Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario has resigned as Spain’s Fed Cup captain after only one year on the job. The four-time Grand Slam singles champion said she made the decision to support a large group of Spanish women who recently broke relations with Spanish Tennis Federation president Jose Luis Escanuela.
“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,” Sanchez-Vicario wrote in a letter.
Last week, players 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, as well as ex-players Sanchez-Vicario and Conchita Martinez held a press conference in Barcelona where they expressed their “profound disappointment and disillusionment” with Escanuela. They claimed they had signed an agreement with Escanuela where the federation was to have promoted a national women’s tennis plan with an annual budget of at least $250,000 dollars. Apparently that never came to fruition.
The players have cited the shutdown of the WTA stop in Marbella in 2012, the sale of the WTA Barcelona tournament to Austria, the disappearance of 16 ITF tournaments, as well as the cancellation of the last two editions of their national women’s tournament as reason for concern. 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 said.
Sanchez-Vicario’s contract was set to expire on December 31, 2013. Albert Costa, the federation’s director of sport, has begun a search for a replacement.