What happened to Sánchez and Casal, the best couple in Spanish tennis?

Mid the 80s, the techno, the Cold War, AIDS, Chernobyl, Reagan, Gorbachev, ETA, the Madrid movement and the Felipismo, Spanish tennis languished, orphan of great success. In the twilight of the Orantes era, José Higueras (he was number six in the world in 1983) was the most worthy representative of the not yet named Navy. The wild one was already showing Arantxa Sánchez Vicario and Rafael Nadal was about to be born.

And in those appeared a couple of pretty girls, with their eighties half-mane, one brown and the other blond, like Starsky and hutch, those famous policemen from the series that was broadcast on TVE's VHF channel. They were Emilio Sánchez Vicario (Madrid, 55 years old), Arantxa's older brother, and Sergio Casal (Barcelona, ​​57), and together they returned the illusion in a specialty, the doubles, which had had champions such as Manolo Santana (with the Australian Emerson at Roland Garros 1963) and Emilio himself (along with the Ecuadorian Gómez also at Roland Garros 1988), but never a duo national at the top. Eduardo Flaquar and the Marquis of Gomar (1920) and Arilla and Gimeno (1960) and Orantes and Higueras (1978) had stayed at the gates at Wimbledon. In fact, Sánchez and Casal lost the final in London in 1987, after a beautiful five-set battle against specialists Flach and Seguso, the famous duo who robbed them of Olympic gold in Seoul the following year. In 1988 they had taken the US Open, although it was due to the abandonment of two other Americans, Leach and Pugh, who took revenge shortly after in the Masters final. They were left with the thorn of winning by competing, although they got there with brilliance and on their own merits.

In Spain they became sports and social phenomena, with a great following. Their triumphs had begun in 1985, when they won the Kitzbuhel tournament, on land. They were number one in 1987. Together they raised 44 trophies throughout their career. In 1989 they did not play much. Sergio was recovering from a wrist injury and Emilio focused on singles, where he was emerging ever closer to the top-10 (he was 7th the following year). “I think we had played so much together, that in the end we already forgave ourselves to mistakes, and that was not good for competing,” Casal recalled a few days ago in The vanguard. In addition, they accused the wear and tear of sharing so many hours on the track, with some discussions. But 'reconciliation' and glory awaited them in the Forest of Bologna.

The victory in Rome, shortly before, filled Sánchez and Casal with confidence. In Roland Garros they got off with some difficulties to Menezes-Pimek, Cihak-Suk, Connell-Michibata, Aldrich-Visser (third of the world) and Haarhuis-Koevermans before reaching the final in which they would face Goran Ivanisevic and Petr Korda. The Croatian and the Czech surprised, because they were not seeded, and in the match the superiority of the Spanish was noted as the phenomenally paired duo they were. They won 7-5 and 6-3. That June 9, 1990 went down in the history of Spanish tennis in Paris. It was the pica left to put the fledgling Navy, which had already won several individual titles there (the last one, that of Arantxa in 1989). Vicente Jiménez, director of AS, was the special envoy and chronicler of The country in that tournament. “Honestly, at the time, we didn't think that a Spanish couple had ever won at Roland Garros. We did not have any special celebration for the victory, but obviously we were very happy, “acknowledged Casal.

Sánchez and Casal continued playing together until 1995. Their last match was in Buenos Aires, with a defeat in the eighths against Spadea and Van Rensburg. They raised two more titles that year. In Davis Cup they had played 22 matches between 1994 and 1995, with 14 wins and 8 losses. And although their sports relationship ended (apart from some veteran duel), their friendship lasted and they found another way to unite their lives as professionals: the creation of their own Academy, to which they still dedicate almost all their time. La Sánchez-Casal, founded in 1998 and with offices in Spain, the United States and China, combines tennis and education, and is a world benchmark for its training system, which was used, among others, by Andy Murray, Kuznetsova, Dimitrov, Hantuchova and Monaco. Emilio is married, has four children, and lives and works in Naples, Florida, where he runs one of the American branches (the other is in Atlanta); and Sergio, also married and with two daughters, is in charge of the one in Barcelona. In 2017, Roland Garros and the ITF recognized their work as tennis players and coaches with the Philippe Chatrier Award. Behind them were more Spanish champions, such as the López, Feliciano and Marc, at Roland Garros 2016, where Anabel Medina and Vivi Ruano (2008 and 2009) triumphed twice, and Arantxa made a great career with international couples (6 Grand titles Slam), But no one shone as much in common as Sánchez and Casal.