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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.
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Tennis career
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 his father presided over
a tennis club.
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.
Titles
1. May 7, 2000 Orlando (United States) Nicolás Massú (Chile) 6-2 6-3
2. February 17, 2002 Viña del Mar (Chile) Nicolás Lapentti (Equador) 6-3
6-7(5) 7-6(4)
3. September 29, 2002 Palermo (Italy) José Acasuso (Argentina) 5-7 6-3 6-1
4. February 15, 2004 Viña del Mar (Chile) Gustavo Kuerten (Brazil) 7-5 6-4
5. January 16, 2005 Auckland (New Zealand) Olivier Rochus (Belgium) 6-4 6-2
6. July 24, 2005 Amersfoort (Netherlands) Agustín Calleri (Argentina) 7-5
6-3
7. October 30, 2005 Basel (Switzerland) Marcos Baghdatis (Cyprus) 6-7(8) 6-3
7-5 6-4 |
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