Fernando Francisco González Ciuffardi (born July 29, 1980), nicknamed El Bombardero de La Reina (Spanish "The La-Reina Bomber") and Mano de Piedra ("Stone Hand"), is a professional tennis player from Chile. González is known as one of the hardest hitters in the circuit.
González was born in Santiago, Chile. His father, Fernando, is the manager of a flour mill in Santiago and his mother, Patricia, a housewife. He began playing tennis at the age of seven. He moved with his family to the municipality of La Reina in eastern Santiago, where Claudio González (his trainer) practiced with him in the Club de Leones de La Reina (many thought that the professor of Fernando was his father by the last name coincidence). As a junior, González achieved the world number one ranking. He won the US Open boys doubles (with compatriot Nicolás Massú) in 1997, and the French Open singles (defeating a young Juan Carlos Ferrero in the final) and doubles (with Venezuelan José de Armas) in 1998. He became a professional in 1999. His first ATP title came in 2000 when he defeated compatriot Nicolás Massú in the US Men's Clay Court Championships final in Orlando, Florida. It was the first all-Chilean ATP final since Jaime Fillol defeated Ricardo Acuña in the 1982 Itaparica final. In 2002 he surpassed former number one player Marcelo Ríos as the top Chilean in the singles rankings, and was one of most improved players on the ATP circuit, jumping 118 positions in the ATP Champions Race. In February of that year he 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 (thoroughly frustrating Andy Roddick en route), and the quarterfinals at the US Open grand slam event. González repeated his Viña del Mar title in 2004 by defeating Gustavo Kuerten in the final. Later that year, at the Olympic Games in Athens, he and doubles partner Nicolás Massú gave their country its first ever Olympic gold medal, when they defeated Nicolas Kiefer and Rainer Schüttler of Germany to win the men's doubles tournament. He also won a bronze medal in the men's singles. The year 2005 was the best of his career to date. He began in great shape by winning Auckland (New Zealand) in January. In April he won his first ATP doubles tournament (and second after the Olympics), in Valencia (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), The 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. Like in 2002, 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 after his first match. González became the first Chilean to win a Masters match when he beat Mariano Puerta and just missed out on making the semifinal after losing to Gastón Gaudio in a match in which he had three match points. Had he won that match, he would have ended the year as number 10. Nevertheless he ended at number 11, his best singles ranking to date. Throughout his career, González has defeated many former number-one players, including Lleyton Hewitt, Andre Agassi (both while they held the top spot), Andy Roddick and Pete Sampras. González is currently coached by Argentinian Horacio de la Peña.
Ferando Gonzalez
Ferando Gonzalez
Ferando Gonzalez
Ferando Gonzalez
Ferando Gonzalez
Ferando Gonzalez
Ferando Gonzalez
Ferando Gonzalez
Fernando Gonzalez / Rafael Nadal AOpen Highlights - QF
Fernando González versus Roger Federer (Shanghai 2007)
No comments:
Post a Comment