Manuela Maleeva

Maleeva was born in Sofia, the oldest of the three children of Georgi Maleev and Yuliya Berberyan. Her mother, who came from an Armenian family, was the best Bulgarian tennis player in the 1960s. After she retired from professional tennis in the 1970s, Berberyan started a coaching career. She coached all three of her daughters, Manuela, Katerina, and Magdalena, each of whom became a top six player.[1]

In 1982, Maleeva won the junior French Open, and also made her debut on the senior tour, ending the year ranked in the top 200.[2] In 1984, Maleeva, won five tournaments, and made her debut in the top 10 after defeating Chris Evert in the final of the Italian Open. She also won her only Grand Slam title that year – in mixed doubles at the US Open with American Tom Gullikson.[2]

In 1988, Maleeva-Fragnière, won a bronze medal in singles at the Seoul Olympics in Seoul. In 1992 and 1993, Maleeva-Fragnière registered her all-time best achievement in Grand Slam singles competition when she reached the semifinals of the US Open both years (in 1992, after beating youngest sister Magdalena in the quarterfinals).[2]

In 1994, Maleeva-Fragnière retired from professional tennis, after winning the title in Osaka where she beat Iva Majoli in the final. During her 12-year career, she won 19 WTA singles titles, four doubles titles, and one mixed doubles title. She also teamed with Jakob Hlasek to help Switzerland win the Hopman Cup in 1992.[2]

In Fed Cup competition, Maleeva twice helped Bulgaria reach the semifinals (1985 and 1987), and then led Switzerland to the quarterfinals in 1991.[2]

Maleeva married Swiss tennis coach François Fragnière in 1987 and from then on, began competing as Manuela Maleeva-Fragnière. She represented Switzerland from 1990 until her retirement. They have three children, Lora, born in 1995, Iva in 1997, Timo in 1999, but have since divorced.[1] She currently resides in La Tour-de-Peilz, about 90 km northeast of Geneva across Lake Geneva.[2][3]

Maleeva has been active in politics back in her home country, being one of the founding members of Yes, Bulgaria! which was founded in 2017. The party focuses on institutional reforms and an anti-corruption agenda.[4][5][6] Prior to that, she also advocated the 2015 Bulgarian electoral code referendum.[7][1]

Outside politics, Maleeva is also active in her foundation, Fondation Swissclinical, which she co-founded in 2008.[8] The foundation focuses on helping handicapped children and children in need by providing them with good medical care and long-term support.[3][1]

Manuela Maleeva debuted for the Bulgaria Fed Cup team in 1983. She has a 21–5 singles record and a 7–10 doubles record (28–15 overall).

Singles (21–5)

Edition	Round	Date	Against	Surface	Opponent	W/L	Result
1983 World Group I	R1	17 July 1983	Switzerland	Clay	Christiane Jolissaint	L	4–6, 6–4, 4–6
	PO	19 July 1983	Zimbabwe		Angela Longo	W	6–1, 6–0
	PO	21 July 1983	Soviet Union		Olga Zaitseva	W	6–0, 6–3
1984 World Group I	R1	15 July 1984	Great Britain	Clay	Jo Durie	W	6–4, 4–6, 6–4
	R2	16 July 1984	Soviet Union		Natasha Reva	W	6–2, 6–0
	QF	18 July 1984	Yugoslavia		Mima Jaušovec	W	3–6, 6–3, 6–1
1985 World Group I	R1	6 October 1985	Soviet Union	Hard	Larisa Savchenko	W	6–7(3–7), 6–4, 6–1
	R2	8 October 1985	Yugoslavia		Sabrina Goleš	W	6–1, 6–3
	QF	10 October 1985	Great Britain		Annabel Croft	W	6–2, 6–2
	SF	12 October 1985	Czechoslovakia		Hana Mandlíková	L	6–3, 2–6, 1–6
1986 World Group I	R1	20 July 1986	Soviet Union	Clay	Larisa Savchenko	W	6–2, 6–1
	R2	21 July 1986	France		Catherine Tanvier	W	6–0, 6–1
	QF	23 July 1986	West Germany		Claudia Kohde-Kilsch	W	6–4, 6–2
1987 World Group I	R1	26 July 1987	Greece	Hard	Angeliki Kanellopoulou	W	6–0, 6–0
	R2	27 July 1987	Indonesia		Yayuk Basuki	W	6–4, 6–0
	QF	29 July 1987	Australia		Elizabeth Smylie	W	6–4, 6–4
	SF	31 July 1987	United States		Chris Evert	L	2–6, 6–2, 4–6
1989 World Group I	R1	1 October 1989	South Korea	Hard	Kim Il-soon	W	6–1, 6–0
	R2	3 October 1989	Argentina		Mercedes Paz	W	4–6, 6–1, 6–3
	QF	5 October 1989	Australia		Anne Minter	L	3–6, 6–2, 4–6
↓  Representing   Switzerland  ↓
1991 World Group I	R1	23 July 1991	Argentina	Hard	Mercedes Paz	W	6–0, 7–6(7–5)
	R2	24 July 1991	China		Li Fang	W	6–7(5–7), 7–5, 6–2
	QF	25 July 1991	Czechoslovakia		Jana Novotná	L	4–6, 4–6
1992 World Group I	R1	14 July 1992	Sweden	Clay	Catarina Lindqvist	W	6–0, 6–2
	PO	16 July 1992	Israel		Anna Smashnova	W	6–1, 6–0
	PO	17 July 1992	Paraguay		Rossana de los Ríos	W	6–2, 6–2

Doubles (7–10)

Edition	Round	Date	Partner	Against	Surface	Opponents	W/L	Result
1983 World Group I	PO	19 July 1983	Marina Kondova	Zimbabwe	Clay	Angela Longo Lindsay Standen	W	6–4, 6–2
	PO	21 July 1983	Adriana Velcheva	Soviet Union		Svetlana Cherneva Larisa Savchenko	L	4–6, 3–6
1984 World Group I	R1	15 July 1984	Katerina Maleeva	Great Britain	Clay	Amanda Brown Anne Hobbs	W	7–6, 7–5
	R2	16 July 1984	Katerina Maleeva	Soviet Union		Elena Eliseenko Larisa Savchenko	L	7–5, 5–7, 1–6
	QF	18 July 1984	Katerina Maleeva	Yugoslavia		Sabrina Goleš Mima Jaušovec	L	3–6, 1–6
1985 World Group I	R1	6 October 1985	Katerina Maleeva	Soviet Union	Hard	Natalia Egorova Svetlana Cherneva	W	6–3, 7–5
	R2	8 October 1985	Katerina Maleeva	Yugoslavia		Sabrina Goleš Aila Winkler	W	6–4, 7–6(9–7)
	QF	10 October 1985	Katerina Maleeva	Great Britain		Jo Durie Anne Hobbs	L	4–5, Ret.
	SF	12 October 1985	Katerina Maleeva	Czechoslovakia		Hana Mandlíková Helena Suková	L	3–6, 6–7(4–7)
1986 World Group I	R1	20 July 1986	Katerina Maleeva	Soviet Union	Clay	Svetlana Cherneva Larisa Savchenko	L	6–1, 4–6, 1–6
	QF	23 July 1986	Katerina Maleeva	West Germany		Bettina Bunge Claudia Kohde-Kilsch	L	4–6, 2–6
1989 World Group I	R1	1 October 1989	Katerina Maleeva	South Korea	Hard	Kim Il-soon Lee Jeong-myung	W	7–5, 6–0
	R2	3 October 1989	Katerina Maleeva	Argentina		Florencia Labat Mercedes Paz	W	6–1, 3–6, 6–1
	QF	5 October 1989	Katerina Maleeva	Australia		Elizabeth Smylie Janine Tremelling	L	7–5, 4–6, 0–6
↓  Representing   Switzerland  ↓
1991 World Group I	R2	24 July 1991	Cathy Caverzasio	China	Hard	Li Fang Yi Jing-Qian	L	1–3, Ret.
	QF	25 July 1991	Cathy Caverzasio	Czechoslovakia		Jana Novotná Regina Rajchrtová	W	6–4, 2–1, Ret.
1992 World Group I	R1	14 July 1992	Michèle Strebel	Sweden	Clay	Maria Lindström Maria Strandlund	L	4–6, 7–5, 4–6

Maleeva's win-loss record against certain players who have been ranked world No. 10 or higher is as follows:

Players who have been ranked world No. 1 are in boldface.

• Katerina Maleeva
• Magdalena Maleeva
• List of female tennis players

• Manuela Maleeva at the Women's Tennis Association
• Manuela Maleeva at the International Tennis Federation
• Manuela Maleeva at the Billie Jean King Cup

Awards
Preceded by Conny Kissling	Swiss Sportswoman of the Year 1993	Succeeded by Vreni Schneider