The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : `I have reached the highest level I could'

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Thursday, Jan 04, 2007
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`I have reached the highest level I could'

Vijay Parthasarathy

CHENNAI: Age, it seems, is catching up with Fabrice Santoro. Back pain forced the 34-year-old to pull out of the doubles event at the Chennai Open on Wednesday; his continuance in the singles is uncertain.

It is perhaps a fair assessment to peg Santoro between Henri Leconte, the fabulous French touch artiste of the eighties, and Mansour Bahrami, the Iranian-born French genius who continues to entertain with his performances on the Champions Tour.

Santoro's smile is goofy, gap-toothed. "Yes," he reflects, "maybe I am the Bahrami of the Pro Tour." The Tahiti-born Santoro is less self-indulgent in his shot selection, but his ability remains just as outrageous.

Bahrami's circumstances were, of course, special: as a boy growing up in Tehran, he learnt to play tennis by improvising with a dustpan or even his hands because he couldn't afford a racquet. The Revolution interfered with his career; by the time he had switched nationalities, his best years were past.

By those standards, Santoro's evolution has been unremarkable. "I've always played the same kind of game," he says. "I started with a two-handed split grip because the racquet was too heavy for me as a kid. I never changed that." While he likes to "experiment with new shots sometimes when a ball is called long," Santoro's strength obviously lies mainly in drawing his adversary to the net.

A unique player

"There aren't many players who rely on touch anymore. That makes my game unique." Santoro's game is too nuanced to be one-dimensional, plain exotic. Opponents have always struggled to cope with his heavy underspin and sudden drops in pace. The advantage Santoro speaks of is in a sense similar to what is enjoyed by left-handers. There are only a few in the professional game, and it takes a little longer than usual for a right-hander to settle into a rhythm.

Incidentally, the right-handed Santoro switches to his left occasionally while employing the forehand and his follow through transforms into that of a backhand slice. Such eccentricities have helped ease the pressure on his body; his style has prolonged his career.

Santoro, who by the way has never played Nadal, can subvert the power game; his 7-2 head-to-head against Marat Safin is proof enough. "Being told I was to play Santoro was like being told I was to die," the Russian once famously remarked.

Having turned pro in 1989, `The Magician', as Santoro is known, is one of those few to have played both Sampras and Federer at their peak. He has troubled both; but the Swiss is the better player in his estimate.

"Federer is a more complete player, he has more variation," says Santoro.

Santoro's shotmaking talent and vast range of trick shots — like Bahrami's and Leconte's — are especially suited to doubles. Although he was for a while ranked inside the top 20, he has only made the singles quarterfinals at a Grand Slam once — at last year's Australian Open — and he last won a tournament in 2002.

"The fact that I haven't won a Slam, or reached number one has nothing to do with my kind of game, my preference for touch," Santoro explains. "I have reached the highest level I could. I simply wasn't able to progress beyond."

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