Que pedazo de volea sacó la GRAN @sabatinigabyok ante ese dificil passing paralelo de Arantxa Sánchez Vicario durante los cuartos de final en el @AustralianOpen del año 1991! Que lujo el tenis de Gaby por favor! #AO2024 #AusOpen
14-time Grand Slam winner Arantxa Sanchez Vicario found guilty of fraud, handed two-year suspended prison sentence
Tennis NewsWednesday, 17 January 2024 at 16:00
Former 14-time Grand Slam winner, Arantxa Sanches Vicario has been handed a two-year suspended prison sentence after being found guilty of fraud. But she will not go to prison after agreeing to pay off her debts.
The 52-year-old agreed to pay off €6.6million (£5.6m) owed and has faced a series of legal battles related to tax evasion and fraud since 2009. Her husband who she initially blamed, Josep Santacana also received a prison sentence of three years and three months. They divorced in 2019.
But the court ruled that Sanchez Vicario "at all times had sufficient assets to cover the debt" and she was only spared jail because she assumed responsibility of the facts and agreed to pay off the debts in the end. "I did what he told me to do, because I am a tennis player, I have no knowledge of assets or companies or anything. I trusted my husband," said Sanchez Vicario pinning the blame on her husband last September. But she couldn't be acquitted as the court believed she 'had full knowledge of what was being done with her assets', which is now confirmed with her being found guilty.
In her career, she won four Grand Slam singles titles, three times the French Open and also the US Open in 1994. She also reached the Wimbledon final twice losing to the great Steffi Graf. She also lost to the German in the 1994 Australian Open final before Mary Pierce also defeated her in Melbourne 12 months later. In doubles she won every Grand Slam multiple times and picked up four Olympic medals.
But still has found herself on the wrong side of the law throughout her time in retirement and has dodged prison in this case, but is another stain on the name of one of Spain's greatest ever tennis players who was found guilty of fraud on Wednesday afternoon.
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