Eastbourne: Santoro vs Kendrick

If you have never seen Fabrice Santoro, aka “the Magician” play tennis, run, do not walk, to anywhere you can find him because he’s retiring soon. Eastbourne is one of the oldest women’s events and always attracts a top-class field, and this year the LTA has moved the much lower-profile men’s event from Nottingham down to join it. Andreev is the top seed. The chance to see Santoro play in an intimate setting is the hidden gem. Today, he was playing the US’s Robert Kendrick, one of those beanpoles that come out of the woodwork with the switch from clay to grass. And there’s Santoro with every characteristic you don’t expect to add up to a good player on grass: relatively short (5 foot 10), two-handed on both sides, a spin artist. Kendrick’s grass credentials aren’t bad. He reached the quarter-final at Newport in 2005, the same year he had a two-set lead at Wimbledon over eventual finalist Nadal – then lost the third set tie-break before losing 6-7 3-6 7-6 7-5 6-4. Santoro, who like Navratilova is perfectly balanced no matter where he is on court or what position he’s had to adopt to hit the ball, proceeded to carve him up like a nice Sunday roast in some of the most entertaining play you’ll ever see anywhere. Final score: Tomorrow, Santoro plays Ginepri – more of the same kind of classic match-up you used to get in the old days.

Tags: Eastbourne fabrice santoro robbie ginepri Robert Kendrick Santoro the Magician usa