Shockwaves in tennis world as former World No. 1 convicted of fraud, dodges prison in high-stakes debt scheme

Arantxa Sanchez Vicario has been sentenced to two years in prison by a Spanish court.


Shockwaves in tennis world as former World No. 1 convicted of fraud, dodges prison in high-stakes debt scheme

Arantxa Sanchez Vicario and her husband Josep Santacana (Sources: Reuters, de Sentor)

Former World No. 1 Arantxa Sanchez Vicario and her husband have been found guilty of committing fraud by a Spanish court. The Barcelona-based court ruled that the 4-time Grand Slam singles winner and her husband hid assets to avoid paying a multi-million-dollar debt to the Banque de Luxembourg.

She was sentenced to two years of prison but will avoid going behind bars this time as she is a first-time offender and first-time offenders often get their jail time waived by the court.

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Last year, she reached a deal with the prosecutors to admit to the accusations in exchange for a reduced sentence. 

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As reported by Tennis.com, her husband, Josep Santacana, on the other hand, received a prison sentence of three years and three months, and the couple will have to pay a combined fine of $7.1 million, and 6.6 million euros.

In court, the former World No. 1 said that her husband dealt with her money and that she had no clue about any legality or assets being messed with.

The court agreed that Arantxa Sánchez did not have the technical knowledge to hide the assets but had full knowledge of what was being done and the fact that it was illegal. Moreover, she was well aware of the debt she had with the Bank of Luxembourg. 

It must be noted that she is accused of committing tax fraud in 1989 and 2003 when she was a resident in Spain and it was only in 2009 that the Spanish Supreme Court ordered her to pay the fine. She currently lives in Andorra. 

Arantxa Sanchez Vicario’s career at a glance 

Arantxa Sanchez Vicario was one of the best women’s tennis players of her time, after Steffi Graf. She had an extremely successful career between 1985 and 2002, winning four singles Grand Slam titles and ten doubles Grand Slam titles.

Arantxa Sanchez Vicario
Arantxa Sanchez Vicario (Source: Eurosport)

She has been a former World No. 1 in both singles and doubles, which shows the caliber of player the Spaniard was. 

She reached the finals (singles) of Wimbledon twice (1995 and 1996) and lost to Germany’s Steffi Graf on both occasions. She won the Wimbledon doubles title in 1995.

One of the highlights of her career was winning two bronze and two silver medals for Spain at the 1992 and 1996 Olympic Games

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