{"id":42574,"date":"2026-07-22T20:07:30","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T20:07:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/42574\/"},"modified":"2026-07-22T20:07:30","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T20:07:30","slug":"four-time-grand-slam-winner-blames-ex-husband-for-losing-31m-fortune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/42574\/","title":{"rendered":"Four-time Grand Slam winner blames ex-husband for losing \u00a331m fortune"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Four-time tennis Grand Slam winner Arantxa Sanchez Vicario has placed blame on her ex-husband for losing her fortune.<\/p>\n<p>The former World No.1, who was married to entrepreneur Josep Santacana for 11 years, lost her entire \u00a331million earnings.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Arantxa Sanchez Vicario playing tennis\" height=\"701\" width=\"960\" data-credit=\"Getty\" data-img=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/266d0717-f788-4a25-b384-234cdf1531bd.jpg\" data-caption=\"Sanchez Vicario is a four-time Grand Slam winner, but she lost her \u00a331m fortune\"   loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/266d0717-f788-4a25-b384-234cdf1531bd.jpg\" role=\"img\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>4<\/p>\n<p>Sanchez Vicario is a four-time Grand Slam winner, but she lost her \u00a331m fortuneCredit: Getty<\/p>\n<p>Sanchez Vicario and Santacana had a son and daughter together during their marriage between 2008 and 2019.<\/p>\n<p>The pair went to trial in 2023 after being accused of hiding assets to avoid paying back a debt owed to the bank.<\/p>\n<p>For that, Sanchez Vicario was handed a two-year suspended prison sentence and was told to pay \u00a35.5m worth of debt.<\/p>\n<p>She is still currently paying that off while working as a tennis instructor in the USA, handing over 50 per cent of her wages.<\/p>\n<p>READ MORE ON TENNIS<\/p>\n<p>However, the 54-year-old has blamed her ex-husband, Santacana, for the loss of her \u00a331m tennis fortune.<\/p>\n<p>What has Sanchez Vicario said?<\/p>\n<p>Sanchez Vicario said recently on Spanish TV show Universo Callejo: \u201cI trusted him because he was the father of my children.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI fell blindly in love&#8230; <a aria-label=\"he really isn\u2019t the person I thought he was (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eldiario.es\/vertele\/noticias\/arantxa-sanchez-vicario-abre-canal-universo-calleja-dinero-gane-esfumo-vt_1_13395416.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer noopener\">he really isn\u2019t the person I thought he was<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When asked about losing her \u00a331m earnings, she added: \u201cIt\u2019s true, that\u2019s the amount that appeared in the press.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI focused on playing tennis and never handled my own financial affairs because I didn\u2019t know how.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI trusted my husband&#8230; and the money vanished. I was left to shoulder the entire burden.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Arantxa Sanchez Vicario speaking to media\" height=\"640\" width=\"960\" data-credit=\"Getty\" data-img=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2023-barcelona-spain-trial-tennis-1096903216_5e2ed4.jpg\" data-caption=\"Sanchez Vicario went to trial and was handed a prison sentence in 2023\"   loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2023-barcelona-spain-trial-tennis-1096903216_5e2ed4.jpg\" role=\"img\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>4<\/p>\n<p>Sanchez Vicario went to trial and was handed a prison sentence in 2023Credit: Getty<a href=\"#\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Josep Santacana speaking to media\" height=\"639\" width=\"960\" data-credit=\"Getty\" data-img=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2023-barcelona-catalonia-spain-today-1096903245.jpg\" data-caption=\"She has now blamed her husband, Santacana, for the loss of her earnings\"   loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2023-barcelona-catalonia-spain-today-1096903245.jpg\" role=\"img\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>4<\/p>\n<p>She has now blamed her husband, Santacana, for the loss of her earningsCredit: Getty<\/p>\n<p>On avoiding prison in 2023, she continued: \u201cI did not go to jail because I am paying 50 per cent of my earnings to the bank.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am complying when deep down I was a victim.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was a shock [to go to trial]. I had to go to therapy because I couldn\u2019t believe it. It was like waking up from a dream and thinking, \u2018This can\u2019t be happening to me.&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sanchez Vicario&#8217;s successful career<\/p>\n<p>Sanchez Vicario became a tennis Grand Slam winner aged 17, winning the <a href=\"https:\/\/talksport.com\/topic\/french-open\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">French Open<\/a> for the first time in 1989.<\/p>\n<p>She went on to win two more titles at Roland Garros in her career. <\/p>\n<p>On top of that, the Spaniard also won the <a href=\"https:\/\/talksport.com\/topic\/us-open\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">US Open<\/a> in 1994.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Arantxa Sanchez Vicario lifting trophy\" height=\"960\" width=\"809\" data-credit=\"Getty\" data-img=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/b6f9e580-af14-43ea-b9e8-ad422703c979.jpg\" data-caption=\"Sanchez Vicario has won four Grand Slams and is also a former World No.1\"   loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/b6f9e580-af14-43ea-b9e8-ad422703c979.jpg\" role=\"img\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>4<\/p>\n<p>Sanchez Vicario has won four Grand Slams and is also a former World No.1Credit: Getty<\/p>\n<p>At <a href=\"https:\/\/talksport.com\/topic\/wimbledon\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Wimbledon<\/a> and the <a href=\"https:\/\/talksport.com\/topic\/australian-open\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Australian Open<\/a>, Sanchez Vicario reached the final multiple times but didn&#8217;t win either.<\/p>\n<p>Read More on talkSPORT<\/p>\n<p>She represented Spain at the <a href=\"https:\/\/talksport.com\/topic\/olympics\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Olympic Games<\/a> five times too, reaching World No.1 in 1995 and going on to retire in 2002.<\/p>\n<p>After her career, she coached former No.1 Caroline Wozniacki.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Four-time tennis Grand Slam winner Arantxa Sanchez Vicario has placed blame on her ex-husband for losing her fortune.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":42575,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[15120,15124,15122,15123,15121,4025,28],"class_list":["post-42574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-arantxa-sanchez-vicario","tag-arantxa-sanchez-vicario-court","tag-arantxa-sanchez-vicario-ex-husband","tag-arantxa-sanchez-vicario-fortune","tag-arantxa-sanchez-vicario-husband","tag-grand-slams","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42574"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42574\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}