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| Birth Name(s) : Guillermo Canas |
Date of Birth: N/A |
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Single
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Full Guillermo Canas Biography
Guillermo Ignacio 'Willy' Cañas (born November 25, 1977) is an Argentine professional tennis player. He was born in Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires, and named after Argentine tennis star Guillermo Vilas. His highest singles ranking was 8th (June 2005).
Canas plays a defensive counter-punching game from the baseline, and utilises his retrieving skills in order to frustrate opponents. He uses a two-handed backhand and his favourite surface is clay, but he is adept on hardcourt and grass too.
Guillermo Cañas started playing at age 7, and had an excellent start reaching quarterfinals of Junior Wimbledon in 1995, the same year he turned pro.
In 2001, after a right wrist injury the previous year, he climbed from 227th place in the ATP rankings to the 15th, and was named ATP Comeback Player of Year.
In the 2002 ATP Masters Series of Canada, Cañas won his first ATP Masters Series title in Toronto, defeating Andy Roddick in the final. In the tournament, he defeated many famous players (all are career Top 10 players, and all but Haas and Srichaphan reached World No. 1) for title :
- R64 - Roger Federer (SUI) by 7-6(10),7-5
- R32 - Paradorn Srichaphan (THA) by 6-2,6-1
- R16 - Yevgeny Kafelnikov (RUS) by 6-2,6-2
- Q - Marat Safin (RUS) by 7-5,6-3
- S - Tommy Haas (GER) by 6-4,3-6,7-6(5)
- F - Andy Roddick (USA) by 6-4,7-5
After a year of suspension for doping, Cañas returned to the circuit on September 2006 at the challenger of Belém, Brazil.
In June 2002 rumors spread that he was being investigated by the ATP for a doping offense. The case was handled in secrecy. On August 8, 2005, Guillermo was suspended for two years and was forced to forfeit US$276,070 in prizes by the ATP for the use of a diuretic called hydrochlorothiazide, a substance with no benefits in itself other than as treatment for hypertension, but used to cover other forbidden substances. No traces of any other forbidden substance were found in Cañas' sample, and the player asserts the diuretic was present in some medicine prescribed by ATP doctors Mercader and Chinchila for a sore throat he contracted during the Acapulco tournament in Mexico.
Cañas vowed to fight the ban, claiming he was innocent of the charges against him. His perseverance paid off on May 23, 2006, when he was acquitted of deliberate performance enhancement through illegal substances, since the substances were in a prescription medicine. He was, however, considered careless in not checking the medicine before ingesting it. He was allowed to return to full professional activity from September 11, 2006, and the money prizes and points acquired before the suspension are to be restored, though points expire after a full year.
Since returning to the tour, Cañas has won five challenger titles and one ATP title (2007 Brazil Open), and is currently ranked No. 13 (as of September 9, 2007). Because he reached the Miami Masters final, he rose to #29 in the world. He won his first ATP-level match on February 15th, beating Marcos Daniel 6-1 6-4.
On March 11, 2007 Cañas defeated ATP ranked #1 Roger Federer 7-5 6-2 at Indian Wells, ending Federer's streak of 41 consecutive victories, 5 short of Vilas' record.. He defeated Federer again (7-6 2-6 7-6) 16 days later at the Miami Masters to validate his victory at Indian Wells, causing ESPN to dub him the "Giant Killer". This double victory is a feat indeed as he is the only person (besides Rafael Nadal) to have defeated Federer in consecutive tournaments since 2003. Cañas was quoted by media outlets when questioned about what is the secret behind beating Federer as - "I don't know what I do, I just know I played very good tennis." His record against Federer is (as of March 28, 2007) 3 victories and only 1 defeat, therefore being one of very few players to have an advantage over Federer head-to-head.
In Miami, he became the first qualifier to make it to a semifinal. In the semifinal, he beat Ivan Ljubicic, the seventh seed, 7-5, 6-2 to make it to the final with rising talent Novak Đoković. However, he was comfortably beaten by the Serbian in straight sets. Canas defeated Tim Henman, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Richard Gasquet, Roger Federer, Tommy Robredo, and Ivan Ljubicic, in respective order, before losing to Đoković.
In spite of that loss, Cañas jumped 121 positions to reach the 22nd place in the ATP ranking as of April 30, 2007, the highest jump so far in the year. |
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