Fabrice Santoro

Full name is Fabrice Vetea Santoro...Nicknamed "The Magician" by Pete Sampras after losing in three sets in 3rd RD of Indian Wells in 2002...Captured 1988 Orange Bowl 16s title and was a member of the winning Sunshine Cup team...The French 12s, 14s and 16s champion and finalist in European Championships...Won 1989 Roland Garros juniors title (d. Palmer), saving two match points...Finished as the No. 2 junior in the world in 1989...His father was a goalkeeper in soccer in France’s second division...Enjoys skiing, soccer and Formula One racing... Has a collection of classic tennis racquets and aspires to having a tennis museum at home...Lists France's World Cup victory in 1998 as most thrilling sports memory...Fan of Chelsea soccer club...Moved to Switzerland in 2002...Has a 15-11 career Davis Cup record (9-5 in doubles) in 17 ties since 1991...Coached by countryman Lionel Zimbler.

Santoro DEUCE Feature (Jan. 2008)
Santoro DEUCE Feature - Part I (Nov. 2009)
Santoro DEUCE Feature - Part II (Nov. 2009)

1990 -- Won Challenger title in Telford (d. Nyborg)...Reached first ATP final in Toulouse (d. No. 5 Gomez, l. to Svensson)...

1991 -- At age 18, finished in Top 50 for first time, reached 4th RD at Roland Garros, advanced to six ATP QF and helped his country to Davis Cup final with two SF wins over Yugoslavia...

1992 -- Advanced to SF in Nice, Gstaad, Hilversum and New Haven and reached QF at Barcelona Olympics...

1993 -- Singles finalist in Dubai (l. to Novacek), SF in Nice and QF in three other events...

1994 -- Reached final in Kitzbnhel (l. to Ivanisevic in five sets) and SF in Tel Aviv...

1995 -- Best ATP finish was SF in Estoril...Beat No. 2 Sampras at AMS Rome en route to 3rd RD...In Palermo, won his first ATP doubles title (w/Corretja)...

1996 -- Best ATP result was 3rd RD in Monte Carlo...

1997 -- Captured his first ATP singles title in Lyon (d. Haas) in his 168th career event...Won Newcastle Challenger (d. Grosjean)...Reached three doubles finals...

1998 -- Reached final in Doha (l. to Korda)... Won four doubles titles, advanced to SF at Tour World Chp. in Hartford and finished No. 6 in Team Rankings (w/Delaitre)...

1999 -- Won title in Marseille (d. Clement)...Finalist in Copenhagen (l. to Gustafsson)...Missed five weeks of clay season due to back and shoulder injuries...Helped his country to Davis Cup final (l. to Australia) with doubles wins in QF and SF ties...On hard courts, reached QF at AMS Montreal and Washington...In doubles, won title in Long Island and advanced to SF in five other events, including Wimbledon (w/Delaitre)...

2000 -- Opened season in Doha with title (d. defending champion Schuettler)...Became first player to lead ATP Champions Race...In February, reached SF in Marseille and QF at London-indoor...Advanced to QF at AMS Cincinnati with wins over Hewitt, Grosjean and Safin (l. to Henman)...Played in Sydney Olympics and defeated Safin in 1st RD for third time during season before losing to Alami in 3rd RD...Finished season with a QF at AMS Paris, defeating Moya, Norman and Rosset...

2001 -- Had seven QF appearances...Also helped his country to Davis Cup title by winning three of four doubles matches during year (w/Pioline)...Won pivotal doubles match over Australia’s Hewitt-Rafter to give France a 2-1 lead en route to 3-2 victory in final...It was France’s ninth Davis Cup win...In June, reached his first career grass court final in Halle (l. to T. Johansson...Reached SF at AMS Montreal (l. to Rafter) and QF in Washington (l. to Chang)...In doubles, won his eighth career title in Marseille (w/Boutter) and posted Davis Cup road victories over Belgium and The Netherlands (w/Pioline)...

2002 -- Helped his country to Davis Cup final (lost 3-2 to Russia) and advanced to first Grand Slam doubles final at Australian Open...In Dubai, he defeated Grosjean, Ljubicic, Novak (SF) and El Aynaoui (F) to win his first title in two years...In April, won fifth and decisive Davis Cup match in QF tie over Ulihrach of Czech Republic in five sets...In August, advanced to QF at AMS Toronto...Also reached SF at AMS Madrid (d. Haas, Nalbandian, Federer, l. to Novak)...In doubles, won title at AMS Paris (w/Escude) and reached final at Australian Open (w/Llodra)...Earned a career-high $810,555...

2003 -- Began with QF in Doha (l. to El Aynaoui)...Had streak of 34 consecutive AMS tournaments played come to an end when he missed Miami...Reached SF in Metz and QF in Lyon...In doubles, finished in Top 10 and won first Grand Slam title in Melbourne w/Llodra (d. Knowles-Nestor)...Reached AMS finals in Monte Carlo and Rome as well as final in Metz...Qualified for TMC in Houston and reached final...Also captured title in Marseille (w/Grosjean)...Went 44-19 in doubles play during year...In Davis Cup, went 1-3 overall (0-2 in singles)...

2004 -- Reached 3rd RD at AMS Monte Carlo (l. to Nalbandian) in April...One week later, won title at Aix En Provence Challenger (d. Clement)...Reached 3rd RD at Roland Garros, marking his fifth straight year of winning at least one match in Paris...Won longest match in tennis history as he defeated countryman Clement in six hours, 33 minutes (over two days), prevailing 16-14 in fifth set...During summer hard court season, reached back-to-back AMS QF in Toronto (d. Hewitt, l. to Federer) and Cincinnati (l. to Robredo)...Reached 3rd RD at US Open (d. T. Martin, Tursunov; l. to Federer)...Reached 2nd RD at Athens Olympics...Lost to Ferrero in second singles match of Davis Cup SF vs. Spain in late September and injured his left wrist (did not play rest of year)...In doubles (w/Llodra), successfully defended Australian Open title (d. Bryan-Bryan) and also reached final at Roland Garros...Qualified for Tennis Masters Cup but withdrew due to wrist injury...Also won a pair of titles (w/Bhupathi) in Auckland and Dubai...Was 29-11 in doubles overall (18-7 w/Llodra)...Finished at No. 11 individually in doubles...

2005 -- Opened season with QF in Doha...Reached 4th RD at AMS Indian Wells (l. to Moya)... Saved 3 M.P. in 2nd RD win over J. Johansson 8-6 in third set tie-break...Reached final at Tunis Challenger (l. to Monfils)...For first time since 1999, lost in 1st RD at Roland Garros (l. to Hernych in five sets)...Reached SF in Lyon (l. to Roddick)...In doubles, teamed with Llodra to go 35-14 and claim four titles...Qualified for third Tennis Masters Cup and went 2-1 in round robin play before downing Paes-Zimonjic in the final in a third-set tie-break...Quest for third straight Australian Open title ended in QF...Compiled solid results at AMS events, winning in Rome, reaching the final Hamburg and SF at Monte Carlo, Cincinnati and Madrid...Claimed titles in Metz and Lyon...Also teamed with Bjorkman to reach Dubai final...Finished No. 10 individually in doubles...

2006 -- At the Australian Open, advanced to his first Grand Slam QF in his 54th career Slam appearance (l. to Nalbandian)... Followed with a QF in Marseille (l. to Clement)...In June, advanced to back-to-back QF in Halle (l. to Berdych) and ‘s-Hertogenbosch (l. to Ancic)...His best finish in singles came in Moscow in October where he advanced to SF (l. to eventual champ Davydenko)...In doubles, claimed three titles in six finals in first season (w/Zimonjic)... Qualified for fourth consecutive Tennis Masters Cup and went 1-2 in round robin...Took home titles in Sydney, Halle and Moscow...Finalists at Wimbledon and AMS Monte Carlo...Also won Metz title (w/countryman Gasquet)...Finished No. 10 individually in Doubles Rankings...

2007 -- Finished in Top 50 for first time in five years and in Top 65 for an 11th consecutive year and overall 16th time in his career...Captured his fifth ATP title in Newport, first on grass, as he became oldest player (34) to win a singles title during season...Also appeared in his 61st career Grand Slam tournament in singles, equaling Andre Agassi’s Open Era mark (since 1968)...Early in season, advanced to QF in Chennai (l. to Malisse), Dubai (d. No. 7 Robredo, l. to Soderling), and 3rd RD at Australian Open (l. to Davydenko) and AMS Miami (d. Moya, l. to Ljubicic)...At Wimbledon, defeated Karlovic in five sets in 1st RD before losing in next round to Kiefer...Then made his first appearance in Newport and dropped only one set en route to title (d. Mahut)...Played seven tournaments after Open with best result SF in Mumbai (l. to Gasquet) and 3rd RD at AMS Paris (d. No. 3 Djokovic, l. to Murray)...Also beat No. 5 Roddick in Lyon (l. to Grosjean in 2nd RD)...Went 3-3 vs. Top 10 opponents...Compiled marks of 15-12 on hard, 7-3 on grass, 2-2 on carpet and 0-2 on clay...In doubles, won titles in Dubai and AMS Rome, reached final in Halle and SF at Roland Garros and Wimbledon (all w/Zimonjic)...They split up after Wimbledon...Finished No. 20 in doubles.

2008 -- The oldest player (36) in year-end Top 100 captured his sixth career ATP title and finished in Top 65 for a 12th consecutive year and 17th time overall in his career...In July, repeated title in Newport and became oldest player to win a singles crown and only player over 30 during season to accomplish feat...Also set an Open Era record by appearing in his 65th career Grand Slam tournament in singles (since 1968)...Enters 2009 having played in 41 straight Slam events, most among active players...Began season with SF in Sydney (l. to Tursunov) and one month later reached SF at Bergamo Challenger...In March, reached 3rd RD at AMS Miami (d. Bjorkman, Ljubicic l. to Blake)...Did not win back-to-back matches again until July when he captured Newport title (d. P. Amritraj)...Had a 4-5 mark rest of season with his best showing a SF in Moscow (l. to eventual champion Kunitsyn) in October...Went 0-6 vs. Top 10 opponents and his highest-ranked win came over No. 12 Youzhny in 1st RD of Dubai in March...Compiled marks of 11-10 on hard, 5-3 on grass and 1-3 on clay.

2009

Playing in his final season on the ATP World Tour, the French veteran opened the first six months of the year with an 8-9 record…Captured ATP Challenger Tour title in Johannesburg (d. de Voest) and reached first ATP World Tour semi-final of 2009 at Eastbourne (l. to Dancevic) in June.