- Gabriela Sabatini
Infobox Tennis player
playername = Gabriela Sabatini
country = ARG
residence =Argentina
datebirth = birth date and age|1970|5|16
placebirth =Buenos Aires ,Argentina
height = 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
weight = 59 kg (130 lb)
turnedpro =January 1985
retired = 1996
plays = Right
careerprizemoney = $8,785,850
singlesrecord = 632–189
singlestitles = 27
highestsinglesranking = No. 3 (1991)
AustralianOpenresult = SF (1989, 1992–1994)
FrenchOpenresult = SF (1985, 1987, 1988, 1991, 1992)
Wimbledonresult = F (1991)
USOpenresult = W (1990)
doublesrecord = 252–96
doublestitles = 12
highestdoublesranking =
updated = 15 June 2006Gabriela Beatriz Sabatini (b.
May 16 1970 , inBuenos Aires ,Argentina ) is a former professionaltennis player. She is fromArgentina and is of Italian descent. She was one of the leading players on the women's circuit in the late-1980s and early-1990s. She won the women's singles title at the US Open in 1990, the women's doubles title at Wimbledon in 1988, and a silver medal at the 1988Olympic Games .Career
Sabatini first came to the tennis world's attention as a junior. She started playing tennis at the age of 6, and won her first tournament at age 8. In 1983, aged 13, she became the youngest player to win the Orange Bowl in
Miami ,Florida . She won six major international junior titles, including theFrench Open girls' singles, and was ranked the World No. 1 junior player in 1984.In 1985, aged 15 years and 3 weeks, Sabatini became the youngest-ever player to reach the semifinals at the French Open, where she lost to
Chris Evert . She won her first top-level singles title later that year inTokyo .In 1988, Sabatini reached her first Grand Slam singles final at the U.S. Open. She faced Germany's
Steffi Graf , who had won the three previous Grand Slam singles events that year and was looking to win a fourth. Graf won the match 6–3, 3–6, 6–1. Sabatini was selected to represent Argentina in the1988 Summer Olympics held inSeoul (she also carried the country's flag in the opening ceremony). She went on to win the silver medal in the women's singles competition. In the final, she again faced Graf, who was bidding to turn her Grand Slam into what the media had dubbed a "Golden Slam." Graf won 6–3, 6–3. Sabatini teamed-up with Graf to win the women's doubles title at Wimbledon that year. She also won 1988's year-endWTA Tour Championships .Sabatini's next Grand Slam singles final came in 1990, where she again faced Graf in the final of the U.S. Open. This time, Sabatini beat Graf 6–2, 7–6. She also beat Graf in a semifinal of the WTA Tour Championships but lost the final to
Monica Seles in the event's first-ever five-set final 6–4, 5–7, 3–6, 6–4, 6–2.Sabatini had a strong start to 1991, winning five tournaments in the first half of the year. She reached her third Grand Slam singles final at Wimbledon and yet again faced Graf. Graf prevailed 6–4, 3–6, 8–6, despite the fact that Sabatini served for the match on more than one occasion. Sabatini reached her career-high singles ranking of World No. 3 that year and came close to attaining the No. 1 ranking but was narrowly denied by Graf and then by Seles. All three players' rankings were within a few points of each other for much of the year.
After winning five tournaments in 1992, Sabatini had a 29-month drought in which she failed to win a title. She brought this run to an end at the WTA Tour Championships in 1994 and then won her first tournament of 1995 at
Sydney (defeatingLindsay Davenport in the final of both events). But that proved to be the last singles title of Sabatini's career.In 1989, she launched her own perfume, simply named "Gabriela Sabatini." Since retiring from competitive tennis, she has launched several other perfume lines. In 1992, a red-orange fiery rose was named the "Gabriela Sabatini Rose" in her honor. In 1994, the Great American Doll Company created a doll in Sabatini's likeness, dressed in tennis clothes.
In 1994, Sabatini published a motivational book entitled "My Story" (ISBN 1-886612-00-5) [http://www.amazon.com/dp/1886612005/] , providing a look at her background and the inspirations that led her to become a tennis player.
Sabatini retired from the professional tour in 1996, having won 27 singles titles and 12 doubles titles. Her last professional singles match was on
October 14 ,1996 , when she lost toJennifer Capriati 6-3, 6-4. (Capriati's first loss on the WTA tour was to Sabatini in 1990.) Sabatini played her last professional match onOctober 19 ,1996 , in the doubles semifinals inZurich withLori McNeil . Sabatini was inducted into theInternational Tennis Hall of Fame onJuly 15 ,2006 .She presented the winner's trophy to
Novak Djokovic at the2008 Internazionali BNL d'Italia inRome .Grand Slam singles finals
Wins (1)
NH = tournament not held.
A = did not participate in the tournament.
SR = the ratio of the number of Grand Slam singles tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played.
WTA Tour titles
ingles (27)
External links
*wta|id=190001|name=Gabriela Sabatini
* [http://www.tennisfame.com/famer.aspx?pgID=867&hof_id=177 International Tennis Hall of Fame profile]
* [http://www.dpo.uab.edu/~yangzw/gabysta.html Gabriela Sabatini - career highlights]
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