DUBAI – To taunts of “Come on, grandpa!” from friendly tennis rival Patrice Santoro, Mansour Bahrami opened their men’s singles exhibition match at the Expo Sports Arena as Expo 2020 Dubai’s Tennis Week continued this evening (20 February).
Santoro, 49, and Bahrami, who turns 66 in April, both currently reside in Paris and regularly practice together. The camaraderie between the two friends was apparent, with equal measures of jibes, heckling, compliments and encouragement from both. With the pair wearing headsets, spectators were fully immersed in the spectacle and practically privy to their innermost thoughts.
Iranian-French player Bahrami clinched the first two games and went on to win the first set 6-3, with Santora – and the umpire – turning a blind eye to some of the (borderline cheating) trick shots by tennis’s ‘Court Jester’.
Santoro kept his cool to take the upper hand in the second set, however, refusing to be put off by Bahrami’s ‘crouching tiger’ diversions, where he crept slowly up to the net, or jibes of “Do you want me to slow down for you?” and distracting serves, with four balls in his hand.
Frenchman Santoro – who was born in Tahiti and is known throughout the tennis world as ‘The Magician’ – even invited some of the ball girls from Dubai’s Rackets Academy to step in for a few shots and still managed to secure the second set.
Other highlights included incredible feats of dexterity, with ball juggling, back spins, drop shots and decoys. One particularly riotous point was even won in slow motion, with exaggerated, cinematic movements and a pretend tennis ball. With the final set played as a tie-break, Santoro clinched it by three points, winning the match with a final score of 6-3, 3-6, 10-7.
At the end of the match, both players took their time to meet the spectators and pose for selfies. Bahrami said: “Thank you all for being here. I love you all and it’s because of you I keep doing what I do.”
(Subcribe to AsianHerald : The way Up – Candid & Honest Storytelling with Dr Maya Rathod)