Fernández first came to the tennis world's attention as an outstanding junior player who won four straight
Orange Bowl junior titles. In 1985, aged 14 years and eight days, she became the youngest player to win a main draw match at the
US Open when she defeated
Sara Gomer in the first round. Turning professional in 1986, she won her first tour doubles title in 1989 at
Dallas, partnering
Betsy Nagelsen. She was also semifinalist at the
1989 French Open, losing to
Arantxa Sánchez Vicario 2–6, 2–6. She reached her first Grand Slam singles final in 1990 at the
Australian Open, where she was defeated by
Steffi Graf 3–6, 4–6 (having held a 4–1 lead herself in the second set). She won her first
WTA Tour singles title the same year at the Tokyo Indoor championships, and finished the year ranked a career-high world No. 4 in singles. In 1991, Fernández reached the semifinals of the Australian Open, where she was match point up against
Monica Seles, before eventually losing 3–6, 6–0, 7–9. She teamed with
Patty Fendick to win the women's Australian Open doubles title. At Wimbledon, she reached the semifinals, losing to Steffi Graf in straight sets. She reached the Australian Open singles final again in 1992, beating world No. 3,
Gabriela Sabatini, in the semifinals before losing to Seles, 2–6, 3–6. She also reached the semifinals of the US Open, beating Sabatini in the quarterfinals and losing once again to Seles. At the 1992 Olympic Games in
Barcelona, Fernández was selected to represent the United States and won both a gold medal in women's doubles (with
Gigi Fernández; no relation) and a bronze medal in singles. In 1993, she won the title in
Indian Wells, defeating
Amanda Coetzer in the final. At the French Open, she defeated world No. 5 Sabatini in the quarterfinals and world No. 3 Sánchez Vicario in the semifinals. In the final against Steffi Graf, Fernandez held several points to lead 3–0 in the final set, but eventually lost 4-6, 6-2, 6-4. Fernández won her second Grand Slam doubles title in 1996 at the French Open, partnering with
Lindsay Davenport. The pair went on to capture the year-end
WTA Tour Championships doubles title later that year. She was a late replacement for
Chanda Rubin on the United States team for the 1996 Olympic Games in
Atlanta. She won a second straight women's doubles gold medal, again in partnership with Gigi Fernández. She was also entered in the singles competition (owing to a withdrawal), and reached the semifinals, defeating world No. 2,
Conchita Martínez, in the quarterfinals. She was defeated for the bronze medal by
Jana Novotná. Later that year, Fernández was a member of the U.S. team that won the
Fed Cup. Fernández reached the semifinals of the Australian Open in 1997, losing to
Martina Hingis 1–6, 3–6. In May, she won her first and only
Tier I tournament in
Berlin, beating Jana Novotná in the semifinals and
Mary Pierce in the final. At the end-of-year
WTA Finals, she defeated world No. 2, Lindsay Davenport. In 1999, she defeated
Serena Williams in the third round of the French Open and in her last Grand Slam appearance she lost to
Venus Williams in the fourth round of the US Open the same year. She retired from the tour in 2000, having won a total of 24 titles: seven
WTA singles titles and 17 doubles titles. ==Post retirement==