Guillermo Cañas

Guillermo Ignacio Cañas ([ɡiˈʃeɾmo ˈkaɲas]; born November 25, 1977), often referred to as Willy Cañas, is a retired tennis player from Argentina. Cañas won the Canada Masters in 2002, and reached the quarterfinal stage of the French Open in 2002, 2005 and 2007. His career-high singles ranking was world No. 8, achieved in June 2005. After being suspended in August 2005, Cañas returned to the circuit in September 2006 at ATP Challenger level.

Guillermo Cañas
Country (sports) Argentina
ResidenceBuenos Aires, Argentina
Born (1977-11-25) November 25, 1977
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Height1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Turned pro1995
Retired2010
PlaysRight-handed (two-handed backhand)
Prize money$5,285,575
Singles
Career record252–195 (56.4%)
Career titles7
Highest rankingNo. 8 (June 6, 2005)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open4R (2004, 2005)
French OpenQF (2002, 2005, 2007)
Wimbledon4R (2001)
US Open3R (2004)
Other tournaments
Tour FinalsAlt (2004)
Olympic Games2R (2008)
Doubles
Career record61–82 (42.7%)
Career titles2
Highest rankingNo. 47 (July 15, 2002)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open3R (2002)
Wimbledon1R (2008)
US Open2R (2008)
Other doubles tournaments
Olympic Games1R (2008)

Career

Early years

Cañas was born in Buenos Aires and named after Argentine tennis star Guillermo Vilas. He started playing at age 7. He turned professional in 1995, and began playing on the juniors circuit, enjoying some successes; these included a runner-up appearance at Surbiton, United Kingdom, and a win in the doubles event at the Italian Junior Championships, partnering Martín García.[1]

From 1995 to 1999, Cañas played mainly Challenger Series tournaments. In April 1998, he broke into the top 100 for the first time, having won three Challenger tournaments in the previous 52 weeks.[2] This allowed him to qualify for more ATP level tournaments, and he reached his first final in 1999 at Orlando, Florida. He also began to regularly qualify for Grand Slam tournaments, the most prestigious events in tennis.[3]

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.[4] Cañas had won the first ATP level title of his career that season, in Casablanca, and reached the final of three other tournaments. In addition to this, he reached the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time, achieving this result on two occasions, at the French Open and Wimbledon.[5]

In the 2002 ATP Masters Series of Canada, an unseeded Cañas won his first ATP Masters Series title in Toronto, defeating Andy Roddick 6–4, 7–5 in the final. Cañas's path to the final saw him defeat a renowned set of players, including world number two Marat Safin, and top-ten ranked Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Roger Federer. Cañas was also the first Argentine to win the Canada Open since Guillermo Vilas in 1976 and the first to win a Masters Series shield (the Series was created in 1990).[6][7] Cañas won one other tournament in 2002, the Chennai Open, and reached in the finals in Casablanca and Stuttgart. He also emerged as a more potent force at the Grand Slams as he reached his first quarterfinal at the French.[3]

Doping

On August 8, 2005, Cañas was suspended for two years and was forced to forfeit $276,070 in prizes by the ATP after testing positive for a diuretic called hydrochlorothiazide, a substance with no benefits in itself other than as a treatment for hypertension, but used to cover other forbidden substances.[4] No traces of any other forbidden substance were found in Cañas's sample, and the player asserts the diuretic was present in some medicine prescribed by ATP doctors Mercader and Chinchilla for a cold he contracted during the Acapulco tournament in Mexico.[8] Just a few weeks before his ban started, Cañas had been at the highest ranking of his career, world number eight.[7]

Cañas vowed to fight the ban, claiming he was innocent of the charges against him. Cañas took his case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. His perseverance paid off on May 23, 2006, when he was acquitted of deliberate performance enhancement through illegal substances because 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 acquired before the suspension was restored. His points, which determine a player's ranking, were nil upon his return, having expired.[4][9]

Return

Upon his return to the tour, Cañas won five Challenger titles and one ATP title (2007 Brasil Open).[3] In the six months after his return, he had won 42 of 47 matches, going from being unranked to rank 60.[4] He won his first ATP-level match since his September return on February 15, 2007, beating Marcos Daniel 6–1, 6–4.[3]

On March 11, 2007, Cañas defeated ATP ranked number one Roger Federer 7–5, 6–2 at the Indian Wells Masters, ending Federer's streak of 41 consecutive victories, 5 short of Guillermo Vilas's record on ATP Tour matches.[10] He defeated Federer again (7–6, 2–6, 7–6) 16 days later at the Miami Masters to back-up his victory at Indian Wells. This double victory made him the only player (besides Rafael Nadal) to have defeated Federer in consecutive tournaments since 2003. Cañas told the New York Times that "I came back very motivated, I came back with a lot of energy."[7]

Cañas became the first qualifier to reach the semifinals of the Miami Masters. He made the final by beating Ivan Ljubičić, the seventh seed, 7–5, 6–2. In the final, the Argentine lost to Novak Djokovic of Serbia in straight sets. To get to the final, Cañas defeated Tim Henman, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Richard Gasquet, Roger Federer, Tommy Robredo, and Ivan Ljubičić, respectively, before losing to Novak Djoković. 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.[11]

Guillermo Cañas coaching at the US Open after retiring as player

Cañas reached the final of one more tournament in 2007, the Torneo Godó in Barcelona, where he lost to Rafael Nadal. Cañas commented afterwards that he believed he would be a strong contender at the French Open.[12] However, his bid was thwarted for a third time at the quarter-final stage when he lost to Nikolay Davydenko.[13] Having set himself a goal of finishing in the top 20, Cañas finished the year in 15th, equalling his finishes from 2001 and 2002.[2][12] He announced his retirement from professional tennis in March 2010. Cañas held a record of five victories and two defeats (3–1 in singles) in Davis Cup matches across his career.

Post-retirement

Cañas was the coach of Ernests Gulbis from July 2011 until May 2012 and became the coach of Teymuraz Gabashvili in 2015. He coached Jelena Jankovic from January 2017 until her retirement. He now runs his own tennis academy in Aventura, Florida along with former tour pros Martín García and Gustavo Oribe. He is the current coach of Bernarda Pera.

Playing style

Cañas played a defensive counter-punching game from the baseline, using his retrieving skills in order to frustrate opponents. He used a two-handed backhand.

Significant finals

Singles: 2 (1 titles, 1 runner-ups)
Result Year Tournament Surface Opponent Score
Win2002Canadian MastersHardUnited States Andy Roddick6–4, 7–5
Loss2007Miami MastersHardSerbia Novak Djokovic3–6, 2–6, 4–6

Career finals

Singles: 16 (7 titles, 9 runner-ups)
Legend
Grand Slam (0–0)
Tennis Masters Cup /
ATP World Tour Finals (0–0)
ATP Masters Series /
ATP World Tour Masters 1000 (1–1)
ATP International Series Gold /
ATP World Tour 500 Series (1–4)
ATP International Series /
ATP World Tour 250 Series (5–4)
Result W/L Date Tournament Surface Opponent Score
Loss 0–1 Apr 1999 Orlando, USA Clay Sweden Magnus Norman 0–6, 3–6
Win 1–1 Apr 2001 Casablanca, Morocco Clay Spain Tommy Robredo 7–5, 6–2
Loss 1–2 Jun 2001 s'Hertogenbosch, Netherlands Grass Australia Lleyton Hewitt 3–6, 4–6
Loss 1–3 Jul 2001 Stuttgart, Germany Clay Brazil Gustavo Kuerten 3–6, 2–6, 4–6
Loss 1–4 Oct 2001 Vienna, Austria Hard (i) Germany Tommy Haas 2–6, 6–7(6–8), 4–6
Win 2–4 Jan 2002 Chennai, India Hard Thailand Paradorn Srichaphan 6–4, 7–6(7–2)
Loss 2–5 Apr 2002 Casablanca, Morocco Clay Morocco Younes El Aynaoui 6–3, 3–6, 2–6
Loss 2–6 Jul 2002 Stuttgart, Germany Clay Russia Mikhail Youzhny 3–6, 6–3, 6–3, 4–6, 4–6
Win 3–6 Jul 2002 Toronto, Canada Hard United States Andy Roddick 6–4, 7–5
Win 4–6 Jul 2004 Stuttgart, Germany Clay Argentina Gastón Gaudio 5–7, 6–2, 6–0, 1–6, 6–3
Win 5–6 Jul 2004 Umag, Croatia Clay Italy Filippo Volandri 7–5, 6–3
Win 6–6 Sep 2004 Shanghai, China Hard Germany Lars Burgsmüller 6–1, 6–0
Loss 6–7 Oct 2004 Vienna, Austria Hard (i) Spain Feliciano López 4–6, 6–1, 5–7, 6–3, 5–7
Win 7–7 Feb 2007 Costa do Sauípe, Brazil Clay Spain Juan Carlos Ferrero 7–6(7–4), 6–2
Loss 7–8 Apr 2007 Miami, USA Hard Serbia Novak Djokovic 3–6, 2–6, 4–6
Loss 7–9 Apr 2007 Barcelona, Spain Clay Spain Rafael Nadal 3–6, 4–6

Doubles: 2 (2 titles)
Result W/L Date Tournament Surface Partner Opponents Score
Win 1–0 Aug 1999 Boston, USA Hard Argentina Martín García South Africa Marius Barnard
United States T.J. Middleton		 5–7, 7–6(7–2), 6–4
Win 2–0 Jul 2001 Stuttgart, Germany Clay Germany Rainer Schüttler Australia Michael Hill
United States Jeff Tarango		 4–6, 7–6(7–1), 6–4

Career ATP Challenger finals

Singles: 15 (11–4)
Wins (11)
No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent Score
1. December 2, 1996 Santiago, Chile Clay Argentina Franco Squillari 7–6, 6–1
2. August 25, 1997 Santa Cruz, Bolivia Clay Brazil Marcio Carlsson 6–2, 4–6, 6–2
3. September 29, 1997 Santiago, Chile Clay Netherlands Dennis van Scheppingen 4–6, 7–5, 6–3
4. April 20, 1998 Espinho, Portugal Clay Argentina Mariano Puerta 6–1, 2–6, 6–2
5. September 14, 1998 Florianópolis, Brazil Clay Brazil Marcio Carlsson 6–2, 7–5
6. December 29, 2003 Nouméa, New Caledonia Hard Australia Todd Reid 6–4, 6–3
7. September 11, 2006 Belém, Brazil Clay Argentina Carlos Berlocq 4–6, 6–2, 7–6(10–8)
8. October 23, 2006 Montevideo, Uruguay Clay Ecuador Nicolás Lapentti 2–6, 6–3, 7–6(7–3)
9. November 6, 2006 Buenos Aires, Argentina Clay Argentina Martín Vassallo 6–3, 6–4
10. November 13, 2006 Asunción, Paraguay Clay Brazil Flávio Saretta 6–4, 6–1
11. January 1, 2007 São Paulo, Brazil Clay Argentina Diego Hartfield 6–3, 6–4
Runner-ups (4)
No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent Score
1. March 9, 1998 Salinas, Ecuador Hard Brazil André Sá 7–5, 5–7, 6–4
2. March 29, 1999 Barletta, Italy Clay Spain Jacobo Díaz 6–7(6–8), 6–0, 6–3
3. April 12, 1999 Bermuda, Bermuda Clay Argentina Hernán Gumy 6–3, 7–6(7–3)
4. October 2, 2006 Quito, Ecuador Clay Australia Chris Guccione 6–3, 7–6(7–4)

Doubles
Wins (5)
No. Date Tournament Surface Partner Opponents Score
1. November 16, 1998 Buenos Aires, Argentina Clay Argentina Martín García Spain Alberto Martín
Spain Salvador Navarro		 6–7(5–7), 6–1, 6–4
2. March 29, 1999 Barletta, Italy Clay Spain Javier Sánchez Argentina Gastón Gaudio
Argentina Hernán Gumy		 4–6, 6–2, 6–2
3. November 15, 1999 Buenos Aires, Argentina Clay Argentina Martín García South Africa Paul Rosner
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Dušan Vemić		 6–4, 6–4
4. December 4, 2000 San José, Costa Rica Hard Chile Adrián García United States Devin Bowen
United States Brandon Coupe		 7–6(7–5), 6–1
5. November 10, 2008 Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine Hard (i) Russia Dmitry Tursunov Poland Łukasz Kubot
Austria Oliver Marach		 6–3, 7–6(7–5)

Performance timeline
Key
W  F  SF QF #R RR Q# DNQ A NH
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.

Singles
Tournament1994199519961997199819992000200120022003200420052006200720082009Career SRCareer win–loss
Australian Open A A A A A 1R 1R 2R 3R 2R 4R 4R A A A 2R 0 / 8 11–8
French Open A A A Q1 Q2 2R 1R 4R QF A 1R QF A QF 1R Q1 0 / 8 16–8
Wimbledon A A A Q2 2R 2R 1R 4R 2R A 1R A A 3R 1R 2R 0 / 9 9–9
US Open A A Q2 A 2R 2R A 2R A A 3R A A 2R 1R A 0 / 6 6–6
Grand Slam W–L1 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 2–2 3–4 0–3 8–4 7–3 1–1 5–4 7–2 0–0 7–3 0–3 2–2 0/31 42–31
Indian Wells Masters A A A A A A A A 1R A 2R SF A 3R 4R 1R 0 / 6 9–6
Miami Masters A A Q1 Q1 2R A 2R A 3R A 4R 2R A F 4R 1R 0 / 8 8–8
Monte-Carlo Masters A A A A A A A A 2R A 1R 2R A A A A 0 / 3 2–3
Rome Masters A A A Q1 A A A A 1R A 2R 3R A 2R 2R A 0 / 5 4–5
Hamburg Masters A A A A A A A A 3R A 1R 2R A 1R 1R NM1 0 / 5 3–5
Canada Masters A A A A 2R A A A W A A A A 1R 1R A 1 / 4 7–3
Cincinnati Masters A A A A A A A 3R 1R A A A A 1R A A 0 / 3 2–3
Madrid Masters[lower-alpha 1] A A A A A Q1 A 3R 2R A 2R A A 3R Q2 1R 0 / 5 4–5
Paris Masters A A A A A Q2 A 2R 3R A SF A A 3R 1R A 0 / 5 5–5
Total titles 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 3 0 0 1 0 0 N/A 7
Overall win–loss 0–0 0–0 0–3 1–4 6–14 15–24 5–12 44–21 45–23 5–4 40–22 23–11 0–0 39–21 21–22 N/A 244–181
Year-end ranking 557 365 183 129 95 71 231 15 15 272 12 102 142 15 79 191 N/A N/A

Top 10 wins
Season1994199519961997199819992000200120022003200420052006200720082009Total
Wins000001047021050020
# Player Rank Event Surface Rd Score Cañas
Rank
1999
1. United Kingdom Tim Henman 5 US Open, New York, United States Hard 1R 7–6(7–1), 6–4, 6–3 68
2001
2. Russia Yevgeny Kafelnikov 7 Wimbledon, London Grass 3R 3–6, 6–1, 6–3, 7–6(7–2) 49
3. Russia Yevgeny Kafelnikov 6 Stuttgart, Germany Clay QF 4–6, 6–3, 6–3 39
4. Russia Marat Safin 3 Cincinnati, United States Hard 1R 6–3, 6–3 33
5. United Kingdom Tim Henman 8 Vienna, Austria Hard (i) 2R 3–6, 7–6(7–4), 7–6(7–5) 21
2002
6. Sweden Thomas Johansson 9 World Team Cup, Düsseldorf Clay RR 6–2, 4–6, 6–0 17
7. Russia Yevgeny Kafelnikov 5 World Team Cup, Düsseldorf Clay F 6–4, 6–2 17
8. Australia Lleyton Hewitt 1 French Open, Paris Clay 4R 6–7(1–7), 7–6(15–13), 6–4, 6–3 17
9. Switzerland Roger Federer 10 Toronto, Canada Hard 1R 7–6(12–10), 7–5 19
10. Russia Yevgeny Kafelnikov 5 Toronto, Canada Hard 3R 6–2, 6–2 19
11. Russia Marat Safin 2 Toronto, Canada Hard QF 7–5, 6–3 19
12. Germany Tommy Haas 3 Toronto, Canada Hard SF 6–4, 3–6, 7–6(7–5) 19
2004
13. United States Andy Roddick 2 Rome, Italy Clay 1R 7–6(9–7), 6–1 80
14. Argentina David Nalbandian 10 Vienna, Austria Hard (i) QF 6–4, 2–6, 6–3 26
2005
15. United Kingdom Tim Henman 6 Indian Wells, United States Hard QF 7–6(7–1), 7–5 14
2007
16. Argentina David Nalbandian 10 Buenos Aires, Argentina Clay RR 6–4, 6–4 63
17. Switzerland Roger Federer 1 Indian Wells, United States Hard 2R 7–5, 6–2 60
18. Switzerland Roger Federer 1 Miami, United States Hard 4R 7–6(7–2), 2–6, 7–6(7–5) 55
19. Spain Tommy Robredo 6 Miami, United States Hard QF 7–6(7–5), 6–1 55
20. Croatia Ivan Ljubičić 7 Miami, United States Hard SF 7–5, 6–2 55

See also

References
  1. "Guillermo Canas junior playing activity". International Tennis Federation (ITF). Retrieved 2008-08-25.
  2. "Guillermo Canas ranking". Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). Retrieved 2016-03-29.
  3. "Guillermo Canas playing activity (ITF)". ITF. Retrieved 2008-08-25.
  4. Kamakshi Tandon (2007-03-09). "Rollercoaster Ride: Another comeback for Canas". Tennis.com. Archived from the original on 2009-02-27. Retrieved 2008-08-25.
  5. "Guillermo Canas playing activity in 2001 (ATP)". ATP. Retrieved 2008-08-25.
  6. "Canas triumphs in Canada". BBC Sport. 2002-08-04. Retrieved 2008-08-25.
  7. Karen Crouse (2007-03-30). "After Beating Federer, Cañas Keeps Winning". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-08-25.
  8. "Canas banned for two years by ATP". BBC Sport. 2005-08-09. Retrieved 2008-08-25.
  9. "Canas has drug ban cut on appeal". BBC Sport. 2006-05-23. Retrieved 2008-08-25.
  10. Dan Baynes (2007-03-12). "Federer Loses to Cañas, Falls Short of Vilas's Record". Bloomberg. Retrieved 2008-08-25.
  11. "Guillermo Cañas logra el mayor ascenso del 2007" (in Spanish). ATP. 2008-04-05. Archived from the original on 2007-05-01. Retrieved 2007-04-28.
  12. "Nadal seals Barcelona hat-trick". BBC Sport. 2007-04-29. Retrieved 2008-08-25.
  13. "Federer hits back to beat Robredo". BBC Sport. 2007-06-05. Retrieved 2008-08-25.
  1. Held in Stuttgart from 1996 to 2001, held in Madrid on hard court (indoors) from 2002 to 2008, and held on clay court in 2009.
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