Gigi Fernandez playing an exhibition match at the U.S. Open. The 17-time Grand Slam Doubles champion launched the Gigi Method in 2018. (Courtesy: Getty Images)

There is a point in which Gigi Fernandez almost switched careers.

The 17-time Grand Slam winner in doubles and Olympic Gold Medalist had been called by the governor of her country, Puerto Rico, to serve as a shadow representative of Puerto Rico at the U.S. Capitol. Having raised and donated thousands of dollars and supplies to the U.S. territory in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, which devastated her home country September 2017, the government wanted the her as the name and face behind the effort for Puerto Rico.

“More than any other time in my life, the events in Puerto Rico have definitely given me pause and caused me to ponder what I want to do with my future,” Fernandez wrote in 2017. “All my life, I have felt that Puerto Ricans are second class citizens. Yes, we hold US Passports but, beyond that, our privileges in Puerto Rico are much different than the vast majority of those that hold the same passport.”

Fernandez (left) with Jenniffer González-Colón, Puerto Rico’s sole Representative to the U.S. Congress, known as Resident Commissioner. She is the first woman to hold the office. (Courtesy: Gigi Fernandez)

Her post-professional career as a coach took off almost simultaneously. Then the director of tennis at Chelsea Piers in Stamford, Connecticut, in 2018, Fernandez began her second season as the head coach of the New York Empire — the city’s World Team Tennis franchise — and decided to go further, starting the Gigi Method (TGM) , an online and in-person doubles instructional program and portal for beginners and advanced players alike. 

“I was on court 15-20 hours per weeks, and how the pros were teaching doubles was by not to my liking,” Fernandez said in an interview near her home outside of Tampa, Florida. “I believed that if a guy with college level tennis experience can have a successful online business teaching tennis, then a hall of famer could do the same. I started writing about what I knew about doubles and came up with a plan.

“The Gigi method gives players a clear understanding of how to play high percentage winning doubles.”

It’s Fernandez’s continued insistence on pushing the limits of her own capabilities and those of others that have made her a natural outlier on both the professional tour and her post-professional life. “I believe that if a college guy could teach a backhand, then a Hall-of-Famer could teach the techniques she has learned.”

Gigi Fernandez (left) with Olympics doubles partner Mary Jo Fernandez (no relation) with their gold medals at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. (Courtesy: Getty Images)

“Gigi loves tennis, is fun to be around, and is a good conversationist,” said Tracy Austin who met Fernandez on the WTA tour (the Virginia Slims tour) in 1992, when Austin was paired with Pam Shriver. “I have done tennis camps and Gigi has done tennis camps and we felt combining our strengths — mine are technical, mental, and tactical — would be beneficial to recreational players who want to improve.”

For a time, however, after 15 years on tour, constantly on the move, playing in a different country practically every week, Fernandez wanted to hang up her racquets — possibly for good. She had neglected her education, she said and wanted to finish it. She first gained a degree in psychology from the University of South Florida and then went on to earn a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) from Rollins College, also in Florida.

Gigi Fernandez as a junior player and during her freshman year at Clemson University, where she was recruited to play college tennis in 1982 — a year before she turned professional in 1983 — becoming Puerto Rico’s first professional woman athlete. (Courtesy: Gigi Fernandez)

Fernandez picked up a racquet at age three after seeing her older brothers play. As a young child, she would wander off to the local tennis club, where they took lessons, but was left to hit against a wall. Finally, at age seven she took her first lesson and played her first match, losing in a double-bagel (6-0, 6-0). Because the Puerto Rican tennis association was affiliated with the United States Tennis Association (USTA), however, Fernandez traveled in the summer to the U.S. and played the junior circuit, where the coach of Clemson, Mary Kennerty King, the first coach of the Clemson Women Tigers, “gave me a chance,” according to Fernandez. Fernandez became the first Clemson player to reach finals of a national singles tournament, nearly beating University of Southern California (USC) player, Beth Herr, the No. 1 college recruit in 1982. But Herr prevailed 7–6 in the third set after being down a match point.

“I went to college where I had a slice forehand and a slice backhand. I had to learn a topspin backhand in college and then on the tour,” Fernandez said. “Puerto Rico in the 1960s was also a little bit behind the times. Coaches were not willing to teach girls topspin, because they thought that girls were too weak to hit topspin. When I went to college, that's what I had, and when I turned pro, that's what I had. It was a challenge.”

She nonetheless decided to take the leap. Fernandez became a doubles specialist early in her career, winning 17 Grand Slam women’s doubles titles — six French Open, five U.S. Open, four Wimbledon and two Australian Open titles — at least one Grand Slam title every year from 1988 to 1997, except 1989. She won 14 of her 17 Grand Slam titles partnering with Natasha Zvereva and went on to the No. 17 spot on the WTA singles tour in 1994.

Fernandez conferring with longtime doubles partner Natasha Zvereva of Belarus. (Courtesy: Getty Images)

Looking back, Fernandez has acknowledged that she still had a lot of growing up to do. Despite her winning streak, she says she has “learned so much more from my losses.” She also had to learn mental toughness, a crucial part of her coaching.

“In my playing days, I was called ‘The Female McEnroe’ and I used to break 100 racquets a year and pay my fine to the WTA before the year started, because I knew I would be fined,” Fernandez told the WTA in 2018. “ I decided to kind of delve into the mental part of the game, and put something out there that’s kind of different and unique — something that I actually wish I had when I was playing tennis.”

Fernandez on the sidelines of a New York Empire WTT match in 2017.

Since finishing her pro career in 1997, Fernandez coached Rennae Stubbs and then Sam Stosur and Lisa Raymond to a U.S. Open doubles title in 2005. But she also had to reckon with another side of her life — life post-tour when she emerged from the “bubble that is not reality.” She came out as openly gay at age 25, eventually married pro golfer Jane Geddes and became a mom twins Madison and Karson.

“The system is set up for you to be entitled. People around you are expected to exceed your expectations. It’s not reality,” Fernandez said. “When you retire at age 32, or 33, it’s hard to go back to normal; it took a lot of years for me to come off my high horse — there are no manuals for it.”

For the last 10 years, Fernandez has preferred to stay close to family, shunning commentating, coaching and other traveling gigs. She continues to pursue her teaching business, campaign vigorously for Puerto Rican statehood and aims to remain an accessible mom and partner, following her own Gigi method.

“I have not closed the door to politics in Puerto Rico; I have obviously not closed the door on teaching,” Fernandez said. “I loved being a coach at World Team Tennis — it was almost like a drug being back in the flow. But the time away from family was too much.

“We have a fresh start with Joe Biden in office, and overwhelmingly Puerto Rico has voted for statehood. It would be hard to live there again, but you never know what life has in store.”

Fernandez (far-right) skiing with partner Jane Geddes (center-left) and twins Madison (far-left) and Karson (center-right). (Courtesy: Gigi Fernandez).