Chris Evert d. Gabriela Sabatini - 1985 Family Circle Cup (Tennis Birth of Sabatini)

[akimtennis]

It was an amazing run for Gaby :) You could see she was so talented:)

[exposednerve12]

You can tell here how much more gifted and athletic Sabatini is than Evert, but Chris was smarter. That's why she won here, and all those other matches.

[Paglia444]

The real story that day was how pinpoint Chrissie was with her groundies.

[vlovesrafa]

I remember watching this match on NBC.I thought Gaby had a lot of promise.She went on to become one of my favorite players.Love beautiful Gaby and her beautiful game.Too bad she won only 1 major.

[hydrolito]

@vlovesrafa She won in two majors. Doubles at Wimbledon in 1988, and singles at U.S. Open in 1990. She made it to one other grandslam final, and 9 sf in singles and also to 3 grandslam finals and 6 semifinals in doubles, she made it to #3 in singles and also #3 in doubles. 27 tiles singles, 14 doubles titles. According to Wikipedia.

[SailorVVV]

lmao the point at 5:30. "oh. ohh. oohhhhh!"

[trent8002003]

Manuela was once no.5. That says more about the sorriness of women tennis then than the Bulgarian girls' calibre.

[jokerwildest]

@trent8002003 Manuela was once number 3

[chrissen1]

The Maleeva sisters-as Pam Shriver called them "moo & boo", (before the 3rd came on the tour). Gaby had power thats for sure, but unfortunately it seemed she never had the consistency necessasy to win more on the tour-particularly when she went up against Graf and others...BTW-her girlfriend of the last 10 yrs or so is a knock out. Hope she's enjoying life after tennis.

[hairbrush81]

@chrissen1 she also could have used more power too. Graf and Seles flat out overpowered her in big matches over the years.

[natsolog]

@chrissen1 Do you know her girlfriend??

[LobOverTheBackhand]

Did JoAnn leave the booth? Bud was being a bit snippy with her early on. 

[personify505]

couldnt they play on monday?

[BTURNER1961]

Now if you were due to run out of gas, after playing two previous matches, who would be the last person you'd want to play on a clay court - unless it were to be televised?

[Sepir29]

If you look at the technical side of hitting the balls, you see that the players did not really run or the Top Spin was played different then nowa days. Gaby or Chriss do not jump into the balls, Gaby just stands almost by hitting her Top Spin balls. Only three years later the game has changed suddenly.

[grafgirl27]

It is funny how Gaby was giving more trouble to Chris and the other huge names than the older Graf when both were first coming up and in their pre puberty stages. Graf always had Gabys number though.

[spacecolt]

@grafgirl27 well, mostly early.... not the 5 in a row Gaby won in 1990/91? I mean after that, a LOT of people had gaby's number, she kind of collapsed.

[grafgirl27]

@spacecolt True but Graf wasnt exactly playing her top tennis in 1990 and 1991 either when Gaby had that streak. Sabatini did make some tactical changes and had finally figured out some better ways to approach playing Graf too though.

[kljMN2]

I miss the days of Seles and Sabatini.....

[adsie79]

Thanks for this!

[kljMN2]

Just from watching this clip of Gaby at 14, she had so much game. Who would have thought she'd only win one major?

[spartyutube]

Aaah- Gaby makes her pro splash at 14! I remember watching this on tv!

[justnatural]

funny Chris is looking rather smug probably thinking yep ive got this new generation under wraps like i have most in the past, little knowing Graf and Sabatini were about to take over her mantle and Graf to beat her 7 times in a row at the end of her career.... still Chrissys groundstrokes are beautiful and rhythmic to watch and her consistency is umatched

[thadxxx]

cute.. it's funny because Gaby actually made her big introduction into tennis before Steffi.. Gaby would go to the French semis that year(losing to Evert). At this time, I think everyone expected her to win more than just 1 grand slam.

[karrtt1234]

@thadxxx Steffi actually lost to Chris here in the semi-final, and in the quaters at the French in 85, so the round before Sabatini in both cases.

[hairbrush81]

@karrtt1234 yeah but if they played one another Graf would have still beaten Gaby. Gaby was always Graf's doormat, especialy in big matches.

[karrtt1234]

I thought that Sabatini finished her quater-final which was in progress from the previous day, and then play the semi and the final, as did Chris play the semi and the final ?

[spacecolt]

@karrtt1234 Yes, finished the QF then played SF & final, Chris played semi against Graf & then the final. Then Chris played doubles with Bassett after this match. It was a mess.

[RaleighNC306]

I forgot to say I love how Bud used to just be snippy with JoAnn Russell. I miss their banter, excpet that JoAnn was sooooooooooo in the tank for Steffi when she was commentating on her matches.

[RaleighNC306]

Gaby always walked she was tired to me...lol. Poor girl must've been exhausted...obviously.

[johnblacklovesmar]

I expected the commentators after the match to go give flowers to Sabatini. A little overkill in their comments imo.

[kljMN2]

Thanks! I really like seeing these clips from the early '80s. I didn't start watching tennis a lot until the late part of the '80s.