| Show At 19 she's the thirdranked woman in tennis But fans say there's more THE OF suAlii3A vi WHEN GABRIELA SABATINI stepped onto Centre Court at Wimbledon to play her opening match this June it was already 8 pm and the darkening sky threatened rain Sabatini the No 3 player in the world was to face Dianne Balestrat an unknown she should put away easily There was little reason for fans to stay But they did In fact more arrived many of them having "queued" as the British say since noon to catch a glimpse of the Latin beauty some have called the sexiest woman in tennis Sabatini seemed oblivious to the stir she was creating She pulled a Prince racket from her bag and slipped off her white sweat jacket revealing the blouse and tennis skirt underneath—all creations of Sergio Tacchini the Italian designer who has signed Sabatini as an endorser By the time the match began she had already captured the crowd They absorb her every move: her dance along the baseline her back arching as she serves the powerful forehand They lean forward to get a closer look at her face dark from the South American sun It's not only at Wimbledon that Sabatini inspires this kind of interest Everywhere she goes on the tour she finds herself the focus of an ever-largfollowing of male fans Why? She's pretty yes But there's something else What is it about her that so fascinates? I met with Gabriela a few days earlier at the Gloucester Hotel in London She had just arrived after a flight from Argentina but she looked fresh dressed d in white blouse jeans and black flats As we sat in the hotel lounge before dinner with her brother Osvaldo Jr her coach and a childhood friend I asked about her following "I like that people like me—I don't really think about being sexy" said Gabriela "My sister is pretty but she's not sexy" Osvaldo said protectively "Everybody likes her" Like her technique on the court Sabatini seems to come by all the attention naturally She does not seek it she says If anything until now she has shied away from it Gabriela "Gaby" Sabatini was born in Buenos Aires in 1970 When she was 6 Osvaldo gave her an old tennis racket and she started hitting balls against a ii she beat three i top10 g players Now she's near the top herself has sponsors clamoring for At 14 0 g endorsvments b (g perfume named for her What's missing? A serious I idt 1 even has a — boyfriend t 36' she says 0 ' ?N - ?- i:!- - N 4) er 4t L ur 1 Jo stone-washe- L - lia What tennis star is it about soft-spok- i) full-tim- shy teenage that seems to fascinate so many? BY ezi -- z::::- - - o wall Her affinity for the game surprised her father He enrolled her in a clay court program and soon she was beating all the girls in her age category The little girl with dark pigtails punched the ball so hard that people accused her of having only raw power and little talent But she was to prove them wrong Sabatini left Argentina after only one year of junior high moving to Key Biscayne Fla to train seriously For the first time she was away from her country and her family She didn't speak a word of English "She always traveled with a Sony Walkman" recalls Mercedes Paz a friend and tennis pro from Argentina who translated for her in the early days "She loved Chicago Whitney Houston Phil Collins She would listen to the music and then write the words out—trying to figure out the meaning" At 14 she made a silent but strong statement about her future on the pro tour: She defeated three top-1- 0 players— Zina Garrison Pam Shriver and Manuela Maleeva—and went on to become the youngest semifinalist in the history of the French Open "After the French Gaby's life changed" says Paz "Everyone started talking about her especially in Argentina We would go to the movies or restaurants and everybody would recognize her Argentina is a country that doesn't have many idols and so everybody is really proud of the people who represent our country" However Sabatini's natural reticence and her difficulties with English did not make her popular with the other women on the tour The players accused her of keeping too much to herself not mixing with the rest of them and never saying hello in the locker room In 1986 homesick and lonely Sabatini asked her father—a quiet man who was a General Motors plant manager for 29 years—to retire and travel e with her At many tournaments she was accompanied by her mother and brother also Their presence seemed to fortify her "My family is the most important thing to me" she says Sabatini now lives in Key Biscayne one month out of the year training with her coach Angel Gimenez But Argentina is home "I love to go back" 0 t- - - ELIZABETH COMTE PAGE 12 SEPTEMBER 3 1989 PARADE MAGAZINE |
