Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario Resigns Her Fed Cup Position

Written by: Staff on 19th December 2012

ARANTXA SANCHEZ VICARIO RESIGNS AS SPAIN'S FEDERATION CUP TEAM HEAD COACH

Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario Resigns Her Fed Cup Position

epa03512539 (FILE) A file picture dated on 11 April 2012 shows Spanish former tennis player Arantxa Sanchez Vicario (R) during a press conference in Barcelona, north-eastern Spain. Sanchez Vicario has resigned from her post of Spain's Federation Cup team head coach on 12 December 2012 in support of the Spanish tennis players who recently have declared their discontent with Spanish Tennis Federation president Jose Luis Escanuela. EPA/ANDREU DALMAU |

Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, Spain’s most successful female tennis player, has resigned from her position of Fed Cup captain after just one year in the job, as the dispute between row between players and the president of Spanish Tennis Federation, José Luis Escañuela becomes ever more bitter.

Sanchez Vicario, a former world no.1 and four-time Grand Slam singles champion, has quit with a year of her contract remaining in a gesture of support for the leading players who comprise the entirety of the Spanish team.

The playing group, comprising of Carla Suarez Navarro, Garbine Muruguruza, Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, Silvia Soler Espinosa, Estrella Cabeza Candela, Nuria Llagostera Vives, Arantxa Parrana Santonja, Lourdes Dominguez Lino, and Laura Pous Tio, maintains Escanuela has reneged on promises made to them.

Escanuela counters the Spanish team underperformed in 2012, losing both Fed Cup ties they played and getting relegated to the World Group Two. Spain was beaten 3-2 by the strong Russian spearheaded by Maria Sharapova in Moscow and then lost by the same margin at home in Marbella to the Slovak Republic in April’s World Group play-off.

All the players insist they will not play for the country until Escanuela is removed from office or the Spanish Tennis Federation agrees to their demands. Both Sanchez-Vicario and former Wimbledon champion Conchita Martinez have announced solidarity.

Sanchez-Vicario said: “Although I have not been part of any players meetings, or contract talks, I can’t ignore the majority of the players and stay on the sidelines.

“A year ago I eagerly accepted the responsibility of being female Spanish team captain. From the beginning, I tried to do my job with the utmost professionalism, in the same way I did when I was a player and also tried to bring my experience.”

The players are claiming Escanuela has reneged on an agreement in which the Spanish Tennis Federation agreed to a national women’s tennis plan with an annual budget of at least $250,000 dollars.

As evidence of Federation’s apparent disinterest in women’s tennis, the players cite the sale of the WTA event in Barcelona to Austria, the end of the Marbella event, the disappearance of 16 ITF tournaments and the cancellation of the last two National Championships.

Elections for the Spanish Tennis Federation will be held on January 19, and the players are hoping that Escanuela is not re-elected.

“I hope this serves as a lever for the Spanish Tennis Federation to take action and decisions in favor of a radical change in its approach to women’s tennis,” Sanchez-Vicario concluded.

©Daily Tennis News Wire

Topics: Arantxa Sanchez Vicaro, Fed Cup, Sports, Tennis, Tennis News