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Gabriela Sabatini
Gabriela Sabatini (b. May 16, 1970, in Buenos Aires, Argentina)
is a former professional tennis player from Argentina. 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 1988 Olympic Games.
Sabatini first came to the tennis world's attention as a
brilliant junior player. 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 18s in Miami, Florida. She won six major international
junior titles, including the French 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 semi-finals at the French Open, where she lost to Chris
Evert. She won her first top-level singles title later that year in Tokyo.
In 1988, Sabatini reached her first Grand Slam singles final
at the US Open. In the final she faced Germany's Steffi Graf, who had won
three previous three Grand Slam events that year and was looking to complete
the set. Sabatini put up a brave fight, but Graf was not to be denied and
won 6-3, 3-6, 6-1. Sabatini was selected to represent Argentina in the Olympic
Games in Seoul that year, and carried the country's flag in the opening ceremony.
She won the Silver Medal in the women's singles competition. In the final
she faced Graf (bidding to turn her Grand Slam into what the media had dubbed
a "Golden Slam") and lost 6-3, 6-3. Sabatini teamed-up with Graf
to win the women's doubles title at Wimbledon that year. And she also won
1988's year-end WTA Tour Championships.
Sabatini's next Grand Slam final came in 1990, where she
again faced Graf in the final of the US Open. This time Sabatini seized her
opportunity and beat Graf in straight sets 6-2, 7-6. She also beat Graf in
the semi-finals of the Tour Championships that year, but lost in 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 that year, and yet again faced Graf. In an epic final, Graf
eventually 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 agonizingly close to attaining
the No. 1 ranking but was narrowly denied by Graf and Seles – all three
players' rankings were within a few points of each others' for much of the
year.
After winning five tournaments in 1992, Sabatini had a 29-month
drought in which she failed to win any titles. She brought this run to a
dramatic end at the WTA Tour Championships in 1994, and then followed this
up by winning her first tournament of 1995 at Sydney (defeating Lindsay Davenport
in the final of both events). But that proved to be the last singles title
of Sabatini's career.
Sabatini retired from the professional tour in 1996, having
won 27 singles titles and 12 doubles titles.
Sabatini launched her own perfume, simply named Gabriela
Sabatini, in 1989. Since retiring from competitive tennis, she has launched
further perfume lines. In 1992, a red orange fiery rose was named the "Gabriela
Sabatini Rose" in her honour. In 1994, the 'Great American Doll Company'
created a doll in Sabatini's likeness, dressed in tennis clothes.
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