Gabriela Sabatini was born on May 16, 1970, in Buenos Aries, Argentina. She won the U.S. Open tournament in 1990 along with exceptional performances in many other grand slam tournaments throughout her career. She was active from 1986-1996 during which she made a name for herself as one of Tennis’ Greatest.

Early Life

Sabatini was born 16 May 1970 in Buenos Aires, Argentina to parents Osvaldo and Beatriz Sabatini. Her father works as an executive for General Motors. She also has an elder brother. As she was growing up, Sabatini watched her father and her brother play tennis and was interested in playing herself. Being a shy kid, she did not ask her father to give her a chance to play as well. When she was 6 years old she’d practice by herself, hitting the ball against the wall. Her father soon noticed her passion for the game and enrolled her in professional training.

She proved herself to be a natural talent and by the age of ten was ranked No. 1 in Argentina in the U-12 division. As she grew, so did her skillset. She started performing consistently well and stayed No. 1 in the entire country as she moved up the ladder.  At just 13 years of age, she became the youngest player to win the Orange Bowl in Florida. Gabriela Sabatini actually started turning heads in 1984, when she won 7 out of 8 tournaments she participated in.

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Professional Career

Gabriela Sabatini continued to perform at the top level as she turned her career professional in 1985 when she was only 15 years old. The same year, she became the youngest player ever to reach the Semi-Finals of the French Open, an event she lost to Chris Evert (USA). She won her WTA-Tour Singles title later that year in Japan. In the same calendar year, she had made her way to the number 10 spot in the WTA Global Rankings. She was awarded the WTA Newcomer of the Year award.

The following year, Gabriela Sabatini reached the semifinals of the Wimbledon, the greatest stage of professional tennis. Unfortunately, she lost this semi-final as well but continued to maintain her rank in the World Top 10 list for the next 10 years, consecutively.

In 1987, Sabatini yet again reached the semis of the French Open, as well as the final of the 1987 WTA Tour Championships, but went on to lose these events as well, to the German legend Steffi Graf both times. However, she managed to win 3 WTA titles, one defeating world number 4 Pam Shriver.

Grandslam Winner

Having faced a Grandslam title drought although being a highly talented and gifted player, Gabriela Sabatini finally got her hands on the title when she won the Women’s Doubles title at Wimbledon in 1988, an event in which she partnered up with Steffi Graf. Two years after that, in the 1990 US Open, Sabatini defeated Steffi Graf in the final match to win her first Grand Slam title. She knocked Graf out in sets of 6-2, 7-6(7-4) in the match to win the title. She became the first-ever  Argentine woman to win a Grand Slam and the first South American since Brazil’s Maria Bueno had last won the title in 1966.

Gabriela Sabatini had a promising start to the 1991 season, as she went on to win 5  tournaments in just 6 months. She reached the singles finals of Wimbledon and once again faced Steffi Graf who disappointed her yet again. Sabatini came close to being ranked the World No. 1 that year but was beaten to it by Steffi Graf and Monica Seles.

Achievements

Gabriela Sabatini won many titles in her career and appeared in finals and semi-finals of various grand slam events which she unfortunately lost. She won the US Open in 1990, Women’s Doubles at Wimbledon in 1988. and two Year-End Championships in 1988 and 1994. She also won a silver medal for her country in the 1988 Olympic Games held in Seoul, Korea.  Sabatini was also the winner of most of the highest level calendar events on the women’s tour, including Miami and Rome, which she won four times.

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She was the recipient of the 1996 WTA Tour Diamond Aces Award and the 1991 WTA Tour Most Improved Player. Before that, she’d already won the WTA Tour Most Impressive Newcomer in 1985. Post her retirement, she was given the Diamond Konex Award, presented to the most relevant Sportsman of the decade in Argentina in 2001. Gabriela Sabatini was inducted into the Int’l Tennis Hall of Fame on July 15, 2006.

Retirement

Gabriela Sabatini played her last professional singles match on October 14, 1996, a match she lost to Jennifer Capriati. In retrospect, Sabatini had defeated Capriati on the WTA tour, back in 1990, handing her, her first defeat. Sabatini then played her last women’s doubles on October 19, 1996, in a semifinal game. Sabatini retired from the game in 1996, having won 27 singles titles and 14 doubles. She reached her best-ever world ranking of No. 3 in 1989.

Personal Life

Since retiring at the young age of 26, Sabatini has worked to promote her lines of perfumes and scents that she had launched back in the1980s. Gabriela Sabatini’s successful business includes a line of fragrances created in collaboration with the German perfume company Muelhens. She also works with organizations like UNICEF, UNESCO, and the Special Olympics and gives her time to various humanitarian projects to help poor children.

On 22 May 2003, Sabatini was granted Italian citizenship on behalf of her ancestry, as her great-grandfather was Italian who had emigrated to Argentina at the end of the 19th century. Gabriela Sabatini is unmarried and has no children and doesn’t like to talk about her private life in front of the media. She has homes in Buenos Aires, Argentina as well as Boca Raton, Florida, US. Although not having any romantic relationships at the present, she is very close to her family and likes to spend time with her nieces.

Personal Relationship

Gabriela had several past relationships but we don’t know who her partners were in their entirety. However, a fact that many don’t know is, she dated former US President Donald Trump back in 1989 when she was only 19. However, their affair lasted only for a couple of months. Currently, at age 51, Gabriela Sabatini is single and has not stepped into the dating scene.  Her latest relationship was with Leo Montero which ended in 1999.

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Interesting Fact

In an interview when she had already retired and was 43,  Gabriela Sabatini revealed an interesting fact about herself, claiming that she “deliberately lost matches” in her early days to avoid the limelight. Being a shy kid, she said, she’d even lost a few semi-final matches just because she was scared of giving an interview if she won important matches and tournaments.

Worth

Gabriela Sabatini, with her glittering Tennis career and her successful line of business with her signature perfumes, has earned quite a lot of fame as well as money. It is estimated that she had surpassed the $8 million earning mark, already back in 1995. She is estimated to be a lot more today, since her Perfume business generates a lot of revenue, it’s safe to assume that her net worth could be somewhere between at least $10 to $15 million.

Social Media

The tennis legend, Gabriela Sabatini does not seem to be much active on Facebook, but her Instagram and Twitter accounts are full of admirers. She has more than 145 thousand followers on Twitter and almost 240 thousand followers on Instagram who closely monitor her life events and stories.  Even after her retirement, she is very popular among her fans, those who got to see her perform back in the day, as well as the newer generation of Tennis players and followers who’d love to see her play.

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