Motivation Quote by Gabriela Sabatini

The grammar is slightly broken, but the feeling is razor-sharp: fame isn’t just attention, it’s surveillance. Sabatini is describing a threshold where public recognition stops being flattering and starts being corrosive. “I want not, that everybody hears about” isn’t a coy rejection of celebrity; it’s an athlete protecting the one resource performance depends on: a stable private self. Once “everybody” is listening, every choice becomes a statement, every misstep becomes content, and spontaneity turns into risk management.

The second sentence does the heavy lifting. “Then I can’t longer be myself” frames identity as something maintained through invisibility. That’s a quietly radical claim in sports culture, which sells authenticity while demanding constant access. Sabatini’s intent reads less like shyness and more like boundary-setting: she’s naming the psychological tax of being turned into a symbol, a headline, a perpetual interview subject. It’s also a subtle critique of the media machine that insists it’s merely reporting while actively shaping the person it reports on.

Context matters: as a globally known tennis star in an era when women athletes were increasingly marketed beyond their results, Sabatini would have felt the squeeze between excellence and exposure. The subtext is clear: the public wants “Gabriela Sabatini” the brand; she’s fighting for Gabriela the person. That tension still defines modern celebrity, but in her phrasing you can hear the earlier, simpler dread: once everyone knows you, you start performing even in your own life.