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Encyclopedia > Fernando Gonzalez
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Fernando González at the 2004 Summer Olympics

Fernando Francisco González Ciuffardi (born July 29, 1980), nicknamed El Bombardero de La Reina (Spanish "La Reina's Bomber") and Mano de Piedra ("Hand of Stone,") is a professional tennis player from Chile.


González was born in Santiago, Chile. His father, Fernando, is a manager of a flour mill in Santiago and his mother, Patricia, is a housewife. He began playing tennis at the age of 7. He moved with his family to the municipality of La Reina in eastern Santiago, where his father presided a tennis club.


As a junior, González achieved the number one position. 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 Tennis Masters Series Cincinnati, 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 obtained a bronze in the men's singles.


González began 2005 in great shape by winning Auckland (New Zealand) in January.


In 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.


  Results from FactBites:
 
Fernando (1731 words)
Fernando González Llort was born in Havana on August 18, 1963.
On December 18, 2001, Fernando González was sentenced to 19 years of jail, on the charge of endangering the security of the United States, but his mission was to watch over a man of Cuban origin, Orlando Bosh, a terrorist accused and registered as by the American authorities.
Fernando González serves his 19 year-old condemnation in a prison of Minnesota, far from the rest of his comrades, as if physical distance can destroy the union among people whose fundamental bond is their ideas and common patriotism.
  More results at FactBites »


 
 

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