{"id":815907,"date":"2026-07-21T07:44:06","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T07:44:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/815907\/"},"modified":"2026-07-21T07:44:06","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T07:44:06","slug":"tennis-legend-gigi-fernandez-gives-alaska-players-a-new-doubles-direction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/815907\/","title":{"rendered":"Tennis legend Gigi Fernandez gives Alaska players a new doubles direction"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Gigi Fern\u00e1ndez \u2014 who won two Olympic gold medals in doubles and a career doubles Grand Slam and is a member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame \u2014 taught the Gigi Method Clinic, a doubles tennis instructional program, at The Alaska Club East on Sunday, July 19. (Bill Roth \/ ADN) <\/p>\n

Jodi Arnold may be surprising her opponents on the tennis court with some new tactics when she returns home to Juneau this week. <\/p>\n

Arnold was one of a few dozen tennis players who participated in clinics held by International Tennis Hall of Famer Gigi Fernandez on Sunday at The Alaska Club East in Anchorage. <\/p>\n

Fernandez is one of the most accomplished doubles players in U.S. history. She won a total of 17 major doubles titles and notched a career Grand Slam by winning all four major tournaments. She also earned two Olympic gold medals playing with Mary Joe Fernandez (no relation).<\/p>\n

Arnold said she learned a number of new strategies, from shot selection to court coverage. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all about positioning and attacking the net,\u201d Arnold said. \u201cIt\u2019s just amazing to get a different view on how to play doubles. … Gigi was awesome and it was a great opportunity for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fernandez has been operating her doubles clinics for nine years and has plans to teach in every state. She is about 80% of the way there, and had hoped to stash Alaska away for her final trip. <\/p>\n

But when her kids had a soccer tournament in Seattle this summer, the timing worked out perfectly to take a trip north. <\/p>\n

\"\"Gigi Fern\u00e1ndez teaches during a doubles tennis instructional program at The Alaska Club East on Sunday, July 19. (Bill Roth \/ ADN) <\/p>\n

Longtime Alaska Club tennis director Jimmy Kayongo helped organize the clinics. He said Fernandez\u2019s approach allows players of all skill levels to be more aggressive while also playing higher percentage shots. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a great opportunity for Alaska,\u201d Kayongo said. \u201cObviously, you don\u2019t get to see this (type of instruction), and we\u2019re appreciative that she took the time to come out here and do that for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her Gigi Method is, in essence, a slightly pared-down version of the approach she used during her own playing career. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a way to play that\u2019s tried and tested,\u201d she said. \u201cIt works at all levels. It\u2019s how I used to play but modified for the level of play.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fernandez led players through several drills and strategies. Even though the group was made up of adults, younger players will likely be getting some of the tutelage as well. <\/p>\n

\"\"Gigi Fern\u00e1ndez speaks to participants after teaching a doubles tennis clinic at The Alaska Club East on Sunday, July 19. (Bill Roth \/ ADN) <\/p>\n

Paul Hemry, a coach at South Anchorage High School, said Fernandez took a lot of familiar concepts, reinforced them and built on them even further. <\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s talking about creating chaos and disrupting the other team, and so that\u2019s something we\u2019ve learned about,\u201d he said. \u201cBut she takes a little bit farther.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fernandez won her second career Grand Slam doubles title with tennis legend Martina Navratilova. But her greatest success came playing with Belarussian Natasha Zvereva. The duo won 14 Grand Slam tournaments in total from 1992-1997.<\/p>\n

In the last decade, she said she\u2019s taught around 4,000 people in person and as many as 10,000 online in what she called \u201can unexpected second career.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"\"Gigi Fern\u00e1ndez taught the Gigi Method Clinic, a doubles tennis instructional program, at The Alaska Club East on Sunday, July 19. (Bill Roth \/ ADN) <\/p>\n

\u201cI just enjoy sharing my knowledge,\u201d Fernandez said. \u201cI think it would have been a real shame if I didn\u2019t share it because I have so much of it and so many people that want to learn how to play doubles. It\u2019s been really rewarding.\u201d<\/p>\n

Doug Henie is a self-described intermediate player who plays mostly doubles. He said the focus on motion and communication will help his game. <\/p>\n

\u201cAt our level, it\u2019s about being able to move around and work with your partner so that your partner knows where you are and you know what he should be doing,\u201d Henie said.<\/p>\n

\"\"Gigi Fern\u00e1ndez personally greeted participants before teaching a doubles tennis clinic at The Alaska Club East on Sunday, July 19. (Bill Roth \/ ADN) <\/p>\n

Fernandez made a stop in Juneau and caught some good weather for whale watching and biking to Mendenhall Glacier. She also visited Seward to fish for salmon, but the recent persistent rain meant a trip to Denali was canceled. She hopes to return in the future to make that journey. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve just been super impressed with the Alaska spirit,\u201d she said. \u201cEveryone\u2019s been very cool and welcoming, so I\u2019m excited to be here.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gigi Fern\u00e1ndez \u2014 who won two Olympic gold medals in doubles and a career doubles Grand Slam and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":815908,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[49,48,123196,82,593],"class_list":["post-815907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-gigi-fernandez","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=815907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815907\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/815908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=815907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=815907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=815907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}