The playersSteffi Graf and Gabriela Sabatini
- “Steffi” – Steffi Graf, “Fraulein Forehand”, the undisputed world number 1
Stephanie Graf was born in 1969. In 1982, at the age of 13, she became the youngest girl ever to receive a WTA ranking. After winning the exhibition at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984, he constantly improved his game and results. She reached the semifinals of the 1985 US Open at the age of 16, defeating world No. 1 Martina Navratilova (6-2, 6-3). In 1986, he won his first title at Hilton Head before reaching the semi-finals of the US Open for the second time.
Watched closely by her father, she had her breakthrough year in 1987 when she lifted her first Grand Slam trophy, defeating Navratilova in the final at Roland Garros and finishing runner-up to Navratilova at Wimbledon and the US Open. On August 17, she even took the top WTA ranking from the American, who had held it intermittently since 1982.
Graf began 1988 by winning the Australian Open title against Chris Evert (6–1, 7–6), and in June she also won Roland Garros, beating Natasha Zvereva 6–0, 6–0 in the shortest major final in tennis history. After the Wimbledon final, where she defeated six-time defending champion Martina Navratilova (5-7, 6-2, 6-1), she had established a strong dominance of the tour, and her next challenge was to win the US Open for the first time to win a Grand Slam.
- Gabriela Sabatini, Argentina’s darling, topspin queen
Gabriela Sabatini, Argentinian, was born in 1970. Becoming successful at a very young age, in 1985 he became the youngest player to reach the semi-finals at Roland Garros, where he was defeated by Chris Evert (6-4, 6-1). In the years that followed, Sabatini, displaying a beautiful one-handed backhand, established herself in the top 10, reaching the semifinals at Wimbledon in 1986 (losing to Martina Navratilova), and twice more at the French Open in 1987 and 1988, each time losing to Graf. He also won eight tour titles, most notably in Boca Raton in 1988, where he became the first player that year to defeat Graf (2-6, 6-3, 6-1). Just before the US Open, she won in Montreal, defeating Natasha Zvereva (6-2, 6-1) in the final, and she arrived in New York as the world No. 4.
The placeUS Open, New York
The US Open (known as the US Nationals until 1968 and the start of the Open Era) was founded in 1881 and, although it is the only Grand Slam tournament to have been played every year without interruption since its inception, it has moved several times in the 20th century. First held in August 1881 on the grass courts of the Newport Casino in Rhode Island, the tournament moved to New York in 1915, where it was held at the West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills until 1977 (except from 1921 to 1923, when the event was moved to Philadelphia). In 1975-1977, the event was played on clay. In 1978, the US Open left the West Side Tennis Club, now too small for such an important event, for the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York. At the same time, it was decided to change the surface to hard courts. The tennis center was one of the largest tennis complexes in the world. its center field was Louis Armstrong Stadium, which could hold 14,000 spectators.
The factsGraf wins three, imitating Cort, Connolly
In 1988, Graf was terrifyingly dominating the game, and he was the overwhelming favorite not only to claim the US Open title, but also to win the Grand Slam. She won her first three Grand Slams, losing only one set in the process, in the Wimbledon final against Martina Navratilova. She had already won eight titles and had lost just two matches on clay since the start of the year, each against the same player, Gabriela Sabatini, whom she now faced in the final at Flushing Meadows. The Argentine is fresh off a win in Montreal and has been impressive through the first six rounds of the US Open. If anyone could have stopped Graf from sealing the Grand Slam, it was him.
Graf looked tense in the first set with a Grand Slam at stake, but she was able to hold her serve and break Sabatini first to take the first set 6-3. In the second set, the world number four showed more determination and took advantage of Graf’s nerves to push the German to the third set.
In this crucial decider, Graf once again proved his mental strength to handle the pressure, while Sabatini showed signs of fatigue from the first games.
“I knew he had to be nervous,” Sabatini said. according to The New York Times, “But I was just too tired. Still, I was trying. I played the way I played against him in the last matches. I was hitting deep balls. It worries him a lot.”
Although her game was not as aggressive as usual, the German dominated her opponent, who clearly lacked stamina. Graf sealed his victory 6-3, 3-6, 6-1. He had just finished a Grand Slam. The 19-year-old rushed to her box to hug her family and her coach Pavel Sozili. A ceremony was held at the court to honor her exceptional achievement and she was presented with a bracelet with four diamonds, each representing a Grand Slam title.
Graf’s plan didn’t include throwing a party to celebrate this fourth straight major title. He was returning to Germany to recuperate before the Seoul Olympics, which were to begin in ten days.
“I was aware and the pressure was on, but if I can say anything, I wish it had been later so I could have enjoyed it more,” Graff reflected, 16 years on. later on Los Angeles Times. “In a way I feel young that it helped me, but in another way it didn’t help me maybe enjoy it as much.”
What next?Graf wins the Olympics, completes the golden Grand Slam.
Steffi Graf would go on to win the Olympics, defeating Sabatini in the final (6-3, 6-3). . She would hold the WTA No. 1 ranking until she was eventually stripped of it By Monica Seles in 1991. After Seles’ stabbing in 1993, Graf regained the top spot by 1997, setting a new record of 377 weeks as world No. 1. By winning the US Open in 1995, she would become the only woman of all time to win each of the four Grand Slam titles at least four times. When he retires in 1999Shortly after claiming his final major crown at Roland Garros, he would go on to win an astonishing total of 22 Grand Slams.
Gabriela Sabatini would rise as high as World No. 3 in 1989. He would lose to Graf in the semi-finals at the Australian and US Opens that year, but in 1990 at Flushing Meadows he eventually defeated the German to win his first and only Grand Slam title (6-2, 7-6).
In 1991, he would play his last major final (losing to Graf, 6–4, 3–6, 8–6), and then he would remain a top 10 player until 1995, reaching the semifinals of Grand Slam tournaments no less than seven times. In 1996, struggling with motivation, Sabatini would play just ten tournaments and retire at the end of the year.
