A

Gabriela Sabatini

1970-

Argentine tennis player

Argentinean Gabriela Sabatini was a teen tennis phenomenon in the mid-1980s who, while popular on the circuit, never lived up to her potential as a player. While she had a great tennis game, she only won one grand slam singles title, the U.S. Open in 1990. Sabatini left professional tennis behind in the mid-1990s to concentrate on her work in the perfume business.

Born May 16, 1970, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Sabatini was the daughter of Osvaldo and Beatriz Sabatini. Her father was an executive at General Motors, who later gave up his career to manage his daughter's tennis career.

Buenos Aires was the leading tennis city in South America, and Sabatini began playing when she was six years old. She wanted to play because her older brother was a junior player. Sabatini began taking private lessons a year later, and by the time she was 10 years old, she was the number one under-12 player in Argentina. From an early age, she was motivated to win and hated to lose.

Trains in Florida

Within a few years, Sabatini left Argentina to train with coach Patricio Apey in Key Biscane, Florida. In 1983, she began playing on the world junior tennis circuit. She was the youngest to win the Orange Bowl Girls 18 singles tournament. After being the number one ranked junior in the world in 1984, Sabatini felt she had nothing left to prove on the junior circuit.

Turns Professional

In 1985, Sabatini turned professional. Her first big splash was at the Family Circle Magazine Cup where she beat three ranked players. She later made the semifinals of the French Open, the youngest to do this at the time, but lost to Chris Evert. She finished the year ranked number 11 in the world.

Because of her young age, observers were afraid that Sabatini would burn out. She dropped out of school

when she was 14 to concentrate on tennis, though she planned on completing her education later. Sabatini had no close friends, and constantly dealt only with adults. She was also isolated on the professional tour, in part because she did not speak English for the first three years.

In 1986, Sabatini made the semifinals of Wimbledon. As her star rose in women's tennis, her looks, not unlike those of a movie star/model, led to a number of endorsement deals. She ended the year ranked in the top 10, where she would remain until 1996.

In 1988, while Sabatini won a silver medal in ladies singles tennis at the Summer Olympics, won the Virginia Slims Tournament, and made the finals of the U.S. Open, she had problems with endurance during matches. She changed coaches to Angel Gimenez, who challenged her to work on her conditioning and kept her intrested in the game. When she began as a professional, she was a baseline player, but later developed a potent serve-and-volley attack. The graceful Sabatini had a great backhand, but her serve was never strong.

Contemplates Quitting

In 1989, Sabatini was ranked number three, but she was generally regarded as not reaching her full potential as a player. Many tennis observers thought she could be a great rival to Steffi Graf, and one of the futures of women's tennis, but she never made it. Though Sabatini would appear in a semifinal of a Grand Slam every year and win a tournament every year from 1985-95 (except 1993), she did not win big.

Martina Navratilova told Robin Finn of the New York Times, "She's so erratic. Her game is more complicated than Steffi [Graf]'s, and she's got better ground strokes. But.…" In the late 1980s, Sabatini thought about quitting, admitting that she did not have the mental edge to win.

Wins U.S. Open

Sabatini addressed these issues by working with a tennis psychiatrist and hiring a new coach, Carlos Kirmayr, after losing in the first round of the French Open in 1990. She became more aggressive on the court, and won that year's U.S. Open women's singles title. She defeated Graf 6-2, 7-6.

In the early 1990s, Sabatini reached her peak as a professional, earning $4 million on the women's tour in 1990-91. She was more interested in the game than ever and played well. In 1991 and 1992, she won both the Bausch & Lomb Championship and Family Circle Magazine Cup. She also became more social with other players.

In 1992, Sabatini began having problems with tendonitis. Her relatively weak serve began being a problem in matches. Though many of her advisors thought she should take a hiatus to recover from her injuries and mentally recharge, she elected to play through her problems. After making the semifinals of the Australian Open in 1993, she did not play well in 1993 and 1994. She lost in the first round of the French Open in 1994. Sabatini switched coaches several times, but eventually returned to Kirmayr.

Sabatini's last win as a professional was the Virginia Slims championship in 1995. With injury problems, she retired in 1996, after winning no titles that season. When Sabatini retired, she primarily focused on the perfume business that she had been a part of since 1989. That year, she introduced her first fragrance, Gabriela Sabatini, and went on to develop at least eight others. She also had her own line of clothing, linens, and watches. Sabatini remained marginally involved in sports as an athlete representative to the IOC (International Olympic Committee). While she played in some exhibition tennis matches on occasion, she did not enjoy playing the game much.

When she retired, she was ranked 29th in the world. While she earned about $8-11 million from playing tennis, Sabatini made $20 million from endorsements. As Josh Young wrote in The Washington Times, "She was beautiful to watch but dull in conversation, talented but lacking killer instinct. In the end, it seems she should have gone further in tennis, but perhaps she went further than she should have."

CONTACT INFORMATION

Address: c/o Cosmopolitan Cosmetics, GmBH, Venloer Strasse 241-245, 50823 Koln Germany. Online: www.gabriela-sabatini.com.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Books

Christensen, Karen, et al, eds. International Encyclopedia of Women and Sports. New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2001.

Johnson, Anne Janette. Great Women in Sports. Detroit: Visible Ink Press, 1996.

Layden, Joe. Women in Sports. General Publishing Group, 1997.

Periodicals

Arias, Ron. "Look out, Chris & Martina—Gabriela is Gunning for You." People (September 7, 1987): 127.

Finn, Robin. "Critics' Carping Follows Sabatini." New York Times (November 12, 1989): section 8, p. 11.

Finn, Robin. "Sabatini Shifts Gears and Learns to Enjoy the Ride." New York Times (April 13, 1992): C3.

Finn, Robin. "Shedding a Demon, Sabatini Flourishes." New York Times (November 15, 1990): D23.

Finn, Robin. "Unhappy Anniversary for Stumbling Sabatini." New York Times (May 5, 1994): B23.

Frey, Jennifer. "She's Long on Talent, Short on the Serve." New York Times (September 7, 1994): B17.

"Goodbye, Gaby! Farewell With Few Regrets." The Advertiser (October 26, 1996): 58.

Honeyball, Lee. "Don't Cry for Me." Sunday Herald Sun (April 7, 2002): Z14.

Honeyball, Lee. "Whatever Happened To? Gabriela Sabatini." The Observer (February 3, 2002): 22.

Jenkins, Sally. "A New World Order." Sports Illustrated (March 18, 1991): 66.

Jenkins, Sally. "Gabriela Sabatini." Sports Illustrated (June 6, 1994): 60.

Kervin, Alison. "Model Competitor Setting Example by Continuing to Court Success." The Times (July 2, 2002): 36.

Newman, Bruce. "Talk About Net Gains." Sports Illustrated (May 2, 1988): 52.

Penner, Degen. "Egos & Ids; Tennis, Music and Perfume on Her Mind." New York Times (November 14, 1993): section 9, p. 4.

Picker, Al. "Game, Set, Match: Sabatini Bows Out." Star-Ledger (October 23, 1996): 59.

Roberts, John. "Sweet Smell of Success Off Court for Sabatini the Underachiever." The Independent (January 7, 2002): 7.

"Tennis player Gabriela Sabatini." Christian Science Monitor (August 31, 2000): 19.

Wolff, Alexander. "Upset Time." Sports Illustrated (September 17, 1990): 22.

Young, Josh. "When the Competitive Fire Finally Went, So Went Sabatini." Washington Times (October 30, 1996): 5.

Sketch by A. Petruso