Fabrice Santoro: incredible shot!

[777lichen]

nalbandian powned again

[Elwink]

Santoro was awesome and unique, when he played Fed it always provided great stuff, watch the highlights of him vs. Federer Aus Open and US Open

[yassigole]

why is nalbandian always the ass in these clips

[NarabaO]

@yassigole Him and Djokovic are Youtube's punching bags

[Fernandez218]

Santoro, we will miss you!! awesome tennis player!

[Menglishita13]

I'm not saying this guy aint skilled i love him, but anyone who tries to get the ball back over in tennis...that is just pure luck

i was running onto a ball and did it once and i just sliced it cause i knew i was gonna lose the point and it bounced off, i was not aiming at all

people assume he meant to do this but idk, did he really?

[Fernandez218]

@Menglishita13 look at Nadal's shot at 4:27 in this video: /watch?v=YPf3gZdJNAM&feature=r­elated

this was of course a charity match, but the same shot was hit and it was definitely not luck. All the pros can do this but it's not a high percentage shot so they don't try.

Besides, if Nalbandian were just a bit faster -- i'm not saying he isn't fast -- and he could've gotten to the ball as it was over the net he would have had a clean put-a-way.

[lAimlHighDef]

@Menglishita13

its not luck lol. there is a certain way you can hit the ball so it bounces over. it basically volleyed in in a way so that the ball would have back spin, to stop it from bouncing forward. he put enough backspin tho ,that it was able to bounce back over. amazing shot really.

[mechkapechka]

@Menglishita13 haha i have made it 7 times in my whole life in a competitions but it is highly risky so i can't do it often .. 7 out of 30 ...

[mechkapechka]

@Menglishita13 It's not luck... he clearly wanted to do it !

[alecks888]

once it happened im my game , too

..but it was only luck :D

[galtrahan]

are you all stupid ?

the ball obviously jumped back into santoro's court

if nalbandian had sent it there then he wouldn't have lost the point and if he had, he would complain about it

bunch of retards

santoro is one of the greatest players ever with a unique style

if fed, safin, pete and all other players respect him, why would you, a bunch of sad fucks, doubt his skill ?

[linkthemaster1]

@galtrahan someone likes santoro alot

[DestroyerAlexandros]

I've done this with a slice backhand from the baseline

[draycmf]

@DestroyerAlexandros congrats

[linro]

@DestroyerAlexandros not at US open.

[DestroyerAlexandros]

@linro this is Aus Open

[mrmamon100]

awsome

[linkthemaster1]

pause it at 0:33 and you will see the ball still on nalbandian's side

[THEWING20]

@linkthemaster1 what you see there is the shadow, smartpants...

[linkthemaster1]

@THEWING20 with a good enough graphic card now it does looks so, it did go over

[linkthemaster1]

@linkthemaster1 never mind!

[ryanrenesis]

All santoro's magic shot videos are rated 5 stars haha

[Papercop]

If you really look closer you can see the ball slightly changing direction as it touches the upper part of the net and bounces back on Santoro's side. It's a shot he used to successfully try at times, so no wonder he succeded.

[vincentbadminton]

this guys needs an eye check lol

[linkthemaster1]

@LEOREALTY he is right, it did not go over the net, not until Nal kicked it under

[THEWING20]

@LEOREALTY same here Einstein look close when the 32 second ends, you´ll see it there

[LEOREALTY]

I analyzed net's and ball's shadow images (end of 33) and stand corrected, Isaac.

[ATSLputurhandsup010]

"I was an illusion"? Ok there, LEOREALTY. I see you.

[nico74321]

hes a magician not a tennis player :) he could do some really amazing shot. i enjoy watching him play cus he has so much variety

[yellowboy509]

done that 3 times before, accidentally

[DIANAROSS4EVER]

Incredible, I did that once but it was an accident lol haha

[AndyRoddick969]

so its ok to reach over the net to play a point but not touch the net right?

[cj397]

correct

[rafabaghdatis]

thats right

[AndyRoddick969]

but the ball has to cross ur side of the net first right? ? ?

[subtlechaos]

The only time you can reach over the net to play a shot is if the ball bounces on your side and then bounces back over the net, so yeah. And you cannot touch the net in any circumstance unless the point is over already.

[dreynip]

exactly

[DarkDisaster45]

LOL Safin called some tournaments "Santoroized" when he lost to Santoro. Safin doesn't have a good record against him.

[gbthecoach]

The Magician...Has played in the most grand slams of any player and has lost the most ATP matches of any player in history (But he has also won more matches then he has lost) proving what great staying power he has. 1 QF and 3 round of 16s in his grand slam career.....One thing he is #1 in is class and fun to watch....Thank you for the years of tennis enjoyment Fabrice....Many of us love you.

[ducvy10]

I LOVE Santoro's unique style, he defeated the best players of the game (17 world#1 from Becker, Edberg, Agassi, Sampras to el maestro Federer). He stayed 2 decades in the ATP top 100, how can some of you say he sucks, I wish I was one of the 100 best in my field one year only!! Give him some credits. Pistol Pete himself gave him his "magician" nickname! Safin at his best (who lost 7 times against him) said "Being told I would play Santoro was being told I was to die." One word for you: RESPECT!

[insaneeaglesfanatic]

Sorry dude but he has the worst form imaginable. He is mediocre, but not that good. His non-existent forehand and poor serve is what kills him. His backhand is mediocre.

[MrMagneticPelican]

you don't know what you're talking about really. his form is some of the best on tour, it's just unorthodox. and his serve has great spin.

[ZerGpLaYa26]

I just lol'd reading your comment. "His form is some of the best on tour"  yeah thats why he has made 1 QF in his oh to long career.

[daraemkar]

Most of the people never make it past the first round in a grandslam so your comment doesn't really prove anything.

[insaneeaglesfanatic]

And 99.6% of the world population doesn't play professional tennis. Your comment doesn't really prove anything.

You can't say someone's form is one of the BEST on the tour when he's made 1 QF.

[zzyzybynsky]

99.99% actually

[mechkapechka]

@ducvy10 i give all the credit and respect to FABRICE SANTORO ! but how santoro have beaten 17 world number 1 players and Davydenko - Santoro are 6 to 0 ? santoro's it seems that santoro's magic doesn't work against ball machines ! :D

[pierrredu85]

tout à fai d'accord, un mec comme sa manquera au tennis mondial!!

[swifts1968]

SALUT L'ARTISTE. et merci.

[swifts1968]

Fabulous Fab, as he is nicknamed in France, has played his very last match on the clay courts of the " ROLAND GARROS" FRENCH OPEN yesterday against Belgium player, Olivier Rochus .

Age : 37. 20 participation Fr Open.

[peanut3butterjelly]

They don't call him the magician for nothing.

[chrism216]

he just got bored of nalbandian and wanted to play against himself... ball bounces back to his side hahaha

[zhanghaipang]

he is a funny player

[nen6425]

whoa, so other people have hit this shot too??

i've only done it once, which is more than enough for me

it'd be cool if someone can actually use this shot frequently

[ilovedalejrhms88]

sampras can do this whenever he wants to

[mysteriekiller]

Sure, whenever he wants to, he will never miss it and he will never get passed. You're a naive and extremely ignorant person if you didn't know already.

[arranparry07]

lol I did this against a mate of mine in the summer - I was confused as to whether it was my point, but for the audacity of it,I demanded the point.

[paraNoja]

lol

[dedpete]

so santoro won the point?

[lachatseb]

In this case YES he can cross the net with the racket to play the ball, but he cannot touch the net with the racket or his body.

[rahdisas]

Wrong- opponent can hit the ball over the net if the ball goes back over the net after the first bounce (like in this vid).

If Nalbandian had the time he could have hit the ball after it went back - and it would be legal. As it were, he didn't.

[FinalFan0]

@_@  .... that's just ridiculous...

[EndlessTrance]

Saw that shot on the Hot Shots which channel 7 here in Australia do for each day's previous best shots (can't explain it any better lol).

Been looking for it ever since, thankyou for the upload. I'll miss Santoro when he retires, what a unique player who never ceases to amaze me.

[thereisnoel]

Today we have murray whose kinda similar but not quite as untraditional

[jdlund]

Eh, Murray's a better player, but Santoro is so much more entertaining. I seriously look forward to the first round of every slam because I get to watch Fabrice play.

[hotty198]

i didnt even think that was possible! whats the ruling on that? he touched the net so point over anyways.

[kwjw89]

Yeah in this situation nalbandien did touch the net. When there is such a shot, the point goes to the player who hit it. Since normal rules says u cant hit a ball which isnt on your side, a special rule was made to give the opponent a chance. The opponent can reach other the net and touch the ball. He must get the ball into the court and avoid touching the net to continue the point.

[Babolat3216]

Yeah, but it's almost impossible LOL.

[batking1009]

Fabulous Santoro.

[OfDaHeeZy84]

c'est magnifique

[trent8002003]

Midway thru his career, Santoro changed by not coming over his forehand but slice it mostly instead. On the bkhand, he still came over it. Takes away the unpredictably I would have thought. His opponents would always know if they hit it to his forehand, they'll mostly get a slice back. Wonder why.

[kwjw89]

This is just my opinion, I'm not a pro at tactics or anything. I think that they already know that and played it to his forehand hoping that the slice would give them enough time to set up the point for a simple put away.

[trent8002003]

That's what I mean. Why Santoro gave his opponents that advantage of certainty? Why not hit both topsin and slice on the forehand to keep his opponents guessing?

[Teclis1988]

Fantastic point!

[Nickchopper77]

absolute insanity lol!!

[brianispiomp]

so whos point is that lol?

[imnew2]

obviously santoro's

[skindoggy1988]

no way!

[Pectiniculus]

Hocus Pocus!

[MacTobey]

whoohooo!!

[intruZo1991]

LE MAGICIEN...

[habibko]

MAGIC!