Guillermo "Willy" Ignacio Cañas (; 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. 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.
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. 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.
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. 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.
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). 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.
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. 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. Just a few weeks before his ban started, Cañas had been at the highest ranking of his career, world number eight.
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.
Return Upon his return to the tour, Cañas won five Challenger titles and one ATP title (2007 Brasil Open). In the six months after his return, he had won 42 of 47 matches, going from being unranked to rank 60. He won his first ATP-level match since his September return on February 15, 2007, beating Marcos Daniel 6–1, 6–4.
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. 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."
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.
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. However, his bid was thwarted for a third time at the quarter-final stage when he lost to Nikolay Davydenko. Having set himself a goal of finishing in the top 20, Cañas finished the year in 15th, equalling his finishes from 2001 and 2002. 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) ResultYearTournamentSurfaceOpponentScoreWin2002Canadian MastersHard Andy Roddick6–4, 7–5Loss2007Miami MastersHard Novak Djokovic3–6, 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)
ResultW/L DateTournamentSurfaceOpponentScoreLoss 0–1 Apr 1999 Orlando, US Clay Magnus Norman 0–6, 3–6Win 1–1 Apr 2001 Casablanca, Morocco Clay Tommy Robredo 7–5, 6–2Loss 1–2 Jun 2001 s'Hertogenbosch, Netherlands Grass Lleyton Hewitt 3–6, 4–6Loss 1–3 Jul 2001 Stuttgart, Germany Clay Gustavo Kuerten 3–6, 2–6, 4–6Loss 1–4 Oct 2001 Vienna, Austria Hard (i) Tommy Haas 2–6, 6–7(6–8), 4–6Win 2–4 Jan 2002 Chennai, India Hard Paradorn Srichaphan 6–4, 7–6(7–2)Loss 2–5 Apr 2002 Casablanca, Morocco Clay Younes El Aynaoui 6–3, 3–6, 2–6Loss 2–6 Jul 2002 Stuttgart, Germany Clay Mikhail Youzhny 3–6, 6–3, 6–3, 4–6, 4–6Win 3–6 Jul 2002 Toronto, Canada Hard Andy Roddick 6–4, 7–5Win 4–6 Jul 2004 Stuttgart, Germany Clay Gastón Gaudio 5–7, 6–2, 6–0, 1–6, 6–3Win 5–6 Jul 2004 Umag, Croatia Clay Filippo Volandri 7–5, 6–3Win 6–6 Sep 2004 Shanghai, China Hard Lars Burgsmüller 6–1, 6–0Loss 6–7 Oct 2004 Vienna, Austria Hard (i) Feliciano López 4–6, 6–1, 5–7, 6–3, 5–7Win 7–7 Feb 2007 Costa do Sauípe, Brazil Clay Juan Carlos Ferrero 7–6(7–4), 6–2Loss 7–8 Apr 2007 Miami, US Hard Novak Djokovic 3–6, 2–6, 4–6Loss 7–9 Apr 2007 Barcelona, Spain Clay Rafael Nadal 3–6, 4–6
Doubles: 2 (2 titles)
ResultW/L DateTournamentSurfacePartnerOpponentsScoreWin 1–0 Aug 1999 Boston, US Hard Martín García Marius Barnard T. J. Middleton 5–7, 7–6(7–2), 6–4Win 2–0 Jul 2001 Stuttgart, Germany Clay Rainer Schüttler Michael Hill 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 Franco Squillari 7–6, 6–1 2. August 25, 1997 Santa Cruz, Bolivia Clay Márcio Carlsson 6–2, 4–6, 6–2 3. September 29, 1997 Santiago, Chile Clay Dennis van Scheppingen 4–6, 7–5, 6–3 4. April 20, 1998 Espinho, Portugal Clay Mariano Puerta 6–1, 2–6, 6–2 5. September 14, 1998 Florianópolis, Brazil Clay Márcio Carlsson 6–2, 7–5 6. December 29, 2003 Nouméa, New Caledonia Hard Todd Reid 6–4, 6–3 7. September 11, 2006 Belém, Brazil Clay Carlos Berlocq 4–6, 6–2, 7–6(10–8) 8. October 23, 2006 Montevideo, Uruguay Clay Nicolás Lapentti 2–6, 6–3, 7–6(7–3) 9. November 6, 2006 Buenos Aires, Argentina Clay Martín Vassallo 6–3, 6–4 10. November 13, 2006 Asunción, Paraguay Clay Flávio Saretta 6–4, 6–1 11. January 1, 2007 São Paulo, Brazil Clay Diego Hartfield 6–3, 6–4
Runner-ups (4) No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent Score 1. March 9, 1998 Salinas, Ecuador Hard André Sá 7–5, 5–7, 6–4 2. March 29, 1999 Barletta, Italy Clay Jacobo Díaz 6–7(6–8), 6–0, 6–3 3. April 12, 1999 Bermuda, Bermuda Clay Hernán Gumy 6–3, 7–6(7–3) 4. October 2, 2006 Quito, Ecuador Clay Chris Guccione 6–3, 7–6(7–4)
Doubles Wins (5) No. Date Tournament Surface Partner Opponents Score1.November 16, 1998Buenos Aires, ArgentinaClay Martín García Alberto Martín Salvador Navarro6–7(5–7), 6–1, 6–42.March 29, 1999Barletta, ItalyClay Javier Sánchez Gastón Gaudio Hernán Gumy4–6, 6–2, 6–23.November 15, 1999Buenos Aires, ArgentinaClay Martín García Paul Rosner Dušan Vemić6–4, 6–44.December 4, 2000San José, Costa RicaHard Adrián García Devin Bowen Brandon Coupe7–6(7–5), 6–15.November 10, 2008Dnipropetrovsk, UkraineHard (i) Dmitry Tursunov Łukasz Kubot Oliver Marach6–3, 7–6(7–5)
Performance timeline
Singles Tournament 1994199519961997199819992000200120022003200420052006200720082009 Career SR Career win–loss Australian OpenAAAAA1R1R2R3R2R4R4RAAA2R0 / 811–8 French OpenAAAQ1Q22R1R4RQFA1RQFAQF1RQ10 / 816–8 WimbledonAAAQ22R2R1R4R2RA1RAA3R1R2R0 / 99–9 US OpenAAQ2A2R2RA2RAA3RAA2R1RA0 / 66–6 Grand Slam W–L10–00–00–00–02–23–40–38–47–31–15–47–20–07–30–32–20/3142–31 Indian Wells MastersAAAAAAAA1RA2RSFA3R4R1R0 / 69–6 Miami MastersAAQ1Q12RA2RA3RA4R2RAF4R1R0 / 88–8 Monte-Carlo MastersAAAAAAAA2RA1R2RAAAA0 / 32–3 Rome MastersAAAQ1AAAA1RA2R3RA2R2RA0 / 54–5 Hamburg MastersAAAAAAAA3RA1R2RA1R1RNM10 / 53–5 Canada MastersAAAA2RAAAWAAAA1R1RA1 / 47–3 Cincinnati MastersAAAAAAA3R1RAAAA1RAA0 / 32–3 Madrid MastersAAAAAQ1A3R2RA2RAA3RQ21R0 / 54–5 Paris MastersAAAAAQ2A2R3RASFAA3R1RA0 / 55–5 Total titles0000000210300100N/A7 Overall win–loss0–00–00–31–46–1415–245–1244–2145–235–440–2223–110–039–2121–22N/A244–181Year-end ranking55736518312995712311515272121021421579191N/AN/A
Top 10 wins Season1994199519961997199819992000200120022003200420052006200720082009TotalWins000001047021050020