Fabrice Vetea Santoro (born 9 December 1972) is a French retired tennis player. Successful in both singles and doubles, he had an unusually long professional career, with many of his accomplishments coming toward the end of his career, and he is popular among spectators and other players alike for his winning demeanor and shot-making abilities; he is also one of a rare breed of player who plays two-handed on both the forehand and backhand sides.
Owing to his longevity on the tour and consistent ranking, Santoro holds several
ATP records: the most career wins over top ten opponents for a player who never reached the top ten (40), the most French Open appearances (20), tied with
Feliciano López
Feliciano López Díaz-Guerra (; born 20 September 1981) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He achieved his career-high singles ranking of world No. 12 in March 2015 and doubles ranking of world No. 9 in November 2016.In 2005, López was t ...
, and the third-most appearances in singles competition at
Grand Slam
Grand Slam most often refers to:
* Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves
Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to:
Games and sports
* Grand slam, winning category te ...
events (70) behind
Roger Federer
Roger Federer (; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players#Weeks at No. 1, world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 310 weeks, in ...
(81) and
Feliciano López
Feliciano López Díaz-Guerra (; born 20 September 1981) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He achieved his career-high singles ranking of world No. 12 in March 2015 and doubles ranking of world No. 9 in November 2016.In 2005, López was t ...
(75). He also has the second-most losses in singles play behind López (444).
In singles, Santoro won six titles, but reached the quarterfinals at a Grand Slam only once. His career-high ranking of world No. 17 belied his impressive record against top ten opposition.
He had greater success in doubles competition, with two Grand Slam doubles titles, one mixed doubles title, and 25 doubles championships overall to his name.
Since March 2019, Santoro has been the coach of Canadian tennis player
Milos Raonic
Milos Raonic (; sr, Милош Раонић, Miloš Raonić, ; born December 27, 1990) is a Canadian inactive professional tennis player. He has been ATP rankings, ranked as high as world No. 3 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professio ...
.
Career overview
Juniors
After having lost in the early rounds of the
1988 Jr French Open and
1988 Jr US Open, Santoro won the
1989 Jr French Open. He also had a semifinal appearance in the
1989 Jr US Open. He reached a career-high junior ranking of No. 3.
Junior Grand Slam results – Singles:
Australian Open: A (-)
French Open: W (1989)
Wimbledon: 3R (
1989)
US Open: SF (1989)
Pro tour
![Fabrice Santoro Volley](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/Fabrice_Santoro_Volley.JPG)
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
The racket sport traditionally named lawn tennis, invented in Birmingham, England now commonly known simply as tennis, is the direct descendant of what is now denoted real tennis or royal tennis, which continues to be played today as a separate sp ...
: at the
2004 French Open, he beat fellow Frenchman
Arnaud Clément
Arnaud Clément (; born 17 December 1977) is a French former professional tennis player and Davis Cup captain. Clément reached the final of the 2001 Australian Open and achieved a career-high ranking of world No. 10 in April of that year. Par ...
in a 6-hour 33 minute first-round match (6–4, 6–3, 6–7(5), 3–6, 16–14). The record stood until
John Isner
John Robert Isner (born April 26, 1985) is an American professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 8 in singles and No. 14 in doubles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP).
Considered one of the best servers ...
defeated
Nicolas Mahut
Nicolas Pierre Armand Mahut (; born 21 January 1982) is a French professional tennis player who is a former world No. 1 in doubles.
He is a five-time Grand Slam champion in doubles, having completed the career Grand Slam with victories at the ...
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
Grand Slam most often refers to:
* Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves
Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to:
Games and sports
* Grand slam, winning category te ...
quarterfinal appearance.
In singles play, Santoro defeated 18 players who were ranked world no. 1 at some time during their careers:
Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic ( sr-Cyrl, Новак Ђоковић, translit=Novak Đoković, ; born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player. He has been ranked world No. 1 for a record total 373 weeks, and has finished as the year-end No. 1 ...
,
Jimmy Connors
James Scott Connors (born September 2, 1952) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. He held the top Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) ranking for a then-record 160 consecutive weeks from 1974 to 1977 and a career total of 268 ...
,
Mats Wilander
Mats Arne Olof Wilander (; born 22 August 1964) is a Swedish former world No. 1 tennis player. From 1982 to 1988, he won seven major singles titles (three at the French Open, three at the Australian Open, and one at the US Open), and one major ...
,
Boris Becker,
Stefan Edberg,
Jim Courier
James Spencer "Jim" Courier (born August 17, 1970) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. He won four major singles titles, two at the French Open and two at the Australian Open. He was the youngest man to reach the singles finals ...
,
Andre Agassi
Andre Kirk Agassi ( ; born April 29, 1970) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. He is an eight-time major champion and an Olympic gold medalist, as well as a runner-up in seven other majors.
Agassi is the second of five men to ach ...
,
Pete Sampras
Petros "Pete" Sampras ( el, Πέτρος Σάμπρας; born August 12, 1971) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. His professional career began in 1988 and ended at the 2002 US Open, which he won, defeating longtime rival Andre ...
,
Thomas Muster
Thomas Muster (born 2 October 1967) is an Austrian former world No. 1 tennis player. One of the world's leading clay court players in the 1990s, he won the 1995 French Open and at his peak was called "The King of Clay". In addition, he won eig ...
,
Marcelo Ríos
Marcelo Andrés Ríos Mayorga (; born 26 December 1975) is a Chilean former world No. 1 tennis player. Nicknamed ''"El Chino"'' ("The Chinese") and ''"El zurdo de Vitacura"'' ("The Lefty from Vitacura"), he became the first Latin American play ...
,
Gustavo Kuerten
Gustavo "Guga" Kuerten (; born 10 September 1976) is a Brazilian former world No. 1 tennis player. He won the French Open singles title three times ( 1997, 2000, and 2001), and was the Tennis Masters Cup champion in 2000. During his career he ...
,
Carlos Moyá
Carlos Moyá Llompart (; born 27 August 1976) is a Spanish former world No. 1 tennis player. He was the French Open singles champion in 1998 and was the singles runner-up at the 1997 Australian Open. In 2004, he was part of his country's succ ...
,
Pat Rafter
Patrick Michael Rafter (born 28 December 1972) is an Australian former world No. 1 tennis player. He reached the top Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) singles ranking on 26 July 1999. His career highlights include consecutive US Open ...
,
Juan Carlos Ferrero
Juan Carlos Ferrero Donat (; born 12 February 1980) is a Spanish former world No. 1 tennis player. He won the men's singles title at the 2003 French Open, and in September of that year became the 21st player to hold the top ranking, which he h ...
,
Marat Safin
Marat Mubinovich Safin ( rus, Мара́т Муби́нович Са́фин, , mɐˈrat ˈsafʲɪn, Ru-Marat-Safin.ogg; tt-Cyrl, Марат Мөбин улы Сафин; born 27 January 1980) is a Russian retired world No. 1 tennis player an ...
,
Lleyton Hewitt
Lleyton Glynn Hewitt (born 24 February 1981) is an Australian former world No. 1 tennis player. He is the most recent Australian man to win a major singles title, with two at the 2001 US Open and 2002 Wimbledon Championships. In November 200 ...
,
Andy Roddick
Andrew Stephen Roddick (born 30 August 1982) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. He is a major champion, having won the 2003 US Open. Roddick reached four other major finals (Wimbledon in 2004, 2005, and 2009, and the US Open ...
, and
Roger Federer
Roger Federer (; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players#Weeks at No. 1, world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 310 weeks, in ...
(against whom he has a 2–9 record). Against other former world no. 1 players, Santoro is 0–6 against
Yevgeny Kafelnikov
Yevgeny Aleksandrovich Kafelnikov ( rus, Евгений Александрович Кафельников, , jɪvˈɡʲenʲɪj ˈkafʲɪlʲnʲɪkəf, a=Ru-Yevgeny-Kafelnikov.ogg; born 18 February 1974) is a Russian former world No. 1 tennis p ...
, 0–1 against
Ivan Lendl
Ivan Lendl (; born March 7, 1960) is a Czech–American former professional tennis player. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time. Lendl was ranked world No. 1 in singles for 270 weeks and won 94 singles titles. ...
, 0–1 against
Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal Parera (, ; born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He is currently ranked world No. 2 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). He has been ranked List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis ...
, and 0–2 against
Andy Murray
Sir Andrew Barron Murray (born 15 May 1987) is a British professional tennis player from Scotland. He was ranked world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 41 weeks, and finished as the year-end No. 1 in 2016. Murray h ...
. 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
Michaël Llodra (; born 18 May 1980) is a French former professional tennis player. He was a successful doubles player with three Grand Slam championships and an Olympic silver medal, and has also had success in singles, winning five career titl ...
, 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
The 2005 French Open was the 109th edition of the tournament.
On the men's side, Rafael Nadal, seeded fourth at his first French Open, was a strong favorite to win the singles title after winning the Monte Carlo and Rome Masters. Guillermo Coria ...
mixed doubles
Mixed doubles or mixed pairs is a form of mixed-sex sports that consists of teams of one man and one woman. This variation of competition is prominent in curling and racket sports, such as tennis, table tennis and badminton (where it is known as ...
title with
Daniela Hantuchová
Daniela Hantuchová (; born 23 April 1983) is a Slovak tennis commentator and retired player. She turned professional in 1999 and had her breakthrough year in 2002, when she won her first WTA Tour title at the Indian Wells Masters, defeating Mar ...
. 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
Petros "Pete" Sampras ( el, Πέτρος Σάμπρας; born August 12, 1971) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. His professional career began in 1988 and ended at the 2002 US Open, which he won, defeating longtime rival Andre ...
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 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. Santoro was fast around the court and was a skilled defensive player.
With his participation in the
2008 Australian Open, he broke
Andre Agassi
Andre Kirk Agassi ( ; born April 29, 1970) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. He is an eight-time major champion and an Olympic gold medalist, as well as a runner-up in seven other majors.
Agassi is the second of five men to ach ...
'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
Johan Brunström (born 3 April 1980) is a professional Swedish tennis player. His highest ATP doubles ranking is no. 31, which he reached on 22 March 2010. His career high in singles is no. 377, which he reached on 24 September 2007. He made hi ...
and
Jean-Julien Rojer
Jean-Julien Rojer (; ; born 25 August 1981) is a Dutch professional tennis player from Curaçao, who specialises in doubles. He reached his career-high doubles ranking of world No. 3 in November 2015.
He is a four-time Grand Slam champion, havi ...
while partnering with compatriot
Sébastien Grosjean
Sébastien René Grosjean (; born 29 May 1978) is a French former professional tennis player. Grosjean reached the semifinals at the 2001 Australian and French Opens, and at Wimbledon in 2003 and 2004. He finished eight consecutive seasons r ...
.
Santoro came out of retirement for one tournament at the
2010 Australian Open in order to obtain the record for having played in
Grand Slam tournaments 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
Marin Čilić (; born 28 September 1988) is a Croatian professional tennis player. Čilić has won 20 ATP Tour singles titles, including a major at the 2014 US Open. He was also runner-up at the 2017 Wimbledon Championships and the 2018 Austral ...
– ending his professional tennis career.
He was the first leader of the
ATP Champions Race, winning the first tournament of the year in
Doha
Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the coun ...
in the year the race was introduced (2000).
According to the ATP website, as of the
2019 Davis Cup Finals,
Feliciano López
Feliciano López Díaz-Guerra (; born 20 September 1981) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He achieved his career-high singles ranking of world No. 12 in March 2015 and doubles ranking of world No. 9 in November 2016.In 2005, López was t ...
has lost more singles matches (475) than any other professional player (active or not), surpassing the record previously held by Santoro. Overall, however, Santoro has won more than half of his matches, with a career record of 470–444.
Personal life
Santoro was born in Tahiti and grew up in
La Seyne-sur-Mer
La Seyne-sur-Mer (; "La Seyne on Sea"; oc, La Sanha), or simply La Seyne, is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in Southeastern France. In 2018, it had a population of 62,888. La Seyne-sur-Mer, which is pa ...
, in
Southern France
Southern France, also known as the South of France or colloquially in French language, French as , is a defined geographical area consisting of the regions of France that border the Atlantic Ocean south of the Marais Poitevin,Louis Papy, ''Le midi ...
. His father worked at Toulon's
military port, and is a former footballer who later became a tennis teacher.
Santoro began playing tennis as a child at the club where his father taught.
As of 2022, Santoro divides his time between Paris and Corsica. He owns a home near
Ajaccio
Ajaccio (, , ; French: ; it, Aiaccio or ; co, Aiacciu , locally: ; la, Adiacium) is a French commune, prefecture of the department of Corse-du-Sud, and head office of the ''Collectivité territoriale de Corse'' (capital city of Corsica). ...
.
He is a big fan of the late French comedian
Michel Colucci, better known as Coluche.
Grand Slam finals
Men's doubles: 5 (2 titles, 3 runner-ups)
Mixed doubles: 1 title
Career finals
Singles (6 titles, 6 runner-ups)
Doubles (24 titles, 18 runner-ups)
Performance timelines
Singles
Doubles
Wins over top 10 players
References
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Santoro, Fabrice
Australian Open (tennis) champions
French expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland
French male tennis players
French Open champions
French Open junior champions
French tennis coaches
Hopman Cup competitors
Olympic tennis players of France
Tennis players from Geneva
People from Tahiti
Tennis players at the 1992 Summer Olympics
Tennis players at the 2000 Summer Olympics
Tennis players at the 2004 Summer Olympics
1972 births
Living people
Grand Slam (tennis) champions in mixed doubles
Grand Slam (tennis) champions in men's doubles
French Polynesian sportsmen
Grand Slam (tennis) champions in boys' singles