|
|
|
|
| Birth Name(s) : Fernando Gonzalez |
Date of Birth: N/A |
| Status:
Single
|
Partner:
|
| Profession:
N/A |
| << Add Fernando Gonzalez To Your Favorites |
|
Full Fernando Gonzalez Biography
Fernando Francisco González Ciuffardi (born July 29, 1980), nicknamed El bombardero de La Reina (Spanish "The La Reina Bomber"), is a professional tennis player from Chile. He is known for having one of the hardest hitting forehands in the circuit. One of his other nicknames is Mano de Piedra ("Stone Hand").
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, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Carlos Moyà, Gustavo Kuerten, Marat Safin and Pete Sampras.
González began playing tennis at the age of seven. He moved in with his family to the municipality of La Reina in eastern Santiago, where he practiced with his coach Claudio González (no relation) at the Club de Leones de La Reina.
González achieved success at 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.
González became a professional in 1999. In the early stages of the year he played mainly at futures level. He reached his first challenger quarter-final in Edinburgh. He played his first ATP tournament in Washington, defeating Ivan Ljubičić in the first round before losing to Marc Rosset.
González won his first ATP title in May 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 defeated Ricardo Acuña in the 1982 Itaparica final.
In February 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 and Andy Roddick en route), and the quarterfinals at the US Open. In September he surpassed former number one player Marcelo Ríos as the top Chilean in the singles rankings, and was one of the most improved players on the ATP circuit, jumping 118 positions in the ATP Champions Race.
In February, González repeated his Viña del Mar title by defeating Gustavo Kuerten in the final. In August, at the Olympic Games in Athens, he and doubles partner 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.Fernando González at training for the World Team Cup, in 2005.
González began the season by taking the title in Auckland, New Zealand —his first hard court title— 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—and finishing the year as number 10—after losing to Gastón Gaudio in a match in which he had three match points.
In April González became the third Chilean (after Ríos and Massú) to break into the top ten rankings in singles. He reached number 10 in the world after winning a quarterfinal match at the Monte Carlo Masters—shortly after breaking up with longtime coach Horacio de la Peña, who was then replaced by Larry Stefanki in May. After reaching his first Masters Series singles final in Madrid (losing to Roger Federer in straight sets) in October, he ascended to world number seven. He finished the year at number ten.
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— Lleyton Hewitt, James Blake, world number two Rafael Nadal, and Tommy Haas en route to the final, which he lost to world number one Roger Federer in (relatively close) straight sets. On January 29 he jumped to number five, his best career singles ranking, and only five points behind number four. In May he became the first Chilean to reach the finals of the Rome Masters since Ríos won the title in 1998. 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.
González was born in Santiago, Chile. His father, Fernando González, is the manager of a flour mill in Santiago and his mother, Patricia Ciuffardi, a housewife. |
|
|
| Add Fernando Gonzalez Biography (SuperUSERS) + |
| Add Fernando Gonzalez Review/Comment
|
HQ Fernando Gonzalez Pictures (1) | Random Fernando Gonzalez Picture
|
| << Back to the Fernando Gonzalez Homepage |
|
