Gabriela Sabatini y Gisela Dulko They started off on the right foot. This Tuesday, the tennis players shone in the debut in the Legends of Roland Garros tournamentby defeating Americans Lindsay Davenport and Mary Joe Fernández 6-3, 6-3.
Sabatini, 52 years old and former number three in the world, and Dulko, 37 years old, -and who led the world doubles ranking- beat their rivals on the Suzanne Lenglen court, in the Bois de Boulogne neighborhood of Paris.
“There were logical nerves before going out on the field, but it helped us a lot that we got along very well, and so much laughing outside relaxed us. We were able to have fun and it was a huge emotion to go in to play”Sabatini told the press.
And added that “everything worked very well, we made good points and we were able to have fun. The smash went well, the serve wasn’t my forte during my career, but it wasn’t bad.”
For his part, Dulko highlighted: “Playing alongside Gaby is a dream for me, it was a beautiful feeling, this is all new for us, coming back to Paris was incredible”.
During a brilliant career, Sabatini won 27 titles in singles, the most important being the US Open in 1990. In addition, he won 14 trophies in doubles, including Wimbledon in 1988, in partnership with Germany’s Steffi Graf.
Dulko, who debuted as a professional in 1999, when Sabatini had already retired, left tennis in 2012. She won four singles titles and 17 in doubles, where she was number one in the world together with the Italian Flavia Pennetta, with high points such as the 2010 Masters and the 2011 Australian Open.
How is the Roland Garros Legends tournament
The tournament, in the women’s draw, has 16 players divided into eight doubles teams and in of the groups. Each couple will play until Friday three games from each zone and only the winning team of the group will advance to the final, scheduled for Saturday.
In the Group A Sabatini and Dulko are paired; Davenport and Mary Jo Fernández (USA), Tatiana Golovin and Nathalie Tauziat (both French) and Iva Majoli and local Mary Pierce (Croatia and France, respectively).
In the Group B there are the Italians Flavia Pennetta and Francesca Schiavone; the Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova together with the American Martina Navratilova; the American Chanda Rubin in a pair with the French Sandrine Testud and the Australian Rennae Stubbs together with the Bulgarian Magdalena Maleeva.