Fabrice Santoro - Career Overview

Career Overview

When Santoro successfully defended his 2007 title by winning the 2008 Newport tournament at the age of 35, he became the oldest tennis player to win back-to-back championships at an ATP singles event.

In addition, Santoro won what was, at the time, the longest singles match in the open era: at the 2004 French Open, he beat fellow Frenchman Arnaud Clément in a 6h 33m first-round match (6–4, 6–3, 6–7(5), 3–6, 16–14). The record stood until John Isner defeated Nicolas Mahut at Wimbledon in 2010 but still remains the French Open record.

As a singles tennis player, the 2006 Australian Open was Santoro's only Grand Slam quarter-final appearance.

In singles play, Santoro defeated 18 players who were ranked World No. 1 at some time during their careers: Novak Djokovic, Jimmy Connors, Mats Wilander, Boris Becker, Stefan Edberg, Jim Courier, Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras, Thomas Muster, Marcelo Ríos, Gustavo Kuerten, Carlos Moyà, Pat Rafter, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Marat Safin, Lleyton Hewitt, Andy Roddick and Roger Federer (with whom he has a 2–9 record). Against other former World No. 1 players, Santoro is 0–6 against Yevgeny Kafelnikov, 0–1 against Ivan Lendl and 0–1 against Rafael Nadal. Santoro is famous for his winning record against Marat Safin (7–2); Safin himself has said, "Being told I would play Santoro was being told I was to die."

Santoro won the 2003 and 2004 Australian Opens doubles titles, partnering Michaël Llodra, a French compatriot, and was runner-up at the 2002 Australian Open, 2004 French Open and 2006 Wimbledon Championships. He also won the 2005 French Open mixed doubles title with Daniela Hantuchová. Santoro teamed with Michaël Llodra again to win the 2005 Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai, a competition that included the top eight doubles teams in the world

In addition to his doubles prowess, Fabrice is noted for his cheery attitude on court and his vast arsenal of trick shots, making him a crowd favorite and gaining him the admiration of his peers. In recognition of Santoro's varied and innovative style of play, Pete Sampras has nicknamed him The Magician.

Santoro plays with two hands on forehand and backhand, and though he is right-handed, often slices his forehand with his left hand. He attributes this to his having used racquets of the same weight throughout his career, which were too heavy for a six-year-old starting off a career to hold with one hand.

With his participation in the 2008 Australian Open, he broke Andre Agassi's record in Grand Slam appearances over his career with a total of 62. Santoro retired at the end of the 2009 season at his hometown tournament at the 2009 BNP Paribas Masters in Paris (Bercy), losing his final singles match against James Blake and final doubles match against Johan Brunström and Jean-Julien Rojer while partnering compatriot Sébastien Grosjean.

Santoro came out of retirement for one tournament at the 2010 Australian Open in order to obtain the record for having played in Grand Slams in four different decades, logging a total of 70 appearances in Grand Slam tournaments. At 37, he was the oldest player in the ATP Top 100, being ranked 68 when he entered this last tournament. He lost in the first round of the tournament – to Marin Čilić – ending his professional tennis career.

He was the first leader of the ATP Champions Race, winning the first tournament of the year in Doha in the year the race was introduced (2000).

According to ATPworldtour.com after the 2010 Australian Open, Santoro has lost more singles matches (444) than any other professional player (active or not). Overall, however, Santoro has won over half of his matches, with a career record of 470–444.