Manuela Maleeva-Fragnière

Professional tennis player Manuela Maleeva-Fragnière represented Bulgaria from 1982 to 1989 before representing Switzerland from 1990 onwards after her marriage to a Swiss tennis coach. Maleeva-Fragnière won a mixed doubles Grand Slam title and an Olympic bronze medal, and was ranked the world #3 singles player in February 1985.

Maleeva-Fragnière won the junior singles title at the 1982 French Open with a straight sets victory against American Penny Barg. Between 1984 and 1994 Maleeva-Fragnière won 19 singles and four doubles titles on the WTA Tour. At Grand Slams she reached the singles quarter-finals at all four tournaments, including reaching the semi-finals at the US Open in 1992 and 1993. Her best Grand Slam performance was winning the mixed doubles at the 1984 US Open with American partner Tom Gullikson. Maleeva-Fragnière was a mainstay in the Fed Cup, initially representing her country of birth before playing for Switzerland from 1991 onwards. During her Fed Cup career she amassed a 21–5 singles record and a 7–10 doubles record.

Representing Bulgaria, Maleeva-Fragnière competed in the singles and doubles at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. In the doubles she partnered with her sister [Katerina Maleeva] but the pair did not advance past the first round. In the singles, however, she went on to win the bronze medal, losing to Gabriela Sabatini of Argentina in the semi-finals. It was the first and only time (through 2022) that Bulgaria had won an Olympic medal in tennis. Four years later she returned to the Olympics, this time representing Switzerland at the 1992 Barcelona Games. She did not emulate her previous performance but did reach the singles quarter-finals where she lost to Mary Joe Fernandez.