"Back then, 33 seemed like I was ancient. I did not know what I was going to do and it was a really difficult transition. I struggled a lot for a lot of years trying to do different things that were not in the tennis world. Finally, I just decided to come back to what I knew and where my passions lie, which is tennis."

The TENNIS.com Podcast Inside the Tour hears from 17-time Grand Slam doubles champion Gigi Fernandez.  Fernandez is the owner of two Olympic gold medals and a whopping 69 total doubles crowns.

Advertising

She retired at the age of 33 when she was No. 1 in the world, and dived headlong into business, where life was a lot tougher than she expected. After a few starts and stops, she came back to tennis and launched gigifernandeztennis.com where she shares her knowledge of doubles with the world through the Gigi Method—strategies adapted from her own game style to suit recreational players.

The 55-year-old talks candidly about her attempts to leave her tennis identity behind, and how golf and motherhood helped her through a rough transition period. She also shares her business failures, her relationship with Puerto Rico, her surprising favorite memory from winning six Roland Garros titles and a lot more.

That's it for this episode of The TENNIS.com Podcast: Inside the Tour. Subscribe on iTunes, Android and/or Spotify so you don't miss a single second.