Sanchez, Emilio

Emilio Sanchez became the champion of Spain in 1983 . In the same year, he spent his first matches in professional tournaments (class ATP Challenger ). The following year, he reached the fourth round of the French Open in singles. He was one of the sown on the demonstrative Olympic tennis tournament in Los Angeles , but lost in the second round.

The first Grand Prix tournament was won in 1985 (in Kitzbühel , Austria , paired with compatriot Sergio Casal , who remained his main partner throughout his career, during which they jointly won 44 Grand Prix and APR tournaments). The first title in singles won in 1986 in Nice .

Sanchez's career peak was in 1987 and 1988 . In 1987, he and Casal won six Grand Prix tournaments and for the first time reached the final of the Grand Slam tournament - the Wimbledon tournament . In mixed pairs, Sanchez this year wins two Grand Slam tournaments: first the French Open with Pam Shriver and then the US Open with Martina Navratilova . He also wins four singles tournaments.

In 1988, the pair Casal — Sanchez wins two Grand Slam tournaments: the French Open and the US Open. In total this year, they win ten record-breaking tournaments for themselves and reach the final of the Olympic tournament in Seoul , where they were sown second. In the final, they are inferior to the seeded first Americans Seguso and Flachu (in singles Sanchez lost in the second round). They also reach the final of the Masters tournament , the final tournament of the year according to the ATP . In early 1989, Sanchez rises to the first line in the ranking of tennis players in doubles.

After 1988, Emilio Sánchez was twice in the finals of Grand Slam tournaments. In 1990, he and Casal won the French Open. In addition, they won six more tournaments, and in the ATP World Championships, they reached the final for the second time, where they lost to Guy Forge and Jacob Glasek . This year, Sanchez rose to the seventh highest position in the ranking of tennis players in singles.

The following year, Emilio and his sister Aranci reached the US Open final, where they were beaten by the Dutch couple Manon Bollegraf and Tom Neyssen . In the same year, he won three singles tournaments.

At the Barcelona Olympics in 1992, Sanchez achieved significant success in singles: he sowed twelfth, reaching the quarterfinals, where in a bitter struggle (four sets, two of them lost with a score of 6-7) inferior to future champion Mark Ross . In doubles, they were sown third by Casal, but also lost in the quarterfinal and also to the future champions, Becker and Shtiha , although the Germans needed all five sets to win, one of which was also won in a tiebreaker.

His last ATP tournament Sanchez won in 1995 in Montevideo together with Casale, and held his last professional tournament as a player in 1998 in Barcelona .

Men's doubles (4)

Victory (3)

Defeat (1)

Mixed doubles (3)

Victory (2)

Defeat (1)

In 1998, he founded a tennis academy with his regular partner, Sergio Casale Sanchez. Currently, branches of the Academy work in Alabama and Florida .

Emilio Sanchez for three years was the captain of the Spanish national team in the Davis Cup. Under his leadership, the Spanish team won this trophy in 2008 , after which he resigned from his post, where he was replaced by Albert Costa . ^[2]

In 2009, he signed a contract with the Brazilian Tennis Federation. He took over as national tennis coordinator. ^[3]

Throughout his career, Emilio Sanchez won tournaments three times in a pair with his brother Javier and met with him twelve times in singles. Due to their personal meetings in singles 10: 2 in favor of Emilio; including he twice defeated his younger brother in Grand Slam tournaments and once in the final tournament (in Madrid in 1987). Javier’s two wins relate to Emilio’s last career ^[4] .

• Profile on ATP website (eng.)

• Profile on the Davis Cup website (eng.)

• The website of the Academy "Sanchez-Casal" (English)