FORMER Wimbledon finalist Arantxa Sanchez Vicario is facing a four-year jail term if found guilty of committing fraud.
The Spaniard is alleged to have emptied out her bank account to avoid paying a debt to Banque de Luxembourg.
GettyArantxa Sanchez Vicario faces up to four years in jail if found guilty of fraud[/caption]
GettyThe Spaniard won the French Open three times[/caption]
News Group Newspapers LtdThe Spaniard is a 14-time Grand Slam champion in Singles and Doubles[/caption]
The bank chased Vicario for £6.4million and was forced to take the case to court after the payment was not made.
Prosecutors have accused Vicario and her ex-husband Joseph Santacana of moving their assets to avoid making the payment – which was owed to the bank after they covered a fine against Vicario in a previous tax fraud case.
The case will go to trial in September and if found guilty Vicario faces up to four years in prison, with her ex-husband facing a similar sentence.
Vicario, 51, could also be ordered to pay a compensation fee of £5.1m to Banque de Luxembourg.
The four-time Grand Slam champion earned around £13m over the course of her 17-year career.
She became world number one in February 1995 after reaching the Australian Open final for the second time.
Vicario failed to win the Slam down under and also finished as Wimbledon runner-up in 1995 and 1996.
Her main success came at the French Open where she became the youngest-ever winner of the competition aged 17.
She conquered Rolland Garros again in 1994 and 1998, while she was victorious at the US Open in 1994 too.
However the French Open would prove to be the only Grand Slam that eluded her in Doubles, with Vicario winning six Doubles titles across Wimbledon, the US Open and the Australian Open.
Vicario won a further four Slams in Mixed Doubles as well as a bronze and silver in the Olympics, in which she also earned a bronze and silver in the Singles event.
Her success on court led Vicario to be inducted into the Tennis Hall of Fame in 2007, before she later took up a coaching career, tutoring former world number one Caroline Wozniacki.