| Name |
Mary Joe Fernandez |
| Height |
5 ft 9 in |
| Naionality |
American |
| Date of Birth |
19-August-1971 |
| Place of Birth |
Dominican Republic |
| Famous for |
Tennis Player |
Mary Joe Fernandez is an American former professional tennis player. She was the runner-up in three Grand Slam singles tournaments and won two Grand Slam women's doubles titles and two Olympic gold medals. Fernandez first came to the tennis world's attention as an outstanding junior player who won four straight Orange Bowl junior titles. In 1985, aged 14 years and 8 days, Fernandez became the youngest player to win a main draw match at the U.S. Open when she defeated Sara Gomer in the first round.
Fernandez turned professional in 1986. She won her first tour doubles title in 1989 at Dallas, partnering Betsy Nagelsen. Her first top-level singles title came in 1990 at the Tokyo Indoor championships. She reached her first Grand Slam singles final in 1990 at the Australian Open, where she was defeated by Steffi Graf. She finished 1990 ranked a career-high World No. 4 in singles. In 1991, Fernandez teamed with Patty Fendick to win the women's doubles title at the Australian Open. She was back in the Australian Open singles final in 1992, this time losing to Monica Seles. Fernandez was selected to represent the United States at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, winning a gold medal in women's doubles (with Gigi Fernandez) and a bronze medal in singles. In the quarterfinals of the 1993 French Open, Fernandez staged a dramatic comeback against Gabriela Sabatini after Sabatini took a 6–1, 5–1 lead. But Fernandez raised the level of her game and saved five match points in the second set before winning the tiebreak. In the 3rd set, Fernandez finally beat Sabatini by hitting a winner down the line, ending a 3-hour, 36-minute marathon by a final score of 1–6, 7–6(7–4), 10–8.
She went on to lose the final against Steffi Graf, 4–6, 6–2, 6–4. In 2003, Dr. Wade Exum, the United States Olympic Committee's director of drug control administration from 1991 to 2000, gave copies of documents to Sports Illustrated which revealed that some 100 American athletes who failed drug tests and should have been prevented from competing in the Olympics were nevertheless cleared to compete. Among those athletes was Fernandez. Since retiring from the tour, Fernandez has served as a tennis commentator for ESPN and joined CBS Sports as an analyst for the 2005 U.S. Open. She also coaches the U.S. Fed Cup team.
