Gabriela Sabatini

Gabriela Sabatini ( born May 16, 1970 in Buenos Aires ) is a former Argentine tennis player.

  • 4.1 Single
  • 4.2 double

Career as a tennis player

In the late 1980s and in the 1990s Sabatini, whose professional career lasted from 1985 to 1996, was one of the best tennis players in the world. She stayed for ten years in the top ten in the world rankings. Between 1990 and 1994, she was at Grand Slam tournaments even 15 times in a row in the quarterfinals. In 1995, she came before up to third place in the WTA world rankings. Height of her career was winning the U.S. Open in 1990 when she could conquer her Dauerrivalin Steffi Graf. They also twice won the WTA Tour Championships. Overall, the career of Südamerikanerin in the shadow of the Germans, with whom she at Wimbledon once in double won the title in 1988 was. In the final against Graf Sabatini 1988 defeat at the Olympic Games in Seoul and achieved the silver medal.

Biography

Beginnings as a professional athlete

Gabriela Sabatini began playing at the age of 6 years of tennis. Her first tournament victory was followed two years later. In 1983, at the age of 13 years, Sabatini became the youngest winner of the traditional Orange Bowl of sub -18 -year-olds. Overall, the Argentine won six Grand Slam singles titles at the junior and in 1984 performed as the best junior player in the world.

1985 was Sabatini - she was 15 years and 3 weeks old - the youngest player who was drafted by then the semi-finals of the French Open. They defeated the later champion Chris Evert. That same year, Sabatini succeeded in Tokyo, the first tournament victory on the WTA Tour.

Rivalry with Steffi Graf

Many experts saw Sabatini as the great challenger of Steffi Graf in the battle for No. 1 in women's tennis. In fact, the duel between the two developed by the rivalry between Martina Navratilova and Evert to neo- classic of the tour. They met each other 40 times, with Graf 29 times, Sabatini only 11 times the victory was. Not less than 21 games were decided in the third set.

As so often with great rivalries, the duel in appearance, style of play and personality so different women and women received a special poignancy. On the one hand the shy, closed German, who played without frills with their smooth whipped forehand and the deep undercut backhand balls to keep the ball deep sought and the points could not finish soon enough; on the other hand, the fiery Südamerikanerin whose strategy it was her punches to play with heavy topspin on Graf's backhand and the seemingly sedate moving on the court.

If the Südamerikanerin the Germans made ​​phase-wise hard to create and it sometimes looked as if she could tilt the circumstances - at the big tournaments kept Graf almost always have the upper hand and so was a more successful career by Sabatini in the way. Nine times the encounter with Graf in Grand Slam tournaments was ( in quarter -, semi-finals and finals ) is equivalent to the demise of the Argentine, seven time this happened in the semi-finals and twice in a playoff. By 1987, the Argentine did not succeed in defeating the German. In Graf's best years 1988 and 1989 she was the one, however, who gave her some of their few defeats. In 1990, she won no less than five times in a row and has been for Graf - at least for a while - almost afraid to respondent.

1988 reached the Argentine her first final in singles at a Grand Slam tournament. At the U.S. Open, she met Count, who had previously won the three biggest tournaments of the year. As so often, the game developed in phases closely. But Graf finally won with 6:3, 3:6 and 6:1, and completed the Grand Slam. Even with the shortly afterwards held the Olympic Games of Seoul, as they plated these, Graf prevented in the final triumph of Südamerikanerin. At the end of Sabatini then won the first of two WTA Tour Championships.

1990-1992: Playful reorientation and greatest hits

The years 1990-1992 were the most successful in the career of Argentine. In 1990, she won two, in 1991 and 1992, six five tournaments.

To break Graf's dominance, Sabatini tried under their new coach Carlos Kiermayr to change their game, often to advance to the grid and to attack the German on the backhand side. In 1990, when Sabatini moved again to the finals of the U.S. Open, she had thus equals success. This one time could Sabatini take chances and hit the German 6:2 and 7:6. She beat Graf then also in the semifinals of the WTA Tour Championships, the finals but lost in the first five- set match in women's tennis with 4:6, 7:5, 6:3, 4:6 and 2:6 against Monica Seles.

Also in 1991 Sabatini started strong: In the first half of the year, she won five tournaments in a row. In Florida, Miami and Amelia Iceland, she won victories over their German female opponent. In the finals of Rome she succeeded even a victory over the gambling at the peak of their skills new world number one Monica Seles. At Wimbledon, she moved into her third Grand Slam final, where they again faced Steffi Graf. It was the 30th meeting of the two nearly -matched players. The German won after victories in the last five encounters this time in a hard- fought match finally with 6:4, 3:6 and 8:6. Sabatini had served several times to win the match in the final set and was just two points from victory. During this time she also reached the third place in the world rankings, and was for a short time only a few points behind Graf and Seles back.

The beginnings of 1992 seemed this overall positive development in her career first to confirm: Sabatini started with a tournament victory in Sydney, won the Pan Pacific Open, Hilton Head, Amelia Iceland ( against Graf) and repeated her victory over Monica Seles in Rome. But then broke the winning streak.

1992-1996: Due to adult finale

After five tournament victories in 1992 the performance of the Argentine fell off. During 29 months she succeeded no other title. 1994 Sabatini won for the second time then the WTA Tour Championships. In 1995 it seemed at first as if she could carry on from this success. She won in Sydney for the start of the year against Lindsay Davenport. But this should be her last career success. In the quarter- finals of the French Open and Wimbledon in the semifinals of it even came to the meeting with the old rival Graf, who could clearly decide both duels for themselves.

A persistent abdominal muscle injury gave the Argentnierin 1996, a month-long break. You missed Paris and Wimbledon and fell for the first time since 1985, from the top ten in the world rankings. In July, she returned to the court, without being able to build on previous successes. At the U.S. Open she retired already in the third round. Their last Game of Sabatini in October during the European Indoor Championships in Zurich. She lost as number 26 in the world in the first round with 3:6 and 4:6 against returnee Jennifer Capriati.

On October 27, 1996 Gabriela Sabatini explained on the edge of the WTA Tour Championships in New York's Madison Square Garden their retirement from professional tennis. The Argentine had at this time won 27 singles and 14 doubles titles and recorded more than 8 million U.S. dollars in prize money.

Gabriela Sabatini in 2006 was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

Second Career as a Business Woman

After her tennis career, Sabatini established as a successful businesswoman. Already at the age of 18 from Argentina in 1989 the German company Mühlens had, meanwhile, Wella / Cosmopolitan Cosmetics, awarded ( cologne ) a license for a fragrance line under their name. Even her first perfume, Gabriela Sabatini, was a great success. At that time they laid the foundation for an international perfume brand that a number Gabriela Sabatini - fragrances for men and women brought forth in recent years and achieved since 1989 more than 600 million Euros in sales (2003 ). This type of marketing has proved to be leading the way for other perfume brands by celebrities, such as those of Priscilla Presley, Cindy Crawford and Naomi Campbell.

A new rose breeding bears the name Gabriela Sabatini.

Offered perfumes

  • Gabriela Sabatini (1989)
  • Magnetic (1992)
  • Daylight (1992)
  • Cascaya (1994 )
  • Bolero (1997)
  • Cascaya Summer ( 1998)
  • Wild Wind (1999)
  • Wild Wind for Men (2000)
  • Summer ( 2000)
  • Dévotion (2001)
  • Dévotion for Men (2001)
  • Private Edition (2003)
  • Temperamento (2004)
  • Elegance (2005)
  • Ocean Sun (2006)
  • Latin Dance (2008)
  • Miss Gabriela (2013 )

Best Merits

Performance at Grand Slam tournaments

Singles

Doubles

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