[Puschkin]

What was this? A tank from Djokovic or great play from Fabrice? Anyway, I love this result.

[higherlaw]

Originally Posted by Puschkin

What was this? A tank from Djokovic or great play from Fabrice? Anyway, I love this result.

Let's say great play from Fabrice! Enjoyable match (for Fab fans).

[Truc]

Well, no, it was a disgraceful tank of Djokovic (who wasn't even trying to hide it, it was surreal).
Fabrice could barely run today and really seemed in pain. He said before the match it was all about trying to manage the pain at the moment ("gérer la douleur").

[higherlaw]

You're right he tanked, I guess I should have written: Let's "say"... to make my sarcastic point; but nonetheless, he won!

[Jelena_78]

Originally Posted by higherlaw

Let's say great play from Fabrice! Enjoyable match (for Fab fans).

Enjoyable for Nole's fans,too!

Great performance from Fabrice! One man show!

I always enjoy watching him play!

Congrats!

[Truc]

Originally Posted by higherlaw

You're right he tanked, I guess I should have written: Let's "say"... to make my sarcastic point; but nonetheless, he won!

Oh, I did get the "let's say", it was pretty clear - but I couldn't "enjoy" one minute of it, found it plain pathetic.

Apparently, Fab said after the match that his leg is getting better. It wasn't very obvious by watching him limping back to his chair at the end.

(And Djoko "tried to explain" and said he had wisdom teeth pulled out after Madrid and has lost weight and is exhausted and is only at 35% of his abilities blablablabla....)
http://fr.sports.yahoo.com/31102007/...-djokovic.html

Edit: Oops, sorry, one page later on the same website, he says he had surgery on his foot. Whatever.
http://fr.sports.yahoo.com/071031/26/os3p.html

Nole had better watch it because Daveydenko is being officially watched.
And I have thought in the past some of Nole's play was questionable to say the least But I'm happy Santoro won And in another Tournament he defeated Roddick or did Roddick tank also? All tennis players need to be careful now because a lot of people are really looking at Tennis and I don't mean just to watch the Matches

[Marine]

The end of this video is funny... lol

http://www.fft.fr/bnpparibasmasters/2007/?id=3135

[*julie*]

Don't know where to say this but this thread should be the more appropriated place.

Recently I was very surprised not to see Fabrice's wife at his matches and didn't know they hade splitted.
It seems he is now dating Astrid Veillon. (the source is Voici so I am not sure about the credibility )
The thing is she was at Bercy last week and a friend of mine even saw her in the metro to go there.

[Truc]

He got a WC for a Challenger in Dnepropetrovsk next week...

[Marine]

Originally Posted by *julie*

Don't know where to say this but this thread should be the more appropriated place.

Recently I was very surprised not to see Fabrice's wife at his matches and didn't know they hade splitted.
It seems he is now dating Astrid Veillon. (the source is Voici so I am not sure about the credibility )
The thing is she was at Bercy last week and a friend of mine even saw her in the metro to go there.

Tu plaisantes ?????? Il est pas avec sa femme ? Ca serait vraiment triste si c'était vrai, ils ont tellement l'air de bien s'entendre !
Astrid Veillon est souvent au tennis je crois, ds tous les cas j'ai du mal à le voir avec elle...

[Truc]

The news he's separated with Chryslaure has been around for a few months already (not in the media, but on tennis boards) and I think it's true. She never is at his matches anymore, he mentioned personal issues a couple of times this year...

Astrid Veillon was in Lyon too, I remember she was mentioned somewhere on the GPTL website. She does follow the ATP circuit pretty closely lately.

[Truc]

In l'Équipe today:

Santoro le chasseur
On ne va pas à Dniepropetrovsk sans une bonne raison. Surtout pas en novembre, surtout pas quand les tempêtes de neige attaquent en rafales. Fabrice Santoro y est. Il dispute cette semaine ce tournoi Challenger en Ukraine quand, hormis bien entendu les maîtres de Shanghai, tout le monde prend ses congés d’automne, si possible loin de Dniepropetrovsk. Après avoir sauvé une balle de match au premier tour contre le Serbe Troicki (4-6, 7-6, 7-5 en 2 h 50’), il s’est qualifié hier pour les quarts en écartant l’Ukrainien Sergueïev, 323e, (6-3, 6-1) et défie aujourd’hui le Roumain Hanescu. Pourquoi s’est-il embarqué dans cet obscur combat d’arrière-saison ? « Pour trois raisons, répondit-il hier. D’abord, je ne suis qu’à quelques points d’une place de tête de série pour le prochain Open d’Australie (Santoro est cette semaine 37e). Symboliquement, ce serait bien de battre le record de participations en Grand Chelem (62) en étant tête de série. Ensuite, je pense aux Jeux Olympiques. Pour être sélectionné, il faut être dans les mieux classés. Enfin, l’organisateur me demandait depuis des années de venir ici mais je devais refuser puisque je jouais le Masters en double ou la finale de Coupe Davis. Cette année, j’ai pu lui dire oui. » Santoro a aussi dit oui à Arnaud Lagardère. Il vient de quitter le club de l’AS Patton Rennes pour rejoindre Gasquet, Simon, Benneteau, Mahut et Mathieu au Paris Racing. « Mais je ne jouerai pas les Interclubs cette année », prévient Santoro. Il ne lui reste plus qu’à trouver son futur entraîneur. – F. Be.

He’s having a hard time in Dniepropetrovsk, had to save a MP in the first round against Troicki. He is now playing Hanescu in the quarters.
The journalist asks him of course why he’s freezing his ass off in a Challenger when the season already is over. He says there are 3 reasons:
- he’s just a few points away from a seed at the AO (he’s #37)
- he needs to have a good ranking to have a chance to be picked for the Olympics
- the organizer has been asking him for years to play there
And he's still looking for a new coach.

[Truc]

Well, he lost to Hanescu, so I'm not sure it was worth the trip, he gained something like 1 spot in the ranking. ^^
I don't understand his scheduling, he skips the whole American HC season and then he plays Challengers during the off-season.

[Truc]

In l'Equipe today about his win over Seppi:

Pas prêt, pas pris
Fabrice Santoro a franchi le premier tour malgré son manque de préparation.
UNE AMORTIE RÉTRO a suffi hier à Fabrice Santoro pour remonter le temps. Trente-cinq ans depuis trois semaines, pro pendant plus de la moitié de sa vie et qualifié pour le deuxième tour à Doha. Hier, pourtant, le 37e joueur mondial est apparu encore un peu court question préparation pour 2008. Il n’a dû qu’à un départ catastrophique d’Andreas « Tu les veux les quatre premiers jeux ? Tiens, les voilà » Seppi (50e) de remporter la première manche 6-4. Il ne sauva que trois des onze jeux suivants. À 2-2 au troisième set, l’Italien obtint deux balles de break. Qu’il gâcha. Santoro conclut ce jeu d’une majestueuse amortie rétro en coup droit à deux mains qui vit la balle revenir chez lui bien avant que Seppi ne s’enferre dans le filet. Jamais l’Italien ne s’en remit (6-4, 1-6, 6-2). « Du 16 novembre jusqu’à ce dimanche, je n’avais fait que cinq heures de tennis », asséna Santoro, qui démarre une saison à laquelle il attribue : « De grandes chances d’être la dernière. Et physiquement j’ai aussi lâché l’affaire ces dernières semaines, alors je suis vraiment satisfait d’avoir réussi à “matcher” et à battre le 50e joueur mondial sans être prêt. » Prochain adversaire (si le Russe se débarrasse aujourd’hui d’un qualifié allemand) : Nikolay Davydenko ! – J. Re.

He says he isn't ready at all yet, he only played 5 hours between the 16th of November and last Sunday. So he was very happy to be able to win that match.

Probably Davydenko next - even when he is in good form, he always hates playing Davydenko, so he will have a hard time in the next round because he didn't look very fit yesterday.