Guillermo Cañas

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Guillermo Cañas

Nickname(s)	Willy, Giant Killer
Country	Argentina
Residence	Buenos Aires, Argentina
Date of birth	November 25, 1977 (1977-11-25) (age 30)
Place of birth	Buenos Aires, Argentina
Height	185 cm (6 ft 1 in)
Weight	86 kg (190 lbs)
Turned pro	1995
Plays	Right-handed; two-handed backhand
Career prize money	$4,758,960
Singles
Career record:	230 - 161
Career titles:	7
Highest ranking:	No. 8 (June 6, 2005)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open	4th (2004, 2005)
French Open	QF (2002, 2005, 2007)
Wimbledon	4th (2001)
US Open	3rd (2004)
Doubles
Career record:	56 - 71
Career titles:	2
Highest ranking:	No. 47 (July 15, 2002)
Infobox last updated on: March 10, 2008.

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).

Cañas 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 the 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.

Cañas holds a record of 5 victories and 2 defeats (3:1 in singles) in Davis Cup matches.

Contents 1 Doping 2 Return 3 Masters Series singles finals 3.1 Wins (1) 3.2 Runner-up (1) 4 Titles (24) 4.1 Singles titles (18) 4.2 Doubles wins (6) 5 Singles finalist (13) 6 Singles performance timeline 7 References 8 External links 9 See also

[edit] Doping

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. [1]

[edit] Return

Since returning to the tour, Cañas has won five challenger titles and one ATP title (2007 Brazil Open), and is currently ranked number 13 (as of September 9, 2007). Because he reached the 2007 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.^[1]. 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 (David Nalbandian has also done it since). 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."^[2] His record against Federer is (as of February 23, 2008) 3 victories and only 2 defeats, therefore being one of very few players to have an advantage over Federer head-to-head.

At the 2007 Miami Masters, Cañas once again defeated Roger Federer, and became the first qualifier to reach the semifinals of this tournament. In the semifinal, he beat Ivan Ljubičić, the seventh seed, 7–5, 6–2 to make it to the final. However, the Argentine lost to rising talent Novak Đoković 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, 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^[3].

At Wimbledon, Guillermo lost in the third round to former number one Lleyton Hewitt in four sets. He lost at the 2007 U.S. Open to Lee Hyung-taik.

[edit] Masters Series singles finals

[edit] Wins (1)

Year	Tournament	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
2002	Toronto	Andy Roddick	6–4, 7–5

[edit] Runner-up (1)

Year	Tournament	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
2007	Miami	Novak Đoković	6–3, 6–2, 6–4

[edit] Titles (24)

[edit] Singles titles (18)

Legend (Singles)

Grand Slam (0)

Tennis Masters Cup (0)

ATP Masters Series (1)

ATP Tour (6)

Challengers (11)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	December 2, 1996	Santiago	Clay	Franco Squillari	7–6 6–1
2.	August 25, 1997	Santa Cruz	Clay	Marcio Carlsson	6–2 4–6 6–2
3.	September 29, 1997	Santiago	Clay	Dennis Van Scheppingen	4–6 7–5 6–3
4.	April 20, 1998	Espinho	Clay	Mariano Puerta	6–1 2–6 6–2
5.	September 14, 1998	Florianópolis	Clay	Marcio Carlsson	6–2 7–5
6.	April 9, 2001	Casablanca	Clay	Tommy Robredo	7–5 6–2
7.	December 31, 2001	Chennai	Hard	Paradorn Srichaphan	6–4 7–6
8.	July 29, 2002	Toronto	Hard	Andy Roddick	6–4 7–5
9.	December 29, 2003	Nouméa	Hard	Todd Reid	6–4 6–3
10.	July 12, 2004	Stuttgart	Clay	Gastón Gaudio	5–7 6–2 6–0 1–6 6–3
11.	July 19, 2004	Umag	Clay	Filippo Volandri	7–5 6–3
12.	September 27, 2004	Shanghai	Hard	Lars Burgsmüller	6–1 6–0
13.	September 11, 2006	Belém	Clay	Carlos Berlocq	4–6 6–2 7–6
14.	October 23, 2006	Montevideo	Clay	Nicolás Lapentti	2–6 6–3 7–6
15.	November 6, 2006	Buenos Aires	Clay	Martín Vassallo Argüello	6–3 6–4
16.	November 13, 2006	Asunción	Clay	Flávio Saretta	6–4 6–1
17.	January 1, 2007	São Paulo	Clay	Diego Hartfield	6–3 6–4
18.	February 12, 2007	Costa Do Sauipe	Clay	Juan Carlos Ferrero	7–6 6–2

[edit] Doubles wins (6)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents in the final	Score
1.	16 November 1998	Buenos Aires	Clay	Martín García	Alberto Martín Salvador Navarro	6–7, 6–1, 6–4
2.	29 March 1999	Barletta	Clay	Javier Sánchez	Gastón Gaudio Hernán Gumy	4–6, 6–2, 6–2
3.	23 August 1999	Boston	Hard	Martín García	Marius Barnard T.J. Middleton	5–7, 7–6(2), 6–4
4.	15 November 1999	Buenos Aires	Clay	Martín García	Paul Rosner Dušan Vemić	6–4, 6–4
5.	4 December 2000	San José	Hard	Adrián García	Devin Bowen Brandon Coupe	7–6, 6–1
6.	19 July 2001	Stuttgart Outdoor	Clay	Rainer Schüttler	Michael Hill Jeff Tarango	4–6, 7–6(1), 6–4

[edit] Singles finalist (13)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	9 March 1998	Salinas	Hard	André Sá	7–5, 5–7, 6–4
2.	29 March 1999	Barletta	Clay	Jacobo Díaz	6–7, 6–0, 6–3
3.	12 April 1999	Bermuda	Clay	Hernán Gumy	6–3, 7–6
4.	26 April 1999	Orlando	Clay	Magnus Norman	6–0, 6–3
5.	25 June 2001	s’Hertogenbosch	Grass	Lleyton Hewitt	6–3, 6–4
6.	23 July 2001	Stuttgart Outdoor	Clay	Gustavo Kuerten	6–3, 6–2, 6–4
7.	15 October 2001	Vienna	Hard (i)	Tommy Haas	6–2, 7–6, 6–4
8.	15 April 2002	Casablanca	Clay	Younes El Aynaoui	3–6, 6–3, 6–2
9.	22 July 2002	Stuttgart	Clay	Mikhail Youzhny	6–3, 3–6, 3–6, 6–4, 6–4
10.	18 October 2004	Vienna	Hard (i)	Feliciano López	6–4, 1–6, 7–5, 3–6, 7–5
11.	2 October 2006	Quito	Clay	Chris Guccione	6–3, 7–6
12.	2 April 2007	Miami	Hard	Novak Đoković	6–3, 6–2, 6–4
13.	30 April 2007	Barcelona	Clay	Rafael Nadal	6–3, 6–4

[edit] Singles performance timeline

To prevent confusion and double counting, information in this table is updated only once a tournament or the player's participation in the tournament has concluded. This table is current through the 2007 Hamburg Masters.

Tournament	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	Career SR	Career win-loss
Australian Open	A	1R	1R	2R	3R	2R	4R	4R	A	A	A	0 / 7	10-7
French Open	LQ	2R	1R	4R	QF	A	1R	QF	A	QF	1R	0 / 8	16-8
Wimbledon	2R	2R	1R	4R	2R	A	1R	A	A	3R		0 / 7	8–7
U.S. Open	2R	2R	A	2R	A	A	3R	A	A	2R		0 / 5	6–5
Grand Slam SR	0 / 2	0 / 4	0 / 3	0 / 4	0 / 3	0 / 1	0 / 4	0 / 2	0 / 0	0 / 3		0 / 26	N/A
Grand Slam Win-Loss1	2-2	3-4	0-3	8-4	7-3	1-1	5-4	7-2	0-0	7-3		N/A	40-26
Indian Wells Masters	A	A	A	A	1R	A	2R	SF	A	3R	4R	0 / 5	9–5
Miami Masters	2R	A	2R	A	3R	A	4R	2R	A	F	4R	0 / 7	8–6
Monte Carlo Masters	A	A	A	A	2R	A	1R	2R	A	A	A	0 / 3	2–3
Rome Masters	A	A	A	A	1R	A	2R	3R	A	2R	2R	0 / 5	4–5
Hamburg Masters	A	A	A	A	3R	A	1R	2R	A	1R	1R	0 / 5	3–5
Canada Masters	2R	A	A	A	W	A	A	A	A	1R		1 / 3	7–2
Cincinnati Masters	A	A	A	3R	1R	A	A	A	A	1R		0 / 3	2–3
Madrid Masters (Stuttgart)	A	LQ	A	3R	2R	A	2R	A	A	3R		0 / 4	4–4
Paris Masters	A	LQ	A	2R	3R	A	SF	A	A	3R		0 / 4	5–4
Total Titles	0	0	0	2	1	0	3	0	0	1		N/A	7
Overall Win-Loss	6-14	15-24	5-12	44-21	45-23	5-4	40-22	23-11	0-0	39-21		N/A	226-159
Year End Ranking	95	71	231	15	15	272	12	102	142	15		N/A	N/A

A = did not participate in the tournament.

LQ = lost in qualifying draw

SR = the ratio of the number of singles tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• ATP Tour profile for Guillermo Cañas
• Canas Recent Match Results
• Canas World Ranking History
• Unofficial Site
• ESPN profile (Spanish)

[edit] See also

• List of sportspeople sanctioned for doping offences