Відео

Have the feeling that if a spectator yelled “ we love you Martina” at beginning of third set Martina would’ve won 6-0.

The two male commentators are dinosaurs. Constant remarks about the looks of the players, belittling comments about how "simple" the tennis is, etc.

Laura Gildemeister is Laura Arraya?

Now this looks like a WTA . Nowadays they look like high schoolers compared to this era

Such a shock result at the time. Steffi had seemed back to her old form thought the tournament, steam rollering Capriati, Novotna and Sanchez-Vicario for the loss of just 10 games in total. She said some time after this match that she'd had the worst attack of nerves she ever had before this match and was so devastated after the loss, she didn't leave her hotel room for days. As for Gaby, she played a brilliant tactical match. Basically slow balling Steffi with floating slice and keeping her pinned back with heavy topspin, before making her way to the net whenever she could.

Мартина лучшая на все времена ❤❤❤❤❤

Interesting comparison of young Sabatini to Bueno. 'Powerful and fluid'

For somebody with such excellent footwork, Steffi's overhead was always very suspect. She just didn't seem to move in position properly, didn't prepare well and often caught it late. She always looked slightly self conscious when she had to hit a smash.

40lbs of string tension? Holy cow!

Some of the unusual stats of their rivalry is that Gaby never beat Steffi on red clay, and only one of her wins came outside of the USA (Tokyo 1991).

Christ, that commentator didn't know when to keep his trap shut!

It looked to me like Sabatini made that last shot....🤷‍♀️

Martina was at the end of her singles career here She would have defeated sabatini a few years earlier no prob Martina was the best rep of women’s tennis ever She changed the game by approaching net - no more baseline women’s tennis And she was always honest about everything her sexuality, she cried when she lost - open book and class act and did so damn much for gays What a legend what a great American hero still going strong on what matters trying to save women’s sports at great cost to herself - attacked for protecting women’s sports and championing integrity and fair play - I don’t have idols not really but I think Martina is just the coolest - brave , smart, the goat in my book -

Creo que Gabriela durante este tramo de 1993 había recuperado la plenitud de su juego y estaba casi al nivel del primer semestre de 1993.incluso sus golpes eran más potentes. El tema es que Graf en 1993 había vuelto a su mejor tenis...

Even women’s double were more awesome and athletic than nowadays!

GOLDEN ERA IN FEMALE TENNIS...

Sabatini’s performance was flatter then MJ Fernandez ground strokes

Graf went off the boil, proves she’s human, never had a day like this except against Monica a couple of times. Sabatini is riding momentum and if graf had been able to show more patience and win a game things could’ve turned around. from 3-0 down graf wanted off the court. Graf rushes.

Chris is so eager and hungry knowing if she’s going to win a slam it’s here at French 85.

Both Steffi and Gaby ended up playing doubles with Lori McNeil at the US Open. Steffi in 1990 and Gaby in 1996.

Though Sabatini lost this match, it was a good 3-setter. But, then she loses to Martina again 6-2, 6-0 the following week on same surface. This is what frustrated me about Gaby, her lack of consistency from match to match.

It's always been odd to me that Gaby never achieved great success after the 1990/1991 season. Towards the end of her career, she was physically at her strongest and was moving around the court the best she ever had. I know she was probably also starting to feel mentally burnt out first, after losing the 1991 Wimbledon final then not defending her USO title. I really think that knocked her down a few pegs in confidence. Then her 1993 total choke against Mary Joe Fernandez at the French was probably the last straw for her, despite her winning the 1994 Year End Championship. Even in her match against Steffi at the USO in 1995, I was so impressed with her physical condition and the efficiency of her strokes.

Good win for Graf/Sabatini. Garrison and McNeil are so good with their hands and their speed.

Perfect example of Gaby and her coaches playing with her service motion too much. In this match, she's got a low toss and quick motion, with relatively weak results, especially that second serve. By the end of the year, she was serving much stronger, using a higher toss and more extended motion with better results, winning the 1994 YE Championships, including beating Martina in her final singles match.

I wish Sabatini would have reached her full potential as a player, but she was never able to overcome her biggest weaknesses; her mental strength, her serve, and her movement. I wish she had worked with a psychologist more (I believe she worked with one when she won the USO) to help her focus on just winning. I know she had insecurities about being in the spotlight that originated in the juniors, but she never seemed to get out of that mindset and see herself as a true champion. Her serve was tinkered with so many times in her career that I blame her coaches. Her service motion in this match was great and she should have stuck with this. And her movement was just slow, like she was flatfooted all the time. I wish she had taken 3 months off to strengthen her legs/calves with weights to give her explosive power like Steffi and Arantxa. Even Monica moved better. But she's still a great champion and had a great career considering. Just proves how raw her talent was.

❤

Gabriela I love you Forever

Another version of Sabatini's service motion. I have never seen a player whose coaches has tinkered with his/her service motion as much as Gaby. This short toss, quick strike motion during 1993 was completely ineffective and didn't even have the tremendous spin her off-speed serve had during 1990/1991 when she seemed to be at the peak of her career. This much tinkering gave her little confidence in her game and I'm convinced that was a big part of why she didnt' achieve the level of greatness she deserved. Gaby's service motion at the start of her career was perfectly fine, she just needed to add a bit more power, especially on the second serve. Ironically, she ended her career with a service motion (higher toss, more explosion upwards into the motion) more akin to how she started her career.

Apart from the fact that I think Jana preferred players who hit flat (so she could rebound their pace against them) Jana seems to have had a bit of a mental block against Gaby and had a 3-10 head to head. Jana's chokes against Steffi are now well known, but in the early 90s she also had a set of horror matches against Gaby where she lost from a winning position, in some from match point up: *1990 Zurich: 6-7, 7-5, 7-6 to Gaby after Jana served for the match at 6-5 in the final and was 30-0 up. *1990 tour finals: 6-1, 5-7, 7-6 to Gaby after both players had taken turns to choke. Gaby was up 6-1, 5-2 and served for the match twice. She missed a match point before Jana came back. Jana then had Gaby down 4-5, 0-40 in the final set and missed all three match points. She then had another match point when Gaby was down 5-6, which she missed. *1991 French Open - Gaby won 5-7, 7-6, 6-0 after being down 5-7, 2-5. Jana served for the match twice and had two match points in the second set tiebreak. After all of those recent close matches against Jana, Gaby joked afterwards “I wasn’t sure I was going to win the match until she had match point."

Paris crowds 100pct of the time worst and nearly 100pct of the time wrong and 100pct of the time demand of everyone you believe as they believe. That's the arrogance everyone perceives.

For being such a young player, Gabriela never had court speed.

Martina 18 GLS Gabriela 1 GLS

Gabbi at her best. So stunning.RSA

QUE BUEN PARTIDO!!!

Габи такая красивая❤❤❤

Steffi said some time after this match that just before she stepped on court, she'd had the worst attack of nerves she'd ever had. She said the defeat affected her very badly and she didn't leave her hotel room for days. It's a good indicator of what sn unhealthy environment tennis is at times. It can leave players with a kind of post traumatic stress disorder. I always remember the story of how Roger Federer's wife sometimes used to have to calm him down at night as he would sometimes wake up screaming.

Gaby at the peak of her powers. Confident that she knew exactly what to do to beat Steffi. Her tennis was versatile and aggressive. Steffi by contrast having a real crisis of confidence in 1991. Not really sure what to do and looking edgy and brittle.

These types of matches by Gaby caused me so much frustration with her. Yes, Jana (RIP) played well, but Gaby played so passively. She played pretty much with no strategy outside of just hitting the ball back. No depth to her topspin shots. Missing sliced backhands long. Even when she's bouncing around on the second serves, she just hits a loopy shot right down the middle versus a penetrating shot crosscourt or down the line. I've seen her play this type of match against Seles and Sanchez-Vicario so many times after doing the complete opposite against Graf the round before.

A lot of people questioned why Martina was playing several clay court events in 1990 when she was skipping the French Open, given that she'd also skipped the red clay season completely in 1989. In 1990 she played both in Rome and Hamburg.

Not only was Graf’s handshake pathetic but was disrespectful considering she almost hit Gaby in the face with her attempted passing shot

Gaby’s finest win. I loved her so much. This match also contributed to open the field even further. 1990 was the first season since 1981 with four different winners. Graf struck back, beating Gaby in Zurich and Worcester but Gaby beat her again in the semis of the wta tour championship before losing to Seles in a 5-set thriller ❤

Sabatweenie and all one handed backhands. Awesome.

I mean, 4 of the most talented women to have ever played the sport. Can't ask for more. Would like it to have gone to 3 sets, but how can you compete with two of the best volleyers the women's game has ever had in Martina and Hana. Impressed that Graf/Sabatini challenged a bit in the second set.

Poor Gaby.....this match finished her

The two most attractive tennis girls of all time! 😍😍

Martina’s backhand falling apart towards the end here. That didn’t happen too often indoors.

Que Tiempos ❤❤

Ví ese partido en directo por tv... fue una gran alegría para todo el país...

Gabriela siempre decepciónando en esos partidos importantes

Chris’ post match interview shows what’s great spirits and mental fortitude she had.