Fernando González
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| Country |  Chile |
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| Residence | La Reina, Chile | |
| Date of birth | July 29, 1980 | |
| Place of birth | Santiago, Chile | |
| Height | 6 ft (182 cm) | |
| Weight | 180 lb (81 kg) | |
| Turned Pro | 1999 | |
| Plays | Right; One-handed backhand | |
| Career Prize Money | $4,728,990 | |
| Singles | ||
| Career record: | 234 - 128 | |
| Career titles: | 7 | |
| Highest ranking: | No. 7 (23 October 2006) | |
| Grand Slam results | ||
| Australian Open | 4th (2002) | |
| French Open | QF (2003) | |
| Wimbledon | QF (2005) | |
| U.S. Open | QF (2002) | |
| Doubles | ||
| Career record: | 80 - 65 | |
| Career titles: | 3 | |
| Highest ranking: | No. 25 (4 July 2005) | |
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Infobox last updated on: 5 November 2006. |
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| Olympic medal record | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Men's Tennis | |||
| Gold | 2004 Athens | Doubles | |
| Bronze | 2004 Athens | Singles | |
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. González is known as one of the hardest hitters in the circuit. One of his other nicknames is Mano de Piedra ("Hand of Stone").
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[edit] 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 coach Claudio González practiced with him in the Club de Leones de La Reina. Despite sharing a surname González was not related to his coach.
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. In 1998, aged 17, he made his Davis Cup debut in Chile's tie against Argentina losing in four sets to Franco Squillari. He won his first Davis Cup tie in a doubles rubber partnering Nicolás Massú.
González achieved success at futures level in 1998. In the three futures events held in Chile that year González reached two semi finals and defeated Italian Enzo Artoni in the final of the competition in Santiago. He became a professional in 1999. In the early stages of 1999 González played mainly at futures level. He reached his first challenger quarter-final in Edinburgh. González played in his first ATP tournament in Washington defeating Ivan Ljubičić in the first round before losing to Marc Rosset.
González's 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 González 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 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.
González began the 2005 season by taking the title in 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—and finishing the year as number 10—after losing to Gastón Gaudio in a match in which he had three match points.
In 2006, González became the third Chilean (after Ríos and Massú) to be ranked among the top ten in singles. He reached the tenth position 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.
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.
[edit] Masters Series singles finals
[edit] Runner-up (1)
| Year | Championship | Opponent in Final | Score in Final |
| 2006 | Madrid |  Roger Federer |
5-7, 1-6, 0-6 |
[edit] Titles (10)
[edit] Runner-up (8)
- 2002: Basel (lost to David Nalbandian)
- 2003: Washington (lost to Tim Henman)
- 2003: Metz (lost to Arnaud Clément)
- 2004: Amersfoort (lost to Martin Verkerk)
- 2005: Viña del Mar (lost to Gastón Gaudio)
- 2006: Vienna (lost to Ivan Ljubicic)
- 2006: Madrid (lost to Roger Federer)
- 2006: Basel (lost to Roger Federer)
[edit] External links
| Association of Tennis Professionals | Top ten male tennis players as of October 2006 | |
|---|---|
| 1. Roger Federer (Switzerland) | 2. Rafael Nadal (Spain) | 3. David Nalbandian (Argentina) 4. Ivan Ljubičić (Croatia) | 5. Andy Roddick (USA) | 6. Nikolay Davydenko (Russia) 7. Fernando González (Chile) | 8. Tommy Robredo (Spain) | 9. James Blake (USA) 10. Tomáš Berdych (Czech Republic) |
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