Sanchez' 'war' against parents stuns Spain
Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, the Spaniard who once rose to become world No 1 in women's tennis, had long appeared inseparable from her family.
But new confessions of the 40-year-old almost make it seem as if she hated her parents and that they have made her bankrupt.
"The myth of a united and happy Sanchez Vicario family was just that: a myth," the three-times French Open champion writes in an autobiographical book titled Vamos! Memorias de una Vida, una Lucha y una Mujer (Let's Go! Memories of a Life, a Fight and a Woman), which was presented in Spain this week.
Tennis was always part of the lives of the Sanchez Vicarios.
Arantxa, the youngest, came the furthest. But Emilio also rose to the seventh in the world and was captain of the Spanish Davis Cup team. Javier was among the top 30 and Marisa reached a good level at US university championships.
The parents, Marisa and Emilio, were always present during the career of Arantxa, who at age 17 beat Germany's Steffi Graf for the first title at Roland Garros in 1989.
But the constant parental attention felt suffocating to Arantxa, she now confesses, criticizing especially her mother.
"She is a woman of a strong character, for whom discipline and victory were above all else, while I on my side might have needed some loving words."
Arantxa also accuses her parents of having left her bankrupt, despite earnings that amounted to 45 million euros (58 million dollars).
"My father has enjoyed full authority to decide on and to manage my wealth ... I was given a monthly sum the use of which I informed him about. It never occurred me to ask him questions."
"They left me with nothing, I have debts with the finance ministry, and my property is much less than, for example, that of my brother Javier, who earned much less during his career than I did.
"Can I accept such abuse and keep quiet? I am not going to do that," says the tennis star, who is known to have problems over tax declarations given as an Andorra resident.
Arantxa Sanchez Vicario's revelations are not a novelty in the tennis world. Graf and Serbian-Australian Jelena Dokic also had serious problems with their parents.
Yet Sanchez Vicario's comments stunned Spain, and sparked an angry response from her mother.
"With an enormous surprise, and great pain, I saw that our daughter Arantxa had taken one more step in her willingness to hurt us and to humiliate us," Marisa said in a statement.
The mother said she had found out about Arantxa's comments from the daily El Mundo, which published advance excerpts from the book.
Arantxa's father suffers from a "very tough cancer of the intestine," from Alzheimer and from heart problems, Marisa said.
"In all this time, our daughter Arantxa has not once visited us. Not the slightest sign of concern. Not a single question on how we were doing," she added.
"We lived for 20 years only for her. We left everything else aside, mortgaging our lives and our property. I personally accompanied her at all the tournaments since she was small, abandoning in reality my husband and my other children. My husband then left his job to accompany her and to help her."
Marisa even suggests she may take Arantxa to court.
"It will then certainly become clear that we never used Arantxa and that she is of course not facing financial ruin," she said.
Arantxa, on her side, says she maintains no relations with her siblings. She recalls a lonely childhood in which the family was obsessed with tennis and with success.
"I had a faithful companion," a toy looking like Bugs Bunny, she remembers.
"He was the only witness of the many tears I shed day after day, when going to bed, before sleep overcame me. Then, with my pillow wet with tears, I fell asleep with him in my arms, seeking a certain protection and above all, consolation."