Gabriela Sabatini

Country	Argentina
Residence	Buenos Aires and Boca Raton
Born	16 May 1970 (1970-05-16) (age 41) Buenos Aires, Argentina
Height	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Turned pro	January 1985
Retired	1996
Plays	Right-handed (one-handed backhand)
Career prize money	$8,785,850
Int. Tennis HOF	2006 (member page)
Singles
Career record	632–189
Career titles	27
Highest ranking	No. 3 (27 February 1989)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open	SF (1989, 1992, 1993, 1994)
French Open	SF (1985, 1987, 1988, 1991, 1992)
Wimbledon	F (1991)
US Open	W (1990)
Doubles
Career record	252–96
Career titles	14
Highest ranking	No. 3 (6 November 1988)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	SF (1989)
French Open	F (1986, 1987, 1989)
Wimbledon	W (1988)
US Open	SF (1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1994)
Last updated on: 4 February 2009.

Gabriela Beatriz Sabatini (born 16 May 1970 in Buenos Aires, Argentina) is a former professional Argentine tennis player. 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, two WTA Tour Championships in 1988 and 1994, and a silver medal at the 1988 Olympic Games.

Sabatini also won most of the highest level regular events on the women's tour, including Miami and Rome (four times), and she scored a total 10 wins over every reigning number one player she faced during her career. Known affectionately as the Pearl of the Pampas, also as The Divine Argentine, her versatile stylish game and attractive Latin looks brought her a wide following, making her one of the most popular players ever on the women's tour.

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, age 13, she became the youngest player to win the Orange Bowl 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 semifinals 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. 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 the 1988 Summer Olympics held in Seoul. (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-end WTA Tour Championships.

Sabatini's next Grand Slam singles final came in 1990, where she again faced Graf in the final of the US 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 came close to attaining the World No. 1 ranking in 1991 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 (defeating Lindsay Davenport in the final of both events). But that proved to be the last singles title of Sabatini's career. In 1988 she was voted the hottest tennis player alive by Tennis Watchers of North Carolina. 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. That same year, Sabatini published a motivational book entitled My Story (ISBN 1-886612-00-5) [1], 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 14 doubles titles. She reached her highest ranking of World No. 3 in 1989. Her last professional singles match was on October 14, 1996, when she lost to Jennifer Capriati 6-3, 6-4. (Capriati's first loss on the WTA tour was to Sabatini in 1990.) Sabatini played her last professional match on October 19, 1996, in the doubles semifinals in Zürich with Lori McNeil. Sabatini was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame on July 15, 2006.

Major finals

Grand Slam finals

Singles: 3 (1-2)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
Runner-up	1988	US Open	Hard	Steffi Graf	6–3, 3–6, 6–1
Winner	1990	US Open	Hard	Steffi Graf	6–2, 7–6
Runner-up	1991	Wimbledon	Grass	Steffi Graf	6–4, 3–6, 8–6

Doubles: 4 (1-3)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents in the final	Score in the final
Runner-up	1986	French Open	Clay	Steffi Graf	Martina Navratilova Andrea Temesvári	6–1, 6–2
Runner-up	1987	French Open (2)	Clay	Steffi Graf	Martina Navratilova Pam Shriver	6–2, 6–1
Winner	1988	Wimbledon	Grass	Steffi Graf	Larisa Savchenko Natasha Zvereva	6–3, 1–6, 12–10
Runner-up	1989	French Open (3)	Clay	Steffi Graf	Larisa Savchenko Natasha Zvereva	6–4, 6–4

Olympic finals

Singles: 1 (1 silver medal)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
Silver medal	1988	Seoul	Hard	Steffi Graf	6–3, 6–3

Year-End Championships finals

Singles: 4 (2-2)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
Runner-up	1987	New York City	Carpet (i)	Steffi Graf	4–6, 6–4, 6–0, 6–4
Winner	1988	New York City	Carpet (i)	Pam Shriver	7–5, 6–2, 6–2
Runner-up	1990	New York City	Carpet (i)	Monica Seles	6–4, 5–7, 3–6, 6–4, 6–2
Winner	1994	New York City	Carpet (i)	Lindsay Davenport	6–3, 6–2, 6–4

Titles (41)

Singles (27)

No.	Event	Date	Location	Surface	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
1	VS	14 October 1985	Tokyo, Japan (Japan Open)	Hard	Linda Gates	6–3, 6–4
2	VS	1 December 1986	Buenos Aires, Argentina	Clay	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	6–1, 6–1
3	VS	14 September 1987	Tokyo, Japan (Pan Pacific Open)	Carpet (i)	Manuela Maleeva	6–4, 7–6(6)
4	VS	19 October 1987	Brighton, UK	Carpet (i)	Pam Shriver	7–5, 6–4
5	VS	30 November 1987	Buenos Aires, Argentina	Clay	Isabel Cueto	6–0, 6–2
6	Tier II	7 March 1988	Boca Raton, USA	Hard	Steffi Graf	2–6, 6–3, 6–1
7	Tier IV	2 May 1988	Rome, Italy	Clay	Helen Kelesi	6–1, 6–7(4), 6–1
8	Tier II	15 August 1988	Montreal, Canada	Hard	Natasha Zvereva	6–1, 6–2
9	WTA Championships	14 November 1988	Virginia Slims Championships, New York City	Carpet (i)	Pam Shriver	7–5, 6–3, 6–2
10	Tier I	27 March 1989	Key Biscayne, USA	Hard	Chris Evert	6–1, 4–6, 6–2
11	Tier II	10 April 1989	Amelia Island, USA	Clay	Steffi Graf	3–6, 6–3, 7–5
12	Tier II	8 May 1989	Rome, Italy	Clay	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	6–2, 5–7, 6–4
13	Tier III	9 October 1989	Filderstadt, Germany	Carpet (i)	Mary Joe Fernandez	7–6(5), 6–4
14	Tier II	5 March 1990	Boca Raton, USA	Hard	Jennifer Capriati	6–4, 7–5
15	Grand Slam	27 August 1990	US Open, New York City	Hard	Steffi Graf	6–2, 7–6(4)
16	Tier II	28 January 1991	Tokyo, Japan (Pan Pacific Open)	Carpet (i)	Martina Navratilova	2–6, 6–2, 6–4
17	Tier I	4 March 1991	Boca Raton, USA	Hard	Steffi Graf	6–4, 7–6(6)
18	Tier I	1 April 1991	Hilton Head Island, USA	Clay	Leila Meskhi	6–1, 6–1
19	Tier II	8 April 1991	Amelia Island, USA	Clay	Steffi Graf	7–5, 7–6(3)
20	Tier I	6 May 1991	Rome, Italy	Clay	Monica Seles	6–3, 6–2
21	Tier III	6 January 1992	Sydney, Australia	Hard	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	6–1, 6–1
22	Tier II	27 January 1992	Tokyo, Japan (Pan Pacific Open)	Carpet (i)	Martina Navratilova	6–2, 4–6, 6–2
23	Tier I	30 March 1992	Hilton Head Island, USA	Clay	Conchita Martínez	6–1, 6–4
24	Tier II	6 April 1992	Amelia Island, USA	Clay	Steffi Graf	6–2, 1–6, 6–3
25	Tier I	4 May 1992	Rome, Italy	Clay	Monica Seles	7–5, 6–4
26	WTA Championships	14 November 1994	Virginia Slims Championships, New York City	Carpet (i)	Lindsay Davenport	6–3, 6–2, 6–4
27	Tier II	9 January 1995	Sydney, Australia	Hard	Lindsay Davenport	6–3, 6–4

Doubles (14)

Grand slam events in boldface.

Runner-ups (44)

Grand slam events in boldface.

Singles (28)

Doubles (16)

Singles performance timeline

• NH = tournament not held.
• A = did not participate in the tournament.
• SR = the ratio of the number of tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played.

WTA Tour career earnings

See also

• Performance timelines for all female tennis players who reached at least one Grand Slam final
• Graf–Sabatini rivalry

Awards
Preceded by Diego Maradona	Olimpia de Oro 1987 – 1988	Succeeded by Eduardo Romero