Former World No. 1 tennis star Arantxa Sánchez Vicario has opened up about the financial and emotional toll of losing her multimillion-dollar fortune, saying she trusted her former husband with her finances only to be left with nothing. The four-time Grand Slam champion revealed that she is now financially ruined and pays half of her earnings to a bank under an agreement that allowed her to avoid serving a prison sentence.
Speaking on the Spanish television programme Universo Callejo, the 54-year-old said she devoted her time to tennis while her former husband, Josep Santacana, managed her finances.
She said, “I fell blindly in love, and he really isn’t the person I thought he was.”
In 2024, a Barcelona court ruled that Sánchez Vicario and Santacana fraudulently concealed assets to avoid repaying a debt owed to Banque de Luxembourg. Santacana was sentenced to three years and three months in prison, while Sánchez Vicario received a two-year suspended sentence as a first-time offender. The former couple, who divorced in 2019, were also ordered to pay €6.6 million in compensation.
The tennis legend insisted she had no knowledge of her ex-husband’s financial dealings and said she trusted him completely while focusing on her career.
She explained, “I focused on playing tennis and never handled my own financial affairs because I didn’t know how. I trusted my husband. And the [€36 million] vanished. I was left to shoulder the entire burden.”
Sánchez Vicario also revealed that avoiding prison came at a significant financial cost.
She said, “I did not go to jail because I am paying 50 percent of my earnings to the bank. I am complying when deep down I was a victim.”
Reflecting on the impact of the ordeal, she admitted that she struggled emotionally and sought professional help.
“It was a shock. I had to go to therapy because I couldn’t believe it. It was like waking up from a dream and thinking, ‘This can’t be happening to me.’” she said.
Meanwhile, Santacana has denied the allegations through his lawyer, maintaining that Sánchez Vicario’s fortune had already disappeared before the events that led to the fraud case. He also claimed she had previously accused her own family and financial advisers of mismanaging her wealth. His conviction is currently under appeal before Spain’s Supreme Court.
