.jpg) Conchita Martínez at the 2010 US Open | |
| Full name | Inmaculada Concepción Martínez Bernat |
|---|---|
| Country (sports) |  Spain |
| Residence | Barcelona, Spain |
| Born | (1972-04-16)16 April 1972 (age 53) Monzón, Spain |
| Height | 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) |
| Turned pro | February 1988 |
| Retired | 15 April 2006 |
| Plays | Right-handed (one-handed backhand) |
| Prize money | $11,527,977 |
| Int. Tennis HoF | 2020[1](member page) |
| Singles | |
| Career record | 739–297 |
| Career titles | 33 |
| Highest ranking | No. 2 (30 October 1995) |
| Grand Slam singles results | |
| Australian Open | F (1998) |
| French Open | F (2000) |
| Wimbledon | W (1994) |
| US Open | SF (1995,1996) |
| Other tournaments | |
| Grand Slam Cup | QF (1998) |
| Doubles | |
| Career record | 414–232 |
| Career titles | 13 |
| Highest ranking | No. 7 (11 January 1993) |
| Grand Slam doubles results | |
| Australian Open | SF (1998, 2002) |
| French Open | F (1992, 2001) |
| Wimbledon | QF (1995, 2003) |
| US Open | SF (2005) |
| Team competitions | |
| Fed Cup | W (1991,1993,1994,1995,1998) |
| Coaching career | |
| |
Inmaculada Concepción "Conchita"Martínez Bernat (born 16 April 1972) is a Spanish former professionaltennis player and current coach. She was the first Spaniard to win the women's singles title atWimbledon, doing so in1994. Martínez also was the runner-up at the1998 Australian Open and the2000 French Open. She reached a career-high ranking of world No. 2 in October 1995, and was in the year-end top 10 for nine years. Martínez won 33 singles and 13 doubles titles during her 18-year career, as well as three Olympic medals. She was inducted into theInternational Tennis Hall of Fame in 2020.[2]
A five-time winner of theFed Cup as a player, Martínez was theSpanish team captain from 2013 to 2017 and theSpanish Davis Cup team captain from 2015 to 2017, leading the Davis Cup team back into the top-tier World Group under her captaincy.[3] She has also served as a part-time coach toGarbiñe Muguruza, guiding her to the2017 Wimbledon Championships title, and was the full-time coach toKarolína Plíšková through 2018 and 2019. She began coaching Muguruza on a full-time basis in November 2019. Martínez won the2021 WTA Coach of the Year award for her work coaching Muguruza. She is currently a coach toMirra Andreeva.
Born inMonzón in theHuesca,Aragon, Martínez turned professional in 1988. At the age of just 16, she reached the fourth round at theFrench Open in her third professional tournament. She upset ninth-seedLori McNeil en route, before losing toBettina Fulco in two sets.[4] In 1989, her breakthrough year, Martínez defeatedGabriela Sabatini to win the title atTampa and also won two Tier V tournaments (Wellington,Phoenix). She also reached the quarterfinals of the French Open, losing toSteffi 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 andMonica Seles in 1991).
The following year, Martínez was a silver medalist in doubles at theOlympic Games inBarcelona (partneringArantxa Sánchez Vicario) and the runner-up in women's doubles at the French Open.[5] Once again, Martínez 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 sinceLilí de Álvarez in 1928 to reach the semifinals atWimbledon, where she lost toSteffi Graf in two sets. In November, Martínez defeated Graf for the first and only time in her career, at a tournament inPhiladelphia in the final. At theItalian Open, Martínez defeated Sabatini in the final in straight sets to become the first Spaniard to win the tournament since de Álvarez in 1930.[6] She again reached the quarterfinals at the French Open for the fifth year in a row, losing a 2-hour, 45-minute three-set battle withAnke Huber.[7]
Martínez reached theWimbledon singles final in 1994 beatingRene Simpson,Nana Smith,Nathalie Tauziat,Kristine Kunce andLindsay Davenport in the quarterfinal and Lori McNeil in the semifinals where the third set went to 10–8, where she faced nine-time Wimbledon champion Martina Navratilova. Navratilova'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 ongrass courts, whereas Martínez's most significant tournament victories up to that time had been on slower-playing surfaces, particularly onclay courts. Martínez, however, won the match in three sets and became the first Spanish woman to win Wimbledon.[8][9] In 1995, Martínez was a semifinalist at all fourGrand Slam tournaments and reached her career-high singles ranking of World No. 2. In theAustralian Open, she beat Lindsay Davenport in the quarterfinals before losing toMary Pierce in the semifinals. AtWimbledon, Martínez beat Sabatini in the quarterfinals before losing to Arantxa Sánchez Vicario in the semifinals. She also had a new coach that year,Carlos Kirmayr.
In 1996, Martínez became the only player to win theItalian Open singles title four consecutive years, after a straight-sets victory in the final against 15-year-oldMartina Hingis.[10][11] She also partnered Sánchez Vicario to claim a women's doublesOlympic bronze medal in Atlanta.[5]
In 1998, Martínez reached her second career Grand Slam singles final at theAustralian Open. She beat Lindsay Davenport in the semifinals, before losing toMartina Hingis in the final in straight sets.[12][13] At theGerman Open in May, she defeatedAmélie Mauresmo to win her first singles title in 18 months.[14] She also helped Spain win theFed Cup that year, beatingPatty Schnyder of Switzerland 6–3, 2–6, 9–7 in 3 hours, 19 minutes in the final.
In January 2000 at theAustralian Open, Martínez beatElena Likhovtseva in the quarterfinals after Likhovtseva twice failed to serve for the match to reach the semifinals where she was beaten by Martina Hingis. Martínez reached the final of theFrench Open in 2000, where she lost toMary Pierce in two sets after beating Sánchez Vicario in the semifinals.[15] She also won theGerman Open, beating Hingis in a semifinal andAmanda Coetzer in the final.[16][17] In 2001, Martínez was a runner-up in the women's doubles at the French Open (partneringJelena Dokic). Martínez also reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon for the first time in six years but lost toJustine Henin of Belgium. In 2003, she reached her last Grand Slam quarterfinal in the French Open losing toKim Clijsters. Also that year, she reached the final atEastbourne losing toChanda Rubin.[18]
Martínez won hersecond Olympic silver medal in the women's doubles in 2004 in Athens, Greece (partneringVirginia Ruano Pascual).[5] In 2005, Martínez won her first singles title in five years atPattaya, Thailand. It was her last singles title, bringing her career total to 33 top-level singles titles, nine of which wereTier I events, and 13 doubles titles. On 15 April 2006, aged 33 and after 18 years of playing professionally, she announced her retirement. As of 2025, she is still the Spanish female player with the most singles titles so far.[19][20]
In 2008, 2009 and 2010, Martínez played at Wimbledon in the Ladies Invitations Doubles. In 2010, her partner in doubles wasNathalie Tauziat.
Nicknamed Señorita Topspin, Martínez was a patient, right-handed baseline player who won matches by disrupting her opponents' rhythm through changes of spin, pace, depth, height, and angle. She had a strong backhand, playedsingle-handedly, and used heavy topspin on her forehand and slower topspin and slice on her backhand.[21][22] A characteristic shot of Martínez was to hit a deep, looping forehand with a lot of topspin with the intent to drive her opponent to the back of the court and make her hit the ball at shoulder height.[23][24]She often sought out the ball with which she had won the previous point. This sometimes irritated her opponents;Patty Schnyder once pocketed the ball to prevent Martínez from retrieving it, and rejected the traditional handshake at the end of the match.[25]
| W | F | SF | QF | #R | RR | Q# | DNQ | A | NH |
| 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 |
| US 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 championships | |||||||||||||||||||
| WTA Tour Championships | A | 1R | QF | 1R | QF | QF | QF | QF | QF | 1R | 1R | 1R | QF | A | A | A | A | A | 0 / 12 |
| Grand Slam Cup | Not held | Men's Only Event | QF | A | Not held | 0 / 1 | |||||||||||||
| 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 |
| Tournament | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | SR | W–L | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australian Open | A | A | A | A | A | QF | 3R | 3R | 3R | QF | SF | 1R | 2R | 1R | SF | QF | 3R | 1R | 0 / 13 | 26–13 | ||||
| French Open | A | A | 3R | A | F | QF | 1R | 3R | 3R | QF | QF | 3R | QF | F | 1R | 1R | QF | 3R | 0 / 15 | 33–15 | ||||
| Wimbledon | A | A | A | A | 2R | A | 1R | QF | 3R | 1R | 1R | 2R | 2R | 3R | 3R | QF | 3R | 3R | 0 / 13 | 19–13 | ||||
| US Open | A | 1R | A | 2R | 3R | A | 3R | QF | 3R | QF | 1R | 3R | QF | A | 3R | QF | QF | SF | 0 / 14 | 29–14 | ||||
| Win–loss | 0–0 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 8–3 | 6–2 | 4–4 | 10–4 | 8–4 | 8–4 | 6–4 | 5–4 | 7–4 | 7–3 | 8–4 | 9–4 | 10–4 | 8–4 | 0 / 55 | 107–55 | ||||
| Year-end championships | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tour Championships | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | QF | A | QF | QF | QF | A | A | A | A | A | SF | 0 / 5 | 0–5 | ||||
| Career statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Year-end ranking | 147 | 67 | 106 | 51 | 8 | 10 | 41 | 17 | 28 | 19 | 16 | 24 | 29 | 19 | 16 | 21 | 14 | 9 | ||||||
El año pasado, en su primera aparición en esta competición, también llegó a los octavos, en los que perdió con la argentina Bettina Fulco.
| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Spanish Sportswoman of the Year 1994 | Succeeded by |
