El dieciséis de mayo/May 16th

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Photo from Getty Images. Sabatini in 1996,
the year she retired from professional tennis.
Click HERE. 
¡Feliz cumpleaños a ... Gabriela Sabatini!  (1970-       )

A professional tennis player from Argentina who won the US Open in 1990 and the Wimbledon Doubles Title in 1988, among many other accomplishments, Sabatini is now a businesswoman (she has a line of fragrances) and activist (fighting for the rights of children and human rights). Born in Buenos Aires, she is also proud of her Italian roots (her paternal great grandparents immigrated to Argentina from Italy at the end of the 19th century, like so many others), and she obtained Italian citizenship in 2003. Sabatini started played tennis at the age of 6 and won her first tournament at the age of 8. In 1985, at the age of 15, she was one of the youngest ever players to reach the finals of the French Open, where she lost to Chris Evert. In 2006, she was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame (see a brief segment on this (in Spanish) HERE). Read (in English) about the pressures she faced as a young tennis star, and the reason she retired so young HERE.

For resources for teaching Spanish, Level 1 through AP, CLICK HERE.

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