At 45, Arantxa Sanchez Vicario continues to have immense reserves of energy. Having spent the whole of Tuesday morning shooting for the cover of a magazine with nary a bite, when she finally decides to have a lunch break for a tête-à-tête, she refuses to slow down.
There is something inherently appealing about the multiple Grand Slam winner who, as a talented but hesitant teenager, halted a seemingly unbeatable Steffi Graff's five-Grand Slam title streak way back in 1989 for her own maiden triumph at the French Open, the tournament she is now promoting here as ambassador for Rendez-vous à Roland-Garros, a talent hunt programme. There is an honesty and a clarity of purpose that makes it easy to communicate.
“It's my first time here but I haven't really seen much. I wanted to go to the Taj Mahal but there is no time. It's better, I think, that way I have a reason to come back again,” she quips before getting down to talk about tennis and life – synonymous, in her case.
She admits she is amazed at the longevity of Leander Paes, one of the rare players “from my generation” to still be active, she gets goosebumps when remembering “that final” from 1989 which kick-started the entire journey and she is perfectly at peace with the absence of stardom that accompanies retirement from the professional circuit.
“I am a full-time mom and this is how I wanted it to be when I decided to retire from playing tennis. I want to spend the moment with my kids (she has an eight-year-old namesake daughter and a five-year old son, Leo), be there for them all the time. Only last year I began travelling a little because they are now old enough to be left alone but only for short durations,” she explains when asked about her complete absence from the limelight. Even this trip is courtesy her association with Longines, the only brand she endorses at the moment.
The absence hasn’t dimmed the memories. “I still get goosebumps. I had dreamt of winning the French Open and defeating the world’s best player and it remember thinking, ‘my dream has come true’. I remember throwing my racquet, crying like a baby and rolling over on the clay getting all dirty. I went to the net and Steffi shook my hand, said ‘congratulations, well done’ and gave me a hug. When I was holding the trophy, I was again crying, I was the happiest person in the world, I was only 17 and all the hard work I had done and everything I had gone through had finally paid off. That’s when my whole career started,” she recounts, a faraway look in her eyes and the mind gone back to a Saturday 28 years ago.
It has also not reduced her fan following or cut her off from keeping track of the current crop of players either. The first Spanish woman to be inducted into the ITF Hall of Fame, Arantxa believes the Spanish tennis officials made a mistake in taking success for granted. As a result, barring an inconsistent Garbine Muguruza, there is no woman player at the highest level and certainly no one at Arantxa’s level.
Expensive sport
“They didn’t do much to continue development programme with the other girls after she and Conchita (Martinez). It’s a very expensive sport and you need support from the federation and money from the companies, in every country, to help the kids travel and train. There are more among the men but, we say in Spanish, it won’t last forever. One day we will not have any, which will be too bad. It’s gonna end one day and we will have to see how they handle it,” she warns.
Known for her tenacity and chasing down every ball to the farthest corners of the court, Arantxa admits it feels nice knowing that people connect to players like herself or Rafa more than naturally gifted geniuses like Roger Federer. “No one gets anything for free in life – whether it is sport or work or business. But someone like Federer or Steffi (Graf) make it look so easy. I think it is the mentality of us Spanish players, people like me or Rafa (Nadal), we are fighters, we do not give up and people appreciate that I worked hard for it and may be they identify with that and see the same passion as they have, fighting for what you want. I appreciate that people see me as a gladiator on court and that perhaps results in a lot of respect as well – it inspires a lot of people across the world that they can also do it,” she says, trying to explain the appeal.
It is interesting to hear the Spaniard talk about tennis as “chess with a lot of movement” and how everything boiled down to getting the mind right. “It’s a mental game and you have to work for that. To put your strategy into the mental and physical game together, to plan your move and then think of the opponent’s move and work on it, is hard work. I always say tennis is more mental than physical or technique.
“And when you win, there is more pressure because you have to keep doing better every year, every day. The more you win the more you want to win, it’s like an addiction, you keep trying to be better till you know when to stop. Pressure is always there and increases wit every success. We only had the coach and may be a trainer but now there is a complete group travelling with a player. Everyone can support and tell you what and how to do but you are the one who has to do it,” she says.
There are more than a few people waiting to get themselves clicked with her before she leaves to resume her shoot.
“Changing so many clothes, getting the camera angle right, sitting or standing in a particular pose the whole day, playing on court was so much easier,” she laughs but is game for a second round. Like in her prime, Arantxa wouldn’t let go of this either before completion.
