The Mistake That Cost the Tennis Star $41 Million
Former tennis star Arantxa Sánchez Vicario lost a fortune of $41 million after trusting her ex-husband to manage her finances. Now she is forced to transfer half of her income to repay massive debts. The story highlights the importance of personal financial involvement.
Former tennis star Arantxa Sánchez Vicario, once ranked world number one, lost her entire fortune estimated at $41 million. The tennis star, who retired in 2002 after a glittering career that included four Grand Slam titles, found herself mired in heavy debts and lengthy legal battles. According to her, the reason for the financial collapse is one: she blindly trusted her ex-husband to manage her money, without being involved in the financial details at all. In 2024, a Spanish court convicted Sánchez Vicario and her ex-husband, Josep Santacana, of hiding assets to avoid paying a debt to a Luxembourg bank. The two were ordered to pay the bank more than $7.5 million. While the tennis player was sentenced to two years in prison, she avoided serving the actual sentence after agreeing to transfer half of her income to the bank. Her ex-husband, who denied the allegations, was sentenced to three years and three months in prison. This entanglement is not Sánchez Vicario's first financial problem. In 2009, the Spanish Supreme Court ruled that she must pay about $5.9 million for tax offenses. The court determined that the tennis player falsely declared residency in Andorra instead of Spain between 1989 and 2003 to avoid paying taxes on her substantial income. This affair significantly worsened her financial situation and paved the way for her complete financial collapse. Today, Sánchez Vicario is trying to rebuild her financial life but is forced to transfer a large and regular portion of her income to cover the debts she accumulated. She admitted that during her career she focused solely on playing tennis and never managed her own financial affairs simply because she did not know how.