This was one described as "one of the worst played quarter finals in US Open history". Certainly, Gaby nowhere near her best. A real testament to her fighting spirit that she went on to win.
Had to be frustrating for Pam to be number 4,5,6 for close to ten years, so far away from Chris Martina Hana and then your next but unable to win a set against your foes ranked above except in a handful of matches and then players ranked below you you need to beat so your not embarrassed to lose before your seed in a slam event.
The Maleeva sisters did have the distinction of 3 sisters that made the top 10 on the wta tour, but their games were relatively uninteresting. Katerina's game was the least dynamic and this match shows that.
Katerina moonballed a lot in her earlier years…but over time she developed hard flat strokes and hit the hardest ground strokes out of her sisters, especially on the forehand side
I have so much respect for the Maleevas. They had nothing. No support from their federation, abd certainly no personal resources other than their own discipline and sheer determination. When Manuela started playing outside Bulgaria she literally had to win every tournament. If she lost there was no money to go on. The pressure that she, and later Katerina, bore was enormous. Yulia Berberien should go down as one of the best coaches of the 20th century.
@@romania4712 😊Their story is a wonderful story. To me, that time was the best era of Women's Tennis: the late 70's to mid-90's. The Maleevas, even with all the difficulties, they triumphed and sealed a place in tennis history.
This is not a case of Sabatini outplaying Evert. chrissie beat herself here. Off day for Evert,at 33 ( old then), she wasn’t able to connect with the ball to it the ball past Sabatini plus unforced errors contributed to Sabatinis win.
😊This was a great year for Gabi.............she won (together with Graf) the Women's Doubles title at Wimbledon.............she made it to the Final of the US Open..........and she won the silver medal at the Seoul Olympics.🥈🎾
@@patrizioorru772 🙂Yes, she would win another Masters in 1994, and she would would win 3 more Championships in Roma (Il Foro Italico)....making several other Finals, where she would be "runner-up". I will never forget her dramatic and epic 5-set thriller at the Master's Final in 1990, playing Monica Seleš. She lost but it was still an amaying effort from the Divine Argentine and Pearl Of The Pampas, nonetheless.
@@patrizioorru772 Monica, was an "up and coming" player at the time, with her eyes on nº1.....but we have to give credit to Gabi for making the Final and stretching it to the 5-set limit.
Had the 90 masters final been the normal 3 set match then Gabi would have won. She led 2 sets to 1 remember. So it's Monica who actually did well to stretch it to 5 sets and win. Monica was smaller, younger and probably weaker Than Gabi.
Gracias por subir los partidos de Gaby. Para mi su peor enemigo era ella misma, su cabeza o la ponia en modo genial o la tiraba abajo y le ocurria aveces en un mismo partido. Pero como persona es intachable, un amor de persona Gaby
This is when the Year-End Women's Championships were still held at the iconic Madison Square Garden in New York City. In ten year's time, 1996, they would also hold Sabatini's retirement ceremony at that venue, which I remember vividly, as it were yesterday.
Gaby fue técnicamente perfecta, si no hubiese sufrido tanto la inestabilidad por sus altibajos, esa timidez que la doblegado por momentos, hubiese sido número 1 sin dudas, ese revés perfecto y que cuando estaba bien hacia estragos. Era la perfección verla jugar. Un ejemplo es con Marie Joe Fernandez, la estaba aplastando 6.1 / 5.1 y perdió increíblemente ese partido. Que más puede explicar eso más que su cabeza vaya a saber disparando negatividad e inseguridad en su juego. La querida Gaby fue su peor enemigo. Por eso creo que fue la más grande. ❤
At this point in her illustrious career, Chris was using/adapting to a more open stance forehand, allowing her to hit with more topspin, as well as pace, while adjusting to the graphite racquet power, that she switched too in 84 …
Martina said after this match that Gaby had "lost her way around a tennis court, and couldn't seem to decide what type of player she wanted to be; an attritional baseliner, an attacking player or a finesse player
@@abdullahsuherman2186 Yes, but this was only the 2nd time they had played since Wimbledon 1992. Their previous meeting at Filderstadt in October 1992 had been quite competitive (Martina winning 7-6, 6-3). This match was Gaby at her worst, and the joint worst defeat Martina ever inflicted on Gaby.
This was just a month and a half after Gaby had the worst collapse of her career vs MJ at the French Open. She played uninspired tennis losing to Jana in the Wimbledon quarters. Gaby seemed to fade after Wimbledon 1992 albeit she switched coaches in 93 and thrashed Arantxa 1 and 3 in the Italian Open and beat Conchita in the German Open getting her to back to back finals. Martina was right. Gaby was playing way too passively in this match and time of her career.
Creo que a Gaby la destruyó mentalmente haber perdido la SF del año siguiente con Graf estando 5-3 arriba en el tercer set...su carrera habría cambiado mucho si ganaba ese partidazo!
You can see at times here why Chris hated playing Gaby. Chris's game was from an era of wooden racquets when nobody hit with as much topspin, and her stroke mechanics weren't designed to deal with it. You can see her really backing off at times. Gabriela though not physically strong enough yet to outlast Chris.
Evert here is almost at the end of her career-knee problems and 20 years on the tour would end her career some 2 1/2 years later. However, Evert at her best had superior footwork, speed, anticipation, and killer instinct compared to Sabatini. I watched Evert, Navratilova, Graf, and Sabatini play live a few times and said Sabatini would own the French Open for sure, but the killer instinct just was not there as it was with Evert and the others. From all accounts Sabatini is a wonderful person, but her career should have had more GS titles than just one US Open. Virginia Wade on the ESPN's tape of this match, said Sabatini's style was exhausting, so with tough matches Sabatini's resolve was almost always suspect. Here, the French commentators, very pro-Sabatini, make some good points. They state early in the 2nd set the Evert herself is using topspin to push Sabatini, but Evert also hits an early flat ball to rob Sabatini of time and force her into errors. At 23:00, they point out that already Sabatini has fatigued herself and looks deflated so early in the match.
You point that out on many occasions. As a matter of fact Gaby needed another 1 and a half years to finally beat Chris for the first time in her career and it was Gaby, who did not like to play Chris at all due to her immaculate placement and anticipation. Gaby was on the run constantly and after a very shaky start this turns out to be a wonderful Match with tons of spectacular rallies! Chris prevailed and showed great from here and for the whole tournament of 1986. The way Chris hitting her shots in the third set was incredibly powerful and definitely at her physical peak before the knee injury destroyed the rest of her season and her movement in the final 3 years of her illustrious career. Gaby played sensational tennis and would have won against almost anybody else with her splendid hitting throughout this match. You really have to give Chris credit for stoping Gaby at this kind of form. The quality of play in the latter stages of this match is really high and both these ladies did a great job!
This was something of a shock result. Gaby had had a pretty poor 1990, getting a nasty injury at the Australian Open and being upset by Novotna at the French Open - leaving the court in tears. She did well to reach the semi finals at Wimbledon but then having a disappointing Summer with her best result being a shock semi final loss to Katarina Maleeva at the Canadian Open. She also didn't have an amazing record against Mary Joe. Gaby had played an awful match in the quarter finals against Meskhi too, before eventually grinding it out.
Nothing against Sabatini, but she finished playing a match against Shriver-I think the end of the third set, then Manuela Maleeva, and then Evert. The commentators make it sound as if she played two full matches right before this match. As stated, Evert played the young Graf in the morning and then Sabatini here. I remember watching this match and thinking Sabatini would be number 1 in two or three years-fantastic talent, but the serve seemed to let her down as she matured.
