Time & Perspective Quote by Gabriela Sabatini

Sabatini’s praise comes with a quiet sting: Argentina is winning, but it’s winning in a way that mirrors the sport’s old habits. By calling it “a great moment” and then immediately narrowing it to “more on the men’s side,” she’s doing the diplomatic thing athletes often do when they want change without sounding bitter. The compliment softens the critique; the critique gives the compliment credibility.

The subtext is institutional, not individual. Sabatini isn’t arguing that Argentine women lack talent. She’s pointing at the pipeline: investment, coaching, federation priorities, sponsorship, and the cultural comfort of celebrating men’s results as the default national story. Her phrasing, “I would like to see more,” is almost understated to the point of strategic. It frames parity as a reasonable desire, not a confrontation. Then she shifts into collective responsibility: “we have to work.” That “we” matters. It implicates administrators, media, and fans who treat women’s tennis as an optional add-on, while also inviting them into the solution.

Contextually, it lands differently because it comes from Sabatini, still Argentina’s most internationally recognizable female tennis player. When a figure who carried the flag for women’s tennis says the current moment isn’t reaching her side of the sport, it reads as a diagnosis from someone who knows exactly what success costs. The line is less nostalgia than warning: a “great moment” can calcify into a tradition if the next generation of women doesn’t get built, funded, and narrated into existence.