Guillermo Cañas

Guillermo "Willy" Ignacio Cañas ({{#invoke:IPA|main}}; born November 25, 1977) is an Argentine former professional tennis player and coach. He was ranked world No. 8 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), achieved in June 2005. Cañas won seven singles titles on the ATP Tour, including the 2002 Canada Masters, and reached the quarterfinals of the French Open three times. He was suspended in August 2005 for a doping violation, returning to the circuit in September 2006.

Career

Early years

Cañas was born in Buenos Aires and named after Argentine tennis star Guillermo Vilas.Template:Citation needed 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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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.<ref name="Ranking">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref name="Activity1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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.<ref name="Tennis">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref name="Activity">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }} Template:Dead link</ref>

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).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="NY">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref name="Activity1" />

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.<ref name="Tennis" /> 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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Just a few weeks before his ban started, Cañas had been at the highest ranking of his career, world number eight.<ref name="NY" />

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.<ref name="Tennis" /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Return

Upon his return to the tour, Cañas won five Challenger titles and one ATP title (2007 Brasil Open).<ref name="Activity1" /> In the six months after his return, he had won 42 of 47 matches, going from being unranked to rank 60.<ref name="Tennis" /> He won his first ATP-level match since his September return on February 15, 2007, beating Marcos Daniel 6–1, 6–4.<ref name="Activity1" />

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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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."<ref name="NY" />

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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

File:Canas Coach.JPG

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.<ref name="Barcelona">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> However, his bid was thwarted for a third time at the quarter-final stage when he lost to Nikolay Davydenko.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Having set himself a goal of finishing in the top 20, Cañas finished the year in 15th, equalling his finishes from 2001 and 2002.<ref name="Ranking" /><ref name="Barcelona" /> 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 Janković 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

Masters 1000 finals

Singles: 2 (1 titles, 1 runner-ups)

Result	Year	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	2002	Canadian Masters	Hard	Template:Flagicon Andy Roddick	6–4, 7–5
Loss	2007	Miami Masters	Hard	Template:Flagicon Novak Djokovic	3–6, 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	Template:Flagicon Magnus Norman	0–6, 3–6
Win	1–1	Apr 2001	Casablanca, Morocco	Clay	Template:Flagicon Tommy Robredo	7–5, 6–2
Loss	1–2	Jun 2001	s'Hertogenbosch, Netherlands	Grass	Template:Flagicon Lleyton Hewitt	3–6, 4–6
Loss	1–3	Jul 2001	Stuttgart, Germany	Clay	Template:Flagicon Gustavo Kuerten	3–6, 2–6, 4–6
Loss	1–4	Oct 2001	Vienna, Austria	Hard (i)	Template:Flagicon Tommy Haas	2–6, 6–7(6–8), 4–6
Win	2–4	Jan 2002	Chennai, India	Hard	Template:Flagicon Paradorn Srichaphan	6–4, 7–6(7–2)
Loss	2–5	Apr 2002	Casablanca, Morocco	Clay	Template:Flagicon Younes El Aynaoui	6–3, 3–6, 2–6
Loss	2–6	Jul 2002	Stuttgart, Germany	Clay	Template:Flagicon Mikhail Youzhny	3–6, 6–3, 6–3, 4–6, 4–6
Win	3–6	Jul 2002	Toronto, Canada	Hard	Template:Flagicon Andy Roddick	6–4, 7–5
Win	4–6	Jul 2004	Stuttgart, Germany	Clay	Template:Flagicon Gastón Gaudio	5–7, 6–2, 6–0, 1–6, 6–3
Win	5–6	Jul 2004	Umag, Croatia	Clay	Template:Flagicon Filippo Volandri	7–5, 6–3
Win	6–6	Sep 2004	Shanghai, China	Hard	Template:Flagicon Lars Burgsmüller	6–1, 6–0
Loss	6–7	Oct 2004	Vienna, Austria	Hard (i)	Template:Flagicon Feliciano López	4–6, 6–1, 5–7, 6–3, 5–7
Win	7–7	Feb 2007	Costa do Sauípe, Brazil	Clay	Template:Flagicon Juan Carlos Ferrero	7–6(7–4), 6–2
Loss	7–8	Apr 2007	Miami, USA	Hard	Template:Flagicon Novak Djokovic	3–6, 2–6, 4–6
Loss	7–9	Apr 2007	Barcelona, Spain	Clay	Template:Flagicon 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	Template:Flagicon Martín García	Template:Flagicon Marius Barnard Template:Flagicon T. J. Middleton	5–7, 7–6(7–2), 6–4
Win	2–0	Jul 2001	Stuttgart, Germany	Clay	Template:Flagicon Rainer Schüttler	Template:Flagicon Michael Hill Template:Flagicon 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	Template:Flagicon Franco Squillari	7–6, 6–1
2.	August 25, 1997	Santa Cruz, Bolivia	Clay	Template:Flagicon Márcio Carlsson	6–2, 4–6, 6–2
3.	September 29, 1997	Santiago, Chile	Clay	Template:Flagicon Dennis van Scheppingen	4–6, 7–5, 6–3
4.	April 20, 1998	Espinho, Portugal	Clay	Template:Flagicon Mariano Puerta	6–1, 2–6, 6–2
5.	September 14, 1998	Florianópolis, Brazil	Clay	Template:Flagicon Márcio Carlsson	6–2, 7–5
6.	December 29, 2003	Nouméa, New Caledonia	Hard	Template:Flagicon Todd Reid	6–4, 6–3
7.	September 11, 2006	Belém, Brazil	Clay	Template:Flagicon Carlos Berlocq	4–6, 6–2, 7–6(10–8)
8.	October 23, 2006	Montevideo, Uruguay	Clay	Template:Flagicon Nicolás Lapentti	2–6, 6–3, 7–6(7–3)
9.	November 6, 2006	Buenos Aires, Argentina	Clay	Template:Flagicon Martín Vassallo	6–3, 6–4
10.	November 13, 2006	Asunción, Paraguay	Clay	Template:Flagicon Flávio Saretta	6–4, 6–1
11.	January 1, 2007	São Paulo, Brazil	Clay	Template:Flagicon Diego Hartfield	6–3, 6–4

Runner-ups (4)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
1.	March 9, 1998	Salinas, Ecuador	Hard	Template:Flagicon André Sá	7–5, 5–7, 6–4
2.	March 29, 1999	Barletta, Italy	Clay	Template:Flagicon Jacobo Díaz	6–7(6–8), 6–0, 6–3
3.	April 12, 1999	Bermuda, Bermuda	Clay	Template:Flagicon Hernán Gumy	6–3, 7–6(7–3)
4.	October 2, 2006	Quito, Ecuador	Clay	Template:Flagicon 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	Template:Flagicon Martín García	Template:Flagicon Alberto Martín Template:Flagicon Salvador Navarro	6–7(5–7), 6–1, 6–4
2.	March 29, 1999	Barletta, Italy	Clay	Template:Flagicon Javier Sánchez	Template:Flagicon Gastón Gaudio Template:Flagicon Hernán Gumy	4–6, 6–2, 6–2
3.	November 15, 1999	Buenos Aires, Argentina	Clay	Template:Flagicon Martín García	Template:Flagicon Paul Rosner Template:Flagicon Dušan Vemić	6–4, 6–4
4.	December 4, 2000	San José, Costa Rica	Hard	Template:Flagicon Adrián García	Template:Flagicon Devin Bowen Template:Flagicon Brandon Coupe	7–6(7–5), 6–1
5.	November 10, 2008	Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine	Hard (i)	Template:Flagicon Dmitry Tursunov	Template:Flagicon Łukasz Kubot Template:Flagicon Oliver Marach	6–3, 7–6(7–5)

Performance timeline

Singles

Tournament	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	Career SR	Career 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 MastersTemplate:Efn	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

Season	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	Total
Wins	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	4	7	0	2	1	0	5	0	0	20

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

See also

• List of sportspeople sanctioned for doping offences

External links

• Template:ATP
• Template:ITF profile
• Template:Davis Cup player