London-UK, June 04, 2012: Spanish tennis star Arantxa Sanchez Vicario will be presented with the ITF’s highest accolade, the Philippe Chatrier Award, at the 2012 ITF World Champions Dinner on Tuesday 5 June in Paris at the Pavillon d’Armenonville.
The World Champions Dinner will celebrate the achievements of the 2011 ITF World Champions. Former British Davis Cup player and current television broadcaster Andrew Castle will host the evening, with ITF President Francesco Ricci Bitti presenting the awards to the World Champions, with the distinctive trophies once again designed by internationally-recognized sculptor Laurence Broderick.
This year’s recipients are singles champions Novak Djokovic (SRB) and Petra Kvitova (CZE); doubles cmpions Bob and Mike Bryan (USA), and Kveta Peschke (CZE) and Katarina Srebotnik (SLO); junior champions Jiri Vesely (CZE) and Irina Khromacheva (RUS); and wheelchair champions Maikel Scheffers (NED) and Esther Vergeer (NED), who will collect her trophy for a record 12th year.
The evening will also see the presentation of the first ever Award for Outstanding Achievement in Seniors Tennis to Lorne Main of Canada. The 81-year-old former Davis Cup player has won a total of 39 seniors world championships in singles, doubles and team events, making him the most successful player in the history of ITF Seniors Tennis.
Sanchez Vicario receives the Philippe Chatrier Award for her achievements in all forms of tennis, and as tennis’s greatest Fed Cup and Olympic ambassador.
The Spaniard was just 17 when she won her first Grand Slam singles title at Roland Garros, and went on to capture two more Roland Garros titles, in 1994 and 1998, and the 1994 US Open. She also won six Grand Slam women’s doubles and four mixed doubles titles.
Sanchez Vicario became the first Spanish player in history be ranked No. 1 when she reached the top spot in February 1995. She also became only the second woman after Martina Navratilova to reach No. 1 in singles and doubles at the same time. The Spaniard won a total of 29 singles and 69 career doubles titles.
In Fed Cup, Sanchez Vicario holds the record for the most total wins by any player. Alongside Conchita Martinez, she led Spain to five Fed Cup titles, in 1991, 1993-95 and 1998, and to five other finals. She won 72 singles and doubles matches in 58 ties during a 15-year span.
As an Olympian, Sanchez Vicario is the only female tennis player to compete in five Olympic Games and has won four medals: singles bronze and doubles silver at Barcelona 1992, and singles silver and doubles bronze at Atlanta 1996.
Now a mother of two, Sanchez Vicario has been involved in the charity Fundacion SOS, helping children in Africa, since her retirement in 2005. She returned to tennis at the start of 2012 as Spain’s new Fed Cup captain.
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