Their semifinal was the 40th and final match between the pair, in which Graf led 29-11. Sabatini's 11 wins meant she had defeated Graf more times than any other player in WTA history. Sabatini missed several months of the season due to a pulled stomach muscle injury. In New York in October, she announced her retirement from professional tennis. She received the WTA Diamond Aces Award (awarded to the player considered to have promoted tennis the most both on and off the court). Sabatini won 40 titles in total (across singles and doubles) and spent a decade uninterrupted in the world's top 10 (from Sep 1986 to June 1996). In 2000, she won the Diamond Konex Award as the most distinguished "Sportsperson of the Decade" in Argentina, and in July 2006 was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. In the late 1980s, Sabatini launched a line of fragrances after partnering with the German perfume company Muelhens. Her signature scent debuted in 1989. Since retiring, she has continued to promote her lines of perfumes and worked with organizations to help children and people living in poverty. In 2019, Sabatini received the ITF Philippe Chatrier Award for her achievements in both her tennis career and post-retirement charity work, having worked with UNICEF, UNESCO, the Special Olympics and as an 'Athlete Role Model' at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games. In 1994, Great American Doll Company created a doll in Sabatini's likeness, dressed in tennis attire. That same year, Sabatini published a motivational book entitled "My Story" () , providing a peek into her background and inspirations that led her to be a tennis player. Post-retirement, Sabatini stated during an interview that she deliberately lost matches in her youth to avoid reporters and the limelight. She made this claim when she was 43, saying her shyness had been a major problem, and she thought she had to speak on-court after playing in the final of a tournament; so, she often lost in semifinals. On 22 May 2003, Sabatini was able to obtain Italian citizenship "jus sanguinis" because her paternal great-grandfather David Sabbatini was born in Potenza Picena in the Marche region, and immigrated to Argentina at the end of the 19th century like many other Santesi in Roldán, Province of Santa Fe with his wife Rosa Vivani, whom he married on 12 February 1899 in Potenza Picena.