Roland Garros: Sabatini and Dulko fell in the final, but received a standing ovation and all the love in Paris

After 26 years of absence from the fields, the return to activity of Gabriela Sabatini with the racket in hand will remain in the memory, beyond the fact that it did not end with a victory: the most important player in the history of Argentine tennis has fallen together with Gisela Dulko in the final of the Roland Garros Legends Tournament against the Italians Flavia Pennetta and Francesca Schiavone 1-6, 7-6 (7-4) and 10-6.

The plan was to have fun and give some of her magic to those who have had the pleasure of seeing her in these days on the fields of the Bois de Boulogne complex. The two goals were more than met, so the defeat in the last game of this away match on the Parisian brick dust mattered little to Gabriela, 52, who retired in 1996 with 27 titles to her credit.

On the other side of the net were a couple of friends of Dulko (37), in particular Pennetta (40), with whom the Tigrese won 11 doubles tournaments between 2006 and 2011, including the Australian Open. in 2011 and the Masters in 2010. But in the moment of action, the protagonists put aside their personal ties and pushed themselves to their best end in pursuit of victory.

In the Suzanne Lenglen stadium, occupied by a good number of spectators, the Argentines showed a remarkable superiority in the first set, in which they broke the Italian’s serve in the four innings of that group and scored the victory after 26 minutes of play. play.

But in the second the Europeans were more solid, in a match always nuanced by smiles and cordiality, they raised two match points, kept the set at the tie break in 48 minutes and moved the definition to the super tie break. In that case they ended up prevailing 10-6 and were left with the win in an hour and 22 minutes. Then the four ended up hugging and greeting the audience together.

Dulko and Sabatini had reached the final after defeating the Americans Lindsay Davenport and Mary Joe Fernandez, the Croatian Iva Majoli and the French Mary Pierce, and losing to the French Tatiana Golovin and Nathalie Tauziat. In this way they had finished first in group A of the Italian group. They had to crash this Saturday, but the memory they will keep of this tournament will far outweigh a result.

“From the moment we accepted this invitation, every little moment was a moment of happiness,” said Sabatini after the match, who received a standing ovation from the crowd. He also thanked the audience, the organization of the tournament and, above all, Dulko: “Thank you for sharing these incredible days with me, I got to know you better and it was a pleasure”.

“A great group has formed on and off the pitch, we have had a lot of fun these days and we will definitely continue to see each other,” said Dulko, who was number one in the world in doubles for 24 weeks between November 2010 and April 2011. (the last seven sharing that position with her partner and friend Pennetta) and retired in November 2012.

The recognition for Sabatini did not come only from his partner. “I remember the photos I had in front of my bed as a child: Steffi Graf, (Martina) Navratilova, Monica Seles, Gabriela Sabatini. We were able to be inspired by you and your generation, we found so many positive things in you. Thank you for coming “, Schiavone told him during the award ceremony.

With her participation in this Tournament of Legends, Gabriela returned to Roland Garros, where she had been junior champion in 1984, semi-finalist five times in singles and three times finalist in doubles with the Graf. Her last match in Paris was on June 6, 1995, when she fell 6-1, 6-0 to the German in the quarter-finals.