Fernando Francisco González Ciuffardi (; born 29 July 1980) is a Chilean former professional
tennis
Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...
player. During his career he made it to at least the quarterfinals of all four
Grand Slam
Grand Slam most often refers to:
* Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves
Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to:
Games and sports
* Grand slam, winning category te ...
tournaments. He played his only major final at the
2007 Australian Open
The 2007 Australian Open was a Grand Slam tennis tournament held in Melbourne, Australia from 15 January until 28 January 2007.
The total prize pool was set at exactly A$20 million, with the winners of both the men's and women's singles competi ...
, losing to top-seeded
Roger Federer
Roger Federer (; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 310 weeks, including a record 237 consecutive weeks, and finished as the year-e ...
. He is the fourth man in history to have won an
Olympic tennis medal in every color, with gold in doubles and bronze in singles from
Athens 2004, and silver in singles from
Beijing 2008
The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nat ...
. The gold medal González won together with
Nicolás Massú
Nicolás Alejandro Massú Fried (; born 10 October 1979), nicknamed ''El Vampiro'' (Spanish, 'the vampire'), is a Chilean former professional tennis player. A former world No. 9 in singles, he won the singles and doubles gold medals at the 2004 ...
at the
2004 Olympics in men's doubles was
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
's first-ever Olympic gold medal.
Throughout his career, González defeated many past and present top players, including
Lleyton Hewitt
Lleyton Glynn Hewitt (born 24 February 1981) is an Australian former world No. 1 tennis player. He is the most recent Australian man to win a major singles title, with two at the 2001 US Open and 2002 Wimbledon Championships. In November 200 ...
,
Andre Agassi
Andre Kirk Agassi ( ; born April 29, 1970) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. He is an eight-time major champion and an Olympic gold medalist, as well as a runner-up in seven other majors.
Agassi is the second of five men to ac ...
,
Roger Federer
Roger Federer (; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 310 weeks, including a record 237 consecutive weeks, and finished as the year-e ...
(all while they held the top spot),
Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic ( sr-Cyrl, Новак Ђоковић, translit=Novak Đoković, ; born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player. He has been ranked world No. 1 for a record total 373 weeks, and has finished as the year-end No. 1 ...
,
Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal Parera (, ; born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He is currently ranked world No. 2 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). He has been ranked world No. 1 for 209 weeks, and has finish ...
,
Andy Roddick
Andrew Stephen Roddick (born 30 August 1982) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. He is a major champion, having won the 2003 US Open. Roddick reached four other major finals ( Wimbledon in 2004, 2005, and 2009, and the US Ope ...
,
Juan Carlos Ferrero
Juan Carlos Ferrero Donat (; born 12 February 1980) is a Spanish former world No. 1 tennis player. He won the men's singles title at the 2003 French Open, and in September of that year became the 21st player to hold the top ranking, which he h ...
,
Carlos Moyá
Carlos Moyá Llompart (; born 27 August 1976) is a Spanish former world No. 1 tennis player. He was the French Open singles champion in 1998 and was the singles runner-up at the 1997 Australian Open. In 2004, he was part of his country's succ ...
,
Gustavo Kuerten
Gustavo "Guga" Kuerten (; born 10 September 1976) is a Brazilian former world No. 1 tennis player. He won the French Open singles title three times (1997, 2000, and 2001), and was the Tennis Masters Cup champion in 2000. During his career he ...
,
Marat Safin
Marat Mubinovich Safin ( rus, Мара́т Муби́нович Са́фин, , mɐˈrat ˈsafʲɪn, Ru-Marat-Safin.ogg; tt-Cyrl, Марат Мөбин улы Сафин; born 27 January 1980) is a Russian retired world No. 1 tennis player an ...
,
Pete Sampras, and
Andy Murray. González qualified twice for the year-end Masters Cup event and was runner-up at two Masters Series tournaments.
González was known for having one of the hardest forehands on the tour. In Spanish he is nicknamed ''El Bombardero de La Reina'' ("The Queen's Bomber") and ''Mano de Piedra'' ("Hand of Stone").
Tennis career
Early years
At age four, González spent his time playing both football and tennis. His father, who was an amateur tennis player, was able to convince his son to opt for tennis over football. He began playing tennis at the age of six. He moved in with his family to
La Reina
La Reina ( Spanish: "The Queen") is a commune of Chile located in Santiago Province, Santiago Metropolitan Region created in 1963 from an eastern portion of the Ñuñoa commune. It belongs to the Northeastern zone of Santiago de Chile.
La Re ...
in eastern Santiago, where he practiced with his
coach Claudio González (no relation) at the ''Club La Reina'' three times a week.
In 1988, at age eight, González and his father spent a month and a half in the United States, training and playing in tennis championships. In 1992, he moved with his whole family to the U.S. for four years. They settled in
Miami
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...
, where González perfected his play at the Patricio Apey Academy.
González played his first junior match in August 1995 at the age of 15 at a grade 5 tournament in
El Salvador. As a junior, he won the
US Open boys' doubles (with compatriot
Nicolás Massú
Nicolás Alejandro Massú Fried (; born 10 October 1979), nicknamed ''El Vampiro'' (Spanish, 'the vampire'), is a Chilean former professional tennis player. A former world No. 9 in singles, he won the singles and doubles gold medals at the 2004 ...
) in 1997, and the
French Open singles (defeating a young
Juan Carlos Ferrero
Juan Carlos Ferrero Donat (; born 12 February 1980) is a Spanish former world No. 1 tennis player. He won the men's singles title at the 2003 French Open, and in September of that year became the 21st player to hold the top ranking, which he h ...
in the final) and doubles (with Venezuelan
José de Armas) in 1998. That year, at 17, he made his
Davis Cup debut in Chile's tie against Argentina, losing in four sets to
Franco Squillari
Franco Squillari (born 22 August 1975) is a former professional male tennis player from Argentina. He won 3 singles titles, reached the semifinals of the 2000 French Open and achieved a career-high singles ranking of World No. 11.
Career
As a ...
. He won his first Davis Cup tie in a doubles rubber partnering Massú. González reached as high as No. 4 in the world in singles and No. 2 in doubles.
González achieved success at the Futures level in 1998. In the three Futures events held in Chile that year, he reached two semifinals and defeated Italian
Enzo Artoni in the final in Santiago.
Junior Grand Slam results - Singles:
Australian Open: A (-)
French Open: W (
1998
1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''.
Events January
* January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...
)
Wimbledon: 3R (
1997
File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...
)
US Open: QF (
1998
1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''.
Events January
* January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...
)
Junior Grand Slam results - Doubles:
Australian Open: A (-)
French Open: W (
1998
1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''.
Events January
* January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...
)
Wimbledon: 1R (
1997
File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...
)
US Open: W (
1997
File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...
)
1999–2004
González became a professional in 1999. Early in the year, he played mainly at the Futures level. He reached his first
Challenger quarterfinal in Edinburgh. He played his first
ATP tournament in
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
, defeating
Ivan Ljubičić
Ivan Ljubičić (; born 19 March 1979) is a Croatian former professional tennis player. He reached a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) world No. 3 singles ranking on 1 May 2006. His career highlights include reaching a Grand S ...
in the first round, before losing to
Marc Rosset
Marc Rosset (born 7 November 1970) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He is best known for winning the men's singles gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics. He also won a major doubles title, at the French Open in 1992 partnering com ...
.
González won his first
ATP Tour
The ATP Tour is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for men organized by the Association of Tennis Professionals. The second-tier tour is the ATP Challenger Tour and the third-tier is the ITF Men's World Tennis Tour. The equivalent women's organ ...
title in May 2000 when he defeated Massú at the
U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships final in Orlando, Florida. It was the first all-Chilean ATP final since
Jaime Fillol
Jaime José Fillol Durán (born 3 June 1946), known professionally as Jaime Fillol Sr., is a retired professional tennis player from Chile, who played in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.
Fillol was ranked as high as world No. 14 in singles on the ...
defeated
Ricardo Acuña in the 1982 Itaparica final.
In January 2001, González played at the
Australian Open for the first time, losing in the first round to
Guillermo Coria
Guillermo Sebastián Coria (born 13 January 1982), nicknamed ''El Mago'' (''The Magician'' in Spanish), is an Argentine retired professional tennis player. He reached a career-high ATP world No. 3 singles ranking in May 2004. Coria achieved hi ...
in four sets. In May, he debuted at
Roland Garros's main singles draw, reaching the second round. He continued to play Challengers and smaller ATP events throughout the year. Notable results include a final at the Montevideo Challenger (losing to
David Nalbandian
David Pablo Nalbandian (; born 1 January 1982) is an Argentine retired professional tennis player who played on the ATP Tour from 2000 until his retirement in 2013. He reached the highest ranking in singles of world No. 3 in March 2006. Nalban ...
), and semifinals, at Zagreb and Lima.
In February 2002, González won his second career ATP title in Viña del Mar by defeating
Nicolás Lapentti in the final, and later that year he won his third title in Palermo, Italy and reached the semifinals at the
Cincinnati Masters (defeating seeded
Tim Henman
Timothy Henry Henman (born 6 September 1974) is a British former professional tennis player. Henman played a serve-and-volley style of tennis. He was the first British man to reach the singles semifinals of Wimbledon since Roger Taylor in th ...
and
Andy Roddick
Andrew Stephen Roddick (born 30 August 1982) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. He is a major champion, having won the 2003 US Open. Roddick reached four other major finals ( Wimbledon in 2004, 2005, and 2009, and the US Ope ...
en route), and the quarterfinals at the US Open. In September he surpassed former No. 1 player
Marcelo Ríos
Marcelo Andrés Ríos Mayorga (; born 26 December 1975) is a Chilean former world No. 1 tennis player. Nicknamed ''"El Chino"'' ("The Chinese") and ''"El zurdo de Vitacura"'' ("The Lefty from Vitacura"), he became the first Latin American play ...
as the top Chilean in the singles rankings and was one of the most improved players on the ATP Tour, jumping 123 positions in the ATP singles rankings.
In May 2003, González reached the quarterfinals of Hamburg and the
French Open. In between, he won the
World Team Cup
The World Team Cup was the international men's team championship of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). The inaugural edition of the tournament was contested in 1975 in Kingston, Jamaica and was called the Nations Cup. No tourname ...
for Chile, winning all his singles and doubles matches. Later in the year, he reached the finals of Washington and Metz and made the Stuttgart semifinals. In doubles, he and partner
Tommy Robredo
Tomás Robredo Garcés, known as Tommy Robredo (, ; born 1 May 1982), is a Spanish former professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking was world No. 5, which he reached in August 2006 as a result of winning the Hamburg Masters ea ...
reached the semifinals at Miami.
In February 2004, González repeated his
Viña del Mar title by defeating
Gustavo Kuerten
Gustavo "Guga" Kuerten (; born 10 September 1976) is a Brazilian former world No. 1 tennis player. He won the French Open singles title three times (1997, 2000, and 2001), and was the Tennis Masters Cup champion in 2000. During his career he ...
in the final. He also Retain with Chile the World Team Cup. In August, at the
Olympic Games
The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a vari ...
in Athens, he and doubles partner Massú gave their country its first ever Olympic gold medal, when they defeated
Nicolas Kiefer
Nicolas Kiefer (; born 5 July 1977) is a German former professional tennis player. He reached the semifinals of the 2006 Australian Open and won a silver medal in men's doubles with partner Rainer Schüttler at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Kiefer ...
and
Rainer Schüttler
Rainer Schüttler (; born 25 April 1976) is a German former professional tennis player. Schüttler was the runner-up at the 2003 Australian Open and a semifinalist at the 2008 Wimbledon Championships. He won an Olympic silver medal in doubles ...
of Germany to win the men's doubles tournament. He also won a bronze medal in the men's singles. Gonzalez had to play the bronze medal match against
Taylor Dent
Taylor Phillip Dent (born April 24, 1981) is a retired professional tennis player from the United States. He reached a career-high singles ranking of World No. 21, winning 4 singles titles.
Career
Early career and back injury
Dent won ATP tit ...
and the doubles final on the same day. Also, he saved match points in both games, most notably four match points in the doubles final in the fourth set tiebreak.
2005
González began the season by taking the title in
Auckland
Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...
, New Zealand, his first
hard court
A hardcourt (or hard court) is a surface or floor on which a sport is played, most usually in reference to tennis courts. It is typically made of rigid materials such as asphalt or concrete, and covered with acrylic resins to seal the surface an ...
title. In April, he won his first ATP doubles tournament (and second after the Olympics), in
Valencia
Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...
(clay) with doubles partner
Martín Rodríguez. After reaching the quarterfinals at
Wimbledon in June, he went on to win the
ATP tournament in Amersfoort (clay), Netherlands in the following month. He further proved his all-court versatility by winning the indoors-carpet singles title at Basel, as well as winning the doubles title in the same tournament with partner
Agustín Calleri
Agustín Calleri (, ; born 14 September 1976) is a retired professional male tennis player from Argentina. His nickname is ''Gordo'' which means ''Fat'' in Spanish. He is known as a hard-hitter and he prefers playing on clay.
Calleri served as ...
. The results for 2005 were enough for him to attend the year-end
Masters Cup in Shanghai, first as a reserve, and then as a player due to the withdrawal of
Andre Agassi
Andre Kirk Agassi ( ; born April 29, 1970) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. He is an eight-time major champion and an Olympic gold medalist, as well as a runner-up in seven other majors.
Agassi is the second of five men to ac ...
after his first match. González became the first Chilean to win a Masters match when he beat
Mariano Puerta
Mariano Rubén Puerta (; born 19 September 1978) is an Argentine former professional tennis player. He reached a career-high ATP world No. 9 singles ranking in August 2005. His career highlight of reaching the final of the French Open in 2005 ...
and just missed out on making the semifinal—and finishing the year as No. 11—after losing to
Gastón Gaudio in a match in which he had three match points.
2006
In April, González became the third Chilean (after Ríos and Massú) to break into the top 10 singles ranking. In May, he reached No. 10 in the world after winning a quarterfinal match at the
Monte-Carlo Masters
The Monte-Carlo Masters is an annual tennis tournament for male professional players held in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France, a commune that borders on Monaco. The event is part of the ATP Tour Masters 1000 on the Association of Tennis Professiona ...
shortly after parting ways with longtime coach
Horacio de la Peña, who was then replaced by
Larry Stefanki. After reaching his first
Masters Series singles final in
Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...
(losing to
Roger Federer
Roger Federer (; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 310 weeks, including a record 237 consecutive weeks, and finished as the year-e ...
in straight sets) in October, he ascended to world No. 7. He finished the year at No. 10.
2007
In January, González reached the
Australian Open singles final, thereby becoming the first Chilean to have reached the quarterfinal round in all four Grand Slam tournaments and the fourth Chilean (third male) to have reached a Grand Slam tournament final. He beat—in succession—
Evgeny Korolev
Evgeny Evgenyevich Korolev ( rus, Евге́ний Евге́ньевич Королёв; born 14 February 1988) is a retired Russian tennis player and the cousin of former Russian player Anna Kournikova. He began playing tennis at age four wi ...
,
Juan Martín del Potro
Juan Martín del Potro () (born 23 September 1988) is an Argentine inactive professional tennis player. Del Potro's biggest achievement is a major title: the 2009 US Open, where he defeated Rafael Nadal in the semifinals and the five-time defen ...
,
Lleyton Hewitt
Lleyton Glynn Hewitt (born 24 February 1981) is an Australian former world No. 1 tennis player. He is the most recent Australian man to win a major singles title, with two at the 2001 US Open and 2002 Wimbledon Championships. In November 200 ...
,
James Blake, world No. 2
Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal Parera (, ; born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He is currently ranked world No. 2 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). He has been ranked world No. 1 for 209 weeks, and has finish ...
, and
Tommy Haas
Thomas Mario Haas (; born 3 April 1978) is a German former professional tennis player. He competed on the ATP Tour from 1996 to 2017. After breaking into the world top 100 in 1997, and reaching a career-high singles ranking of world No. 2 in May ...
en route to the final, which he lost to world No. 1, Roger Federer, in (relatively close) straight sets. On 29 January, he jumped to No. 5, his best career singles ranking, and only five points behind No. 4. In May, he became the first Chilean to reach the finals of the
Rome Masters
The Italian Open ( it, Internazionali d'Italia; literally: ''Italy's Internationals''), originally called the Italian International Championships, is a tennis tournament held in Rome, Italy. It is one of the most important clay tennis tournament ...
since Ríos won the title in 1998. At the US Open, González was upset by
Teymuraz Gabashvili
Teymuraz Besikovich Gabashvili ( rus, Теймураз Бесикович Габашвили, , tɛɪ̯mʊˈraz ɡəbɐˈʂvʲilʲɪ; born 23 May 1985) is a Russian professional tennis player. He has a career-high singles ranking of World No. 4 ...
in a five-set thriller. From July to August, González went on a five-match losing streak, which ended in September, when he captured the
China Open tournament title in Beijing. In November, he became the first Chilean since Ríos in 1998 to directly qualify for the
Tennis Masters Cup
The ATP Finals is the season-ending championship of the ATP Tour. It is the most significant event in the annual ATP calendar after the four majors as it features the top-eight singles players and top-eight doubles teams based on their results th ...
. In his opening match, he staged a huge upset by beating top-ranked Federer for the first time in eleven encounters. He then lost to Andy Roddick and
Nikolay Davydenko
Nikolay Vladimirovich Davydenko ( rus, Никола́й Влади́мирович Давыде́нко ; born 2 June 1981) is a Ukrainian-born Russian former professional tennis player. He achieved a career-high singles ranking of World No. 3 i ...
, finishing last of his group. He ended the season at No. 7, his highest year-end ranking to date.
2008
At the
Australian Open in January, González failed to defend all his points from the previous year and fell from No. 7 to No. 24 in the ATP singles rankings. He bounced back the following week, winning his home event at
Viña del Mar for the third time, rising to No. 16. In May, he won his tenth ATP title at the
BMW Open in Munich. The following month, he reached the quarterfinals of the
French Open for the second time, losing to top seed Roger Federer in four sets. In August, González represented Chile at the
Beijing Olympics in both singles and doubles events. At the
opening ceremony, he was his country's standard bearer. As in Athens 2004, he partnered with Massú in doubles, but was unable to defend his gold, exiting in the first round. In singles, he improved his Olympic record, clinching a silver medal, after beating James Blake in the semifinals. In the gold medal match, he lost in straight sets to Rafael Nadal.
At the
US Open in September, he lost in the fourth round to former local champion Andy Roddick, 2–6, 4–6, 1–6. He ended the season at No. 15. In November, at the end of the season, Stefanki ceased coaching González after a job offer from Roddick. On 12 December, González announced he had hired former Argentine player
Martín Rodríguez as his new full-time coach for 2009.
2009
In the first round of the
Australian Open, González prevailed over Lleyton Hewitt in a five-set thriller which lasted 3 hours and 7 minutes. In the third round, González came back from two sets down to defeat
Richard Gasquet
Richard Gabriel Cyr Gasquet (; born 18 June 1986) is a French professional tennis player. His career-high ATP singles ranking is world No. 7, attained on 9 July 2007. He has won a total of 15 singles titles on the ATP Tour. His best performances ...
of France, 3–6, 3–6, 7–6, 6–2, 12–10, in a match that lasted over four hours. He bowed out of the tournament with a straight-sets defeat against world No. 1 and eventual champion Rafael Nadal in the fourth round.
At the
Viña del Mar tournament in February, González was victorious again, taking the title for the fourth time in five finals. He overpowered all of his opponents with a solid display of tennis and did not drop a set throughout the whole tournament. He defeated his good friend
José Acasuso, 6–1, 6–3, in the final. With this win, he returned to the top 15 in singles.
In early March, González missed the
Davis Cup tie against
Croatia
, image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg
, anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capit ...
due to a back injury. In April, he resigned from the
Chile Davis Cup team
The Chile men's national tennis team represents Chile in Davis Cup tennis tournament and is governed by Federación de tenis de Chile. The team played in the World Group on 2019 and reached the final one time in 1976, losing the cup against It ...
, citing a violation of a confidentiality agreement, after the local tennis federation disclosed the amount of money won by the players at the tie against Australia. He conditioned his return on the resignation of the federation's current directive, promising he would relinquish all his future Davis Cup proceeds to the "benefit of younger players."
At the start of the clay-court season, González reached the semifinals at
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
and
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
. He withdrew from
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...
and
Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...
, after twisting his ankle while signing autographs in Rome. At the
French Open, he reached the semifinals for the first time, beating third seed
Andy Murray in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, he played
Robin Söderling
Robin Bo Carl Söderling (; born 14 August 1984) is a Swedish former professional tennis player. He reached a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) world No. 4 singles ranking on 15 November 2010. His career highlights include rea ...
, who had previously defeated top seed Rafael Nadal and Nikolay Davydenko. González came just two games away from winning that match during the fifth set, after holding an advantage of 4–1.
At the US Open, González reached the quarterfinals for the second time, beating seventh seed
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (; born 17 April 1985) is a French former professional tennis player. He was ranked as high as world No. 5 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he achieved in February 2012. Tsonga won 18 singles titles on th ...
in the fourth round. He was defeated by third seed Rafael Nadal in a match repeatedly delayed by rain. The match was suspended on Thursday night with González trailing, 6–7, 6–6, down 2–3 in the tiebreaker. When the match resumed on Saturday, González was visibly flat, losing the remaining four points in the tiebreaker and not winning a game in the third set.
With his notable performances at the French and US Open, González achieved a career-high 14 victories in Grand Slam events during the year.
2010
Having defeated
Olivier Rochus
Olivier Rochus (; born 18 January 1981) is a retired Belgian tennis player. He is the younger brother of Christophe Rochus, also a former top-40 tennis player.
Rochus won two singles titles in his career and in 2004 won the French Open doubles ...
,
Marsel İlhan
Marsel İlhan ( uz, Marsel Qahhorovich Hamdamov; born 11 June 1987) is a Turkish professional tennis player, who was ranked No. 1 in Turkey and with a career-high singles ranking of world No. 77 in March 2015. He is the first ever Turki ...
and
Evgeny Korolev
Evgeny Evgenyevich Korolev ( rus, Евге́ний Евге́ньевич Королёв; born 14 February 1988) is a retired Russian tennis player and the cousin of former Russian player Anna Kournikova. He began playing tennis at age four wi ...
in the
Australian Open, González was defeated by Andy Roddick in the fourth round in a tense, controversial five-set match lasting 3 hours and 25 minutes. On set point in the fourth set, a Roddick forehand winner was called out which Roddick challenged. Hawk-eye revealed that the ball was in fact in, and Roddick received the set. Gonzalez argued that the point should have been replayed, as he had been in the right position and would have made a play on the ball if it had been called in. Gonzalez lost the match, 3–6, 6–3, 6–4, 5–7, 2–6.
He entered the
Movistar Open, held in Santiago for the first time that year (previously at Viña del Mar), as the two-time defending champion. He made the semifinals, losing to
Thomaz Bellucci
Thomaz Cocchiarali Bellucci (born 30 December 1987, in Tietê) is a Brazilian professional tennis player. He achieved a career-high singles ranking of World No. 21 in July 2010.
Bellucci used a string of ATP Challenger Tour victories early i ...
in three sets (after being a break up in the second set and two games away from victory).
He also made the semifinals at the
Abierto Mexicano Telcel
The Mexican Open (currently sponsored by Telcel and HSBC and called the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presented by HSBC) is a men's professional tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts, and usually held annually in late February at the Arena GN ...
. He beat all of his opponents;
Sam Querrey
Samuel Austin Querrey (; born October 7, 1987) is an American former professional tennis player. He reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 11 achieved on February 26, 2018, and won ten ATP singles titles. Known for his powerful serve ...
,
Victor Hănescu
Victor Hănescu (born 21 July 1981) is a former Romanian tennis player. His career-high singles ranking was world no. 26.
Professional career
Hănescu attained a career-high singles ranking of No. 26 on 6 July 2009. In a Davis Cup match again ...
, and
Eduardo Schwank
Eduardo Jonatan Schwank (; also known as ''Schwanka''; born 23 April 1986) is a retired professional tennis player from Argentina. In 2011, he reached the finals of the French Open in men's doubles partnering Juan Sebastian Cabal and of the US ...
, in three sets, before losing badly to
David Ferrer
David Ferrer Ern (; ; born 2 April 1982) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. A three-time Davis Cup champion with Spain, Ferrer has won tournaments at all levels on the ATP Tour ( ATP 250, ATP 500, Masters 1000) except at a major, ...
. Gonzalez decided to skip the 1000 Masters in Indian Wells to travel to areas affected by the 8.8 magnitude earthquake in Chile.
In early March, alongside his teammates, he defeated Israel in the Davis Cup to send Chile to the quarterfinals. He returned to the ATP Tour Masters 1000 in Miami, where he lost in the fourth round to Robin Söderling. He also hosted a benefit for the Chilean earthquake victims, Champions for Chile, appearing alongside Andy Roddick,
Jim Courier
James Spencer "Jim" Courier (born August 17, 1970) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. He won four major singles titles, two at the French Open and two at the Australian Open. He was the youngest man to reach the singles finals of ...
, and
Gustavo Kuerten
Gustavo "Guga" Kuerten (; born 10 September 1976) is a Brazilian former world No. 1 tennis player. He won the French Open singles title three times (1997, 2000, and 2001), and was the Tennis Masters Cup champion in 2000. During his career he ...
.
During the clay season, Gonzalez played only one tournament in Houston, where he reached the quarterfinals. At Roland Garros, he was defeated in the second round and sidelined for almost three months with a knee injury.
Gonzalez returned in New Haven, where he lost in the second round to
Radek Štěpánek
Radek Štěpánek (; born 27 November 1978) is a Czech former professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking was world No. 8 and best doubles ranking was world No. 4. Štěpánek's biggest achievements are reaching two Masters 1000 ...
. At the US Open, he retired from his first-round match against
Ivan Dodig
Ivan Dodig (; born 2 January 1985) is a Croatian professional tennis player who primarily specialises in doubles.
He is a six-time Grand Slam champion, having won men's doubles titles at the 2015 French Open with Marcelo Melo, and the 2021 Au ...
. On 21 September, Gonzalez announced that he would be having surgery on his right hip, and possibly right knee, on 4 October and was expected to be out for eight to nine months.
2011
Gonzalez announced he would return to Belgrade for "the start of the end of my career." He defeated
Alexandr Dolgopolov in the first round of Wimbledon and made it to the third round, where he lost to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in straight sets, 3–6, 4–6, 3–6.
2012
On 9 February 2012, González announced that he would retire from professional tennis after the Miami Masters. He played his last professional match on 21 March 2012 at Miami, losing in three sets to
Nicolas Mahut
Nicolas Pierre Armand Mahut (; born 21 January 1982) is a French professional tennis player who is a former world No. 1 in doubles.
He is a five-time Grand Slam champion in doubles, having completed the career Grand Slam with victories at the ...
in the first round.
Personal life
González was born in
Santiago
Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whos ...
. His father, Fernando González Ramírez, is the manager of the Molina flour mill in Santiago and his mother, Patricia Ciuffardi, a housewife of Italian descent. He has an older sister, Patricia, and a younger sister, Jéssica. He studied primary school at Colegio de La Salle and finished secondary school at Colegio Terra Nova.
Since 2017, he is in a relationship with retired Argentine field hockey player
Luciana Aymar
Luciana Paula Aymar (; born 10 August 1977) is an Argentine retired field hockey player.
She is the only player in history to receive the FIH Player of the Year Award eight times, and she is considered as the best female hockey player of all ti ...
. They have a son named Felix (born in 2019) and a daughter named Lupe (born in 2021).
In July 2022, González revealed that he will move to
Miami
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...
alongside his family.
Career statistics
Grand Slam singles performance timeline
Grand Slam finals
Singles: 1 (1 runner-up)
Olympic gold medal matches
Notes
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gonzalez, Fernando
1980 births
Living people
Chilean male tennis players
Chilean people of Italian descent
French Open junior champions
Olympic bronze medalists for Chile
Olympic gold medalists for Chile
Olympic medalists in tennis
Olympic silver medalists for Chile
Olympic tennis players of Chile
Tennis players from Santiago
Tennis players at the 2004 Summer Olympics
Tennis players at the 2008 Summer Olympics
US Open (tennis) junior champions
Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics
Grand Slam (tennis) champions in boys' singles
Grand Slam (tennis) champions in boys' doubles
Masters tennis players