of them came with partner Natasha Zvereva, this partnership being the second most successful doubles pair in the Open area just after Martina Navratilova and Pam Shriver. By the end of her career, Fernandez would accumulate 69 doubles titles, two Olympic gold medals (1992, 1996) and a world high No. 1 doubles ranking.
Although notably known for her success on the doubles court, Fernandez rose to a career high of No. 17 in the world in singles, reaching the 1994 Wimbledon semifinals in the women’s singles and winning 2 WTA singles titles. Fernandez also represented Puerto Rico at the Pan Am Games in 1979, won gold and silver at the Central American-Caribbean Games in 1982, and was on the United States team that won the Federation Cup in 1990.
Retiring from the tour in 1997, Fernandez has continued to heavily contribute to the world of tennis as a coach and entrepreneur. Pursuing a second career as a businesswoman, Fernadez continues to head the Gigi Fernandez Charitable Foundation, established in 1992, which has donated more than half a million dollars to charitable causes.
Recognized for her knowledge and contributions to the sport, she was named Puerto Rico’s “Female Athlete of the Century” in 1999 and in 2010, was the first Puerto Rican to be inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. In 2005, she was inducted into the Clemson Athletic Hall of Fame and in 2008, the ITA Women’s Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame.
About the ITA Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame – The Intercollegiate Tennis Association Men’s and Women’s Halls of Fame aspire to preserve and celebrate the history and further the development of intercollegiate tennis through the collection of historic memorabilia and with inductions of notable players, coaches, and contributors.
About the ITA – The Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) is the governing body and coaches association of college tennis, both an advocate and an authority for the sport and its members. Comprised of 1,260 colleges and universities, 20,000 student-athletes, 1,700 varsity programs, 3,000 coaches, and 1,350 college tennis officials, the ITA empowers college tennis coaches at all levels to deliver vibrant tennis programs that are vital to their college communities and transformational to their student-athletes. Follow the 2023-24 college tennis season on the ITA website and ITA social channels on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube.
