Les Artistes
Elina Frumerman
Photo: Ron Angle
At 5'10" and 160 pounds, Fabrice Santoro gave away 8 inches, 40 pounds and fully a thousand ranking points to towering Swede Joachim Johansson at March's Pacific Life Open. It wasn't just a first round match; on paper, it was a mismatch, accentuated by Johansson's month-old triumph in Marseille and tour-leading ace count.
But as he has done throughout his 16-year career, Santoro used his double-fisted forehand and backhand to paint a peculiar but dazzling array of slices, angles and off-speed shots that disrupted, and ultimately upended, the 6-foot-6 Swede.