Juan Ignacio Chela

Juan Ignacio Chela
Country (sports)  Argentina
Residence Buenos Aires, Argentina
Born (1979-08-30) August 30, 1979
Ciudad Evita, Argentina
Height 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)
Turned pro 1998
Retired December 3, 2012
Plays Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Prize money $5,601,394
Singles
Career record 326–272
Career titles 6
Highest ranking No. 15 (August 9, 2004)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open 4R (2006)
French Open QF (2004, 2011)
Wimbledon 2R (2003, 2004, 2007, 2011)
US Open QF (2007)
Other tournaments
Tour Finals Alt (2007)
Olympic Games 2R (2000)
Doubles
Career record 104–122
Career titles 3
Highest ranking No. 32 (June 6, 2011)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open 3R (2004)
French Open 3R (2004, 2008)
Wimbledon SF (2010)
US Open 2R (2006)
Last updated on: April 2, 2012.

Juan Ignacio Chela, nicknamed as “El Flaco”, (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈxwan iɣˈnaθjo ˈtʃela]; born August 30, 1979) is a former professional male tennis player from Argentina. Like most Argentine players, he is comfortable on clay courts and owns all six of his career titles on the surface. Chela reached the quarter-finals of the 2004 and 2011 French Open, and the 2007 US Open, attaining a career-high singles ranking of World No. 15 in August 2004.

Personal life

He was born in Ciudad Evita, Buenos Aires Province.

Career

2004

In February, he reached the quarter-finals in Salvador, defeating Flavio Saretta and David Ferrer, before falling to Agustín Calleri, 3–6, 6–3, 3–6. He won in doubles at Viña del Mar, partnering Gastón Gaudio.

At Acapulco and Indian Wells, he reached the quarterfinals, but lost to Oscar Hernandez Perez and Roger Federer, respectively. In Acapulco, he also reached the final in doubles, partnering Nicolás Massú, but they lost to the Bryan brothers, 2–6, 3–6.

In April, Chela won in Estoril against Marat Safin, 6–7, 6–3, 6–3. He also won in doubles, partnering Gastón Gaudio.

He reached the quarter-finals of the French Open, where he lost to Tim Henman, 2–6, 4–6, 4–6. In doubles, he reached the quarter-finals in Rome, where he and Guillermo Cañas lost to the Bryan brothers, and in Hamburg, where he also partnered with Cañas.

On August 9, 2004, he reached his career-high singles ranking of World No. 15.

2005

Chela (The Torino) was involved in a controversy during a third-round loss to Lleyton Hewitt in the Australian Open in 2005, when he attempted to spit on Hewitt.[1]

2006

As part of the Argentine team for the Davis Cup, he holds a record of six victories and four losses, the most important of his victories in April 2006, giving Argentina the third point to beat defending champions Croatia in the quarter-finals.

2007

In May 2007, he appeared in the quarter-finals of his sixth different Masters event at Rome, also his personal best showing, with wins over Marc Gicquel, Igor Andreev, and World No. 3 Andy Roddick, the latter being Chela's best victory since defeating No. 3 Yevgeny Kafelnikov in the second round in Mallorca in May 2000. He also partnered Pablo Cuevas in doubles, reaching the quarter-finals in Barcelona, where they lost to the Bryan brothers 1–6, 2–6.

In July, he reached the semi-finals in Stuttgart, where he lost to Stanislas Wawrinka 7–6, 4–6 1–6.

He reached the quarter-finals of the US Open, but lost to David Ferrer, 2–6, 3–6 5–7.

In October, he reached the quarter-finals in Vienna, where he lost to Novak Djokovic 3–6, 7–5, 6–7. He also reached the semi-finals in doubles, partnering Fernando González.

2008

In February, he reached the semi-finals in Buenos Aires, only to lose to David Nalbandian 1–6, 2–6.

In April, he reached the quarter-finals in Barcelona, where he lost to Rafael Nadal, 4–6, 2–6.

2009

In 2009, Chela played mostly Challenger tournaments, although he did reach the quarterfinals in Viña del Mar, where he lost to Tommy Robredo 6–0, 3–6, 4–6.

2010

In 2010, Chela won the US Men's Clay Court Championship in Houston, beating Sam Querrey 5–7, 6–4, 6–3, for his first ATP Tour championship in over three years. After he beat Rajeev Ram in straight sets, Chela won a controversial three-set second-round match, in which fellow countryman Eduardo Schwank was fined for his use of tactics when injured. Chela then beat defending champion Lleyton Hewitt and another Argentine Horacio Zeballos in straight sets to reach the final. Also in 2010, Chela won the BCR Open Romania in singles, defeating Pablo Andújar in the final 7–5, 6–1, and doubles partnering Łukasz Kubot.[2] The singles title was his sixth career ATP World Tour victory.

2011

He reached the quarter-finals in Vienna and Santiago, and the semi-finals in Costa do Sauipe, where he lost to Nicolás Almagro 6–1, 2–6 4–6. He reached the final in Buenos Aires, where he again lost to Almagro 3–6, 6–3, 4–6. In doubles, he reached the semi-finals in Santiago, partnering Santiago Gonzalez.

In April, he reached the final in doubles in Monte Carlo, partnering Bruno Soares, but they lost to the Bryan brothers 3–6, 2–6.

He reached the quarter-finals of the French Open, where he lost to Andy Murray 6–7, 5–7, 2–6. In August, he reached the semi-finals in Kitzbühel, where he lost to Albert Montañés 2–6, 4–7.

He reached his career-high doubles ranking of World No. 32 on 6 June 2011.

At the US Open, he made the third round, where he was defeated by young American Donald Young 5–7, 4–6, 3–6.

His trainer and fitness coach (and also a close friend) is Fernando Gonzales.

2012

Chela did not make any ATP Tour finals in 2012, either in singles or in doubles. He did reach the third round of Wimbledon 2012 doubles, along with his partner Eduardo Schwank, losing to Daniele Bracciali and Julian Knowle, 5–7, 5–7, 1–6. He also reached the singles semi-finals in Viña del Mar, where he lost to Carlos Berlocq, 3–6, 6–4, 0–6. He also reached the doubles semifinals in Acapulco with Schwank.

ATP career finals

Singles: 12 (6–6)

Legend
Grand Slam (0–0)
ATP World Tour Finals (0–0)
ATP World Tour Masters 1000 (0–0)
ATP World Tour 500 series (2–2)
ATP World Tour 250 series (4–4)
Titles by Surface
Hard (0–2)
Clay (6–4)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)
Titles by Surface
Outdoors (6–6)
Indoors (0–0)
Outcome No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent Score
Winner 1. 21 February 2000 Mexico City, Mexico Clay Argentina Mariano Puerta 6–4, 7–6(7–4)
Runner-up 1. 28 January 2001 Bogotá, Colombia Clay Spain Fernando Vicente 4–5, 6–7(6–8)
Runner-up 2. 13 January 13, 2002 Sydney, Australia Hard Switzerland Roger Federer 3–6, 3–6
Winner 2. 15 July 2002 Amersfoort, Netherlands Clay Spain Albert Costa 6–1, 7–6(7–4)
Runner-up 3. 25 August 2002 Long Island, United States Hard Thailand Paradorn Srichaphan 7–5, 2–6, 2–6
Winner 3. 12 April 2004 Estoril, Portugal Clay Russia Marat Safin 6–7(2–7), 6–3, 6–3
Runner-up 4. 5 March 2006 Acapulco, Mexico Clay Peru Luis Horna 6–7(6–8), 4–6
Runner-up 5. 24 July 2006 Kitzbühel, Austria Clay Argentina Agustín Calleri 6–7(9–11), 2–6, 3–6
Winner 4. 26 February 2007 Acapulco, Mexico Clay Spain Carlos Moyà 6–3, 7–6(7–2)
Winner 5. 11 April 2010 Houston, United States Clay United States Sam Querrey 5–7, 6–4, 6–3
Winner 6. 26 September 2010 Bucharest, Romania Clay Spain Pablo Andújar 7–5, 6–1
Runner-up 6. 20 February 2011 Buenos Aires, Argentina Clay Spain Nicolás Almagro 3–6, 6–3, 4–6

Doubles: 6 (3–3)

Legend
Grand Slam (0–0)
ATP World Tour Finals (0–0)
ATP World Tour Masters 1000 (0–1)
ATP World Tour 500 series (0–1)
ATP World Tour 250 series (3–1)
Titles by Surface
Hard (0–0)
Clay (3–3)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)
Titles by Surface
Outdoors (3–3)
Indoors (0–0)
Outcome No. Date Tournament Surface Partner Opponents Score
Winner 1. 15 February 2004 Viña del Mar, Chile Clay Argentina Gastón Gaudio Ecuador Nicolás Lapentti
Argentina Martín Rodríguez		 7–6(7–2), 7–6(7–3)
Runner-up 1. 7 March 2004 Acapulco, Mexico Clay Chile Nicolás Massú United States Bob Bryan
United States Mike Bryan		 6–2, 6–3
Winner 2. 18 April 2004 Estoril, Portugal Clay Argentina Gastón Gaudio Czech Republic František Čermák
Czech Republic Leoš Friedl		 6–2, 6–1
Runner-up 2. 1 May 2005 Estoril, Portugal Clay Spain Tommy Robredo Czech Republic František Čermák
Czech Republic Leoš Friedl		 6–3, 6–4
Winner 3. 25 September 2005 Bucharest, Romania Clay Poland Łukasz Kubot Spain Marcel Granollers
Spain Santiago Ventura		 6–2, 5–7, [13–11]
Runner-up 3. 17 April 2011 Monte Carlo, Monaco Clay Brazil Bruno Soares United States Bob Bryan
United States Mike Bryan		 6–3, 6–2

Singles performance timeline

Tournament2000200120022003200420052006200720082009201020112012W–L
Grand Slam Tournaments
Australian Open A 3R 2R 2R 2R 3R 4R 3R 1R A 1R 1R 3R 14–11
French Open 2R A 1R 3R QF 2R 1R 2R 2R 1R 2R QF 1R 15–12
Wimbledon 1R A 1R 2R 2R A 1R 2R A A 1R 2R 1R 4–9
US Open 1R A 4R 3R 1R 1R 1R QF A 2R 2R 3R A 13–10
Win–Loss 1–3 2–1 4–4 6–4 6–4 3–3 3–4 8–4 1–2 1–2 2–4 8–4 2–3 46–42
ATP Masters Series
Indian Wells Masters A 1R 3R 2R QF 3R 2R QF 3R 1R 1R 3R 2R 12–12
Miami Masters A 1R QF 3R 3R 3R 4R QF 2R 1R 2R 2R 2R 13–12
Monte Carlo Masters 3R A 3R QF 3R 1R 2R 2R 1R 2R A 1R 1R 12–11
Rome Masters 1R A 2R 2R 1R 2R 1R QF 1R 1R 1R 3R 1R 8–12
Madrid Masters A A 1R QF 2R 2R 2R 2R A 1R 2R 1R 1R 6–10
Canada Masters 1R A 1R 2R 3R 1R 1R 1R A A 2R 1R A 4–9
Cincinnati Masters 1R A 1R 3R 3R 3R 3R 2R A A A 1R A 9–8
Paris Masters A A 1R 1R 1R A 2R 2R A A 1R A A 1–6
Hamburg Masters A A 3R 1R 1R QF 1R 2R 2R Not Masters Series 7–7
Win–Loss 2–4 0–2 11–9 12–9 10–9 9–8 7–9 12–9 2–5 1–5 3–6 3–7 0–5 72–87
Career Statistics
Titles–Finals 1–1 0–1 1–3 0–0 1–1 0–0 0–2 1–1 0–0 0–0 2–2 0–1 0–0 6–12
Year-End Ranking 63 70 23 38 26 39 33 20 140 73 38 29 176

Doubles performance timeline

Tournament200320042005200620082009201020112012W–L
Grand Slam Tournaments
Australian Open 2R 3R 2R 3R 1R 1R 2R 7–7
French Open 2R 3R 2R 1R 3R 1R 1R 1R 2R 7–9
Wimbledon 2R 1R SF 3R 7–4
US Open 1R 1R 1R 2R 3R 2R 2R 5–7
Win–Loss 3–4 4–4 2–3 3–3 2–1 2–2 5–4 3–4 2–2 26–27

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Most Hated Athletes".
  2. ↑ "Chela: "Quiero meterme en el top 30 y volver a la Copa Davis"". Cancha Llena (in Spanish). 2010-09-26. Retrieved 2010-09-26.
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