Fernando Gonzalez – Wimbledon Men’s Tennis Player

Fernando Gonzalez is another young player who has shown enough talent to win a Grand Slam. Although he is markedly more comfortable on clay, he had a reasonable run at Wimbledon, and his best finish at the tournament was in 2005 when he reached the quarterfinals.

Gonzalez, who turned pro in 1999, has made a name for himself by defeating some of the very best players on the circuit including Andre Agassi and Lleyton Hewitt when they held the number one berth in the world. Other top men like Carlos Moya, Gustavo Kuerten, Marat Safin and the great Pete Sampras have been defeated by the young Chilean.

He claimed his first ATP title in 2000 when he won the US Men’s Clay Court Championships defeating compatriot Nicolas Massu in straight sets, 6-2 6-3.

In 2002 he reached the semi-finals of the Cincinnati Masters defeating British number one, Tim Henman and American former number one, Andy Roddick en route. With this triumph he became the number one Chilean player, surpassing rival Marcelo Rios.

In 2004 he and partner Nicolas Massu grabbed Olympic gold in the doubles event for the first time in Chile’s history. In 2005 his quarterfinal success at Wimbledon qualified him for the end-of-the-year Tennis Masters Cup. He surpassed all expectations when he became the first Chilean to win a match at the Masters Cup by defeating Mariano Puerta.

2006 saw him rocket into the ATP world ranking top ten, becoming the third Chilean after Rios and Massu to achieve this feat. He reached the quarters at the Monte Carlo Masters and went on to contest the final at Madrid, only to lose to Roger Federer, the current world no.1.

He had a great start to 2007 when he reached the Australian Open final, knocking Lleyton Hewitt, James Blake, Rafael Nadal and Tommy Haas right out of the event. Roger Federer was again his nemesis when he beat Gonzalez in straight sets, 6-7(2) 4-6 4-6.

He leapt to number five in the rankings for the first time in his career. Sadly, the latter half of 2007 was not that productive for Fernando Gonzalez, Wimbledon men’s tennis player. He hit a bit of a slump and lost five matches in a row, but came back to win the China Open in Beijing.

Gonzalez had done enough to qualify for the 2007 Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai, and in doing so he has become the first Chilean since Marcello Rios to qualify directly for the tournament.

Gonzalez walloped world number one Roger Federer, 3-6 7-6 7-5, in his first match of the 2007 event. Federer, who has never been beaten in the round-robin play of the tournament before, had this to say about his young opponent’s inspired shot selection: “I just thought it was ridiculous the kind of shots he was coming up with. You’ve got to give him credit for that.”

2008 saw his ATP singles ranking drop from 7 to 24 after the Australian Open. He ranked 16th after winning the 2008 Movistar Open, and his ranking continued to soar after winning the title at the BMW Open - his 10th ATP title. He made his second appearance at the quarterfinals of the French Open 2008, but lost to Roger Federer.

Although Gonzalez is obviously more comfortable on clay there is no rhyme or reason for him not to contest well at Wimbledon in 2009.