Mumbai: “It’s very difficult to play against him because he doesn’t have a normal style,” said David Nalbandian.

If you don’t agree with what the Argentine player says about Fabrice Santoro, try cross checking with Marat Safin, Andre Agassi or Pete Sampras.

Safin, the temperamental Russian, probably did the right thing in opting out of the tournament (owing to injury). Else he would have spent sleepless nights agonising over his prospects here in the Kingfisher Airlines Open with Santoro in the field.

Well, fourth seed Jarkko Nieminen of Finland, ranked 25th in the world, was at the wrong end of the court against the 34-year-old Santoro, seeded a rung lower than him and ranked 43rd in ATP list.

This is the third time that Santoro has got the better of Nieminen in as many meetings.

Asked how he survives on the circuit with skill that belongs to a forgotten era, Santoro said: “In tennis, there is a place for every kind of player — tall, small, big service, big forehand, big backhand.

“It doesn’t matter which area you are good at, what matters is how hard you work to make those skills count.”

Santoro, who is known as “The Magician”, said he would not recommend his game to anyone, nor is he teaching anybody in France his bag of tricks.