Gastón Gaudio

Gastón Norberto Gaudio
Country  Argentina
Residence Buenos Aires, Argentina
Born December 9, 1978 (1978-12-09) (age 33)
Temperley, Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina
Height 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Turned pro 1996
Plays Right-handed (one-handed backhand)
Career prize money $6,066,156
Singles
Career record 270–196
Career titles 8
Highest ranking No. 5 (25 April 2005)
Current ranking Retired
Grand Slam results
Australian Open 3R (2002, 2005, 2006)
French Open W (2004)
Wimbledon 2R (2002, 2006)
US Open 3R (2002, 2006)
Other tournaments
Tour Finals SF (2005)
Olympic Games 1R (2000)
Doubles
Career record 26–39
Career titles 3
Highest ranking No. 78 (June 14, 2004)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open 3rd (2004)
French Open 3rd (2004)
Wimbledon –
US Open 1st (2003, 2004)
Last updated on: August 1, 2011.

Gastón Norberto Gaudio (born December 9, 1978 in Temperley, Buenos Aires) is a former tennis player from Argentina. His career-high ATP ranking was World No. 5 in 2005. His most significant title win came in the 2004 French Open.

Gaudio was one of the most unpredictable players in the modern game, as was capable of shotmaking especially with his single-handed backhand and dropshots.

He learnt the game at the Temperley Lawn Tennis Club and his first coach was Roberto Carruthers.[1] In addition to tennis Gaudio played football and rugby as a child and chose tennis to help out his parents financially when their business ran into economic problems.[2]

Contents

Tennis career

Gaudio started playing tennis at the age of 6 and was ranked one hundred forty-five in the Argentine juniors behind Mariano Zabaleta. He turned professional in 1996 and in 1998 he won two ATP Challenger events in Santa Cruz, Bolivia over Luis Adrián Morejón and finished year by winning in Santiago defeating Karim Alami.

1999-2000

Gaudio won two consecutive Challengers in Nice and Espinho defeating Jacobo Díaz and Markus Hipfl respectively. Gaudio's first notable performance was when he reached the third round at the French Open as a qualifer, so he won 5 matches in total at the event, including coming back from two sets down to love in the second round against Bernd Karbacher to win 6–7, 4–6, 6–3, 6–1, 6–4, then losing to world number 6 Àlex Corretja in the next round .

2000 saw Gaudio establish himself on the main tour and win his only challenger of the year in Braunschweig over countryman Franco Squillari 6–4, 6–7, 6–4. In addition to his Challenger title, Gaudio made the semi finals in Auckland, Santiago and in his most impressive performance of the season, the Monte Carlo Masters where he defeated Marat Safin, Félix Mantilla, Julien Boutter and Juan Carlos Ferrero without dropping a set, before losing to Slovakia's Dominik Hrbatý in a tough 3-set match; 4–6, 7–5, 6–2. Gaudio also made the final of Stuttgart again playing against fellow Argentine Franco Squillari. Gaudio lost the final 6–2, 3–6, 4–6, 6–4, 6–2 despite having beaten his opponent soundly in the Gstaad quarterfinals and in the Braunschweig finals earlier in the year (both on clay) and leading Squillari 2 sets-1 in Stuttgart. Gaudio also represented Argentina in his first Olympic Games, losing to Vladimir Voltchkov of Belarus, 7–6, 4–6, 6–1 in the first round.

2001

Gaudio started his 2001 in poor fashion losing his first 4 matches of the season to Vladimir Voltchkov, future French Open finalist Andrei Medvedev, 3-time French Open winner Gustavo Kuerten, and, in his Davis Cup debut, Mexican Bruno Echagaray. Gaudio soon went back to his winning ways however, reaching the final of Viña del Mar, losing to bitter rival and countryman Guillermo Coria 4–6, 7–5, 6–2. Gaudio would avenge that defeat to Coria in a hard fought victory in the quarter finals of Buenos Aires, which involved both players making rude gestures and insulting each other regularly. After this victory Gaudio lost in the semi finals to José Acasuso 6–3, 7–6. In the American Hardcourt Swing after the 2001 Australian Open he made the quarter finals of the Miami Masters losing to 19th seed Jan-Michael Gambill 3–6, 7–5 6–4. Along the way Gaudio dismantled 5th seed Russian Yevgeny Kafelnikov 6–4, 6–1, a 3-time slam winner, and toughed out out a 3-set slugfest against future French Open winner and 12th seed Juan Carlos Ferrero 6–0, 3–6, 6–3. Although he did not manage to win his first title in 2001, Gaudio had some success, making a final, a semi and 4 quarter finals (1 0f them being the prestigious Miami Masters). In addition to this he helped Argentina return to the World Group after a perfect 5–0 record in his singles matches which were all played in Argentina on clay courts. The year was not great though; Gaudio lost a lot of early round matches and an astounding 12 first round matches, never making it past the first round of a slam. Because of his inability to win these early round matches Gaudio's ranking slipped from #34 at the beginning of the year to #48 at the end of 2001.

2002

Gaudio had a decent start to his 2002 campaign making the 3rd round of the Australian Open and the quarters of Indian Wells and the round of 16 at Miami. Continuing on from his successful Davis Cup debut, In 2002 Gaudio defeated Ivo Karlović in the fifth match to secure a semi final place for Argentina. Gaudio also won the first tournament of his career in Barcelona without dropping a set. Gaudio defeated world #1 and US Open champion Lleyton Hewitt in the semi finals and then dismissed Spaniard Albert Costa 6–4, 6–0, 6–2 in the final, who later that year won his only Grand Slam at the French Open. Gaudio followed up his maiden title with another in Barcelona by winning Majorca the next week where he defeated world #2 Gustavo Kuerten in the semi finals before defeating the Finn Jarkko Nieminen in the final 6–2, 6–3.

Gaudio made the fourth round of the French Open losing to Juan Carlos Ferrero 6–7, 6–1, 6–7, 6–2, 6–4, while leading 4–1 in the final set and this inability to close out matches when in a winning position has been a constant fixture in his career. After Roland Garros Gaudio made the final in Gstaad and the semi finals in Kitzbühel losing on both occasions to Àlex Corretja. In the Davis Cup semi final against Russia Gaudio was leading 5–1 in the 5th set against Yevgeny Kafelnikov and had a match point which was overruled by umpire Jorge Dias in Kafelnikov's favour who then went on to take the set 8–6 and the match.

2003

There were no titles for Gaudio in 2003, but he was involved in two controversies, the first of them involved Guillermo Coria in the Hamburg Masters, where they were part of an all-Argentine semi final line up the others being David Nalbandian and Agustín Calleri. Gaudio and Coria played in one semi final and after Coria won the first set and then Gaudio won the second set. Coria took an injury timeout for cramps and then after the timeout, Coria, after breaking serve at the change of ends beats his left breast while staring at his opponent, which Gaudio took as an insult. Coria preceded to win the last 6–0 and was moving around the court without problems and there was allegedly a confrontation after the match in the locker room.[3]

The other was the Davis Cup semi final against Spain in Málaga, where the two top players David Nalbandian and Guillermo Coria where unavailable due to injury. An out of form Gaudio was called up along with Agustín Calleri, Mariano Zabaleta and Lucas Arnold. Spain won 3–2, but Gaudio lost both of his matches easily to Juan Carlos Ferrero losing 14 games in a row in a 6–4 6–0 6–0 defeat and in the fifth match against Carlos Moyà 6–1, 6–4, 6–2 and was roundly criticised back in Argentina for these performances. "When I returned to Buenos Aires after playing Davis Cup in Moscow and Málaga, you had the impression it was my fault and that hurt me", he said.[4]

2004

2004 started slowly for Gaudio, but he eventually reached the final in Barcelona losing to Tommy Robredo in 5 sets, then posted two victories in the World Team Cup over Martin Verkerk and Lleyton Hewitt.

Gaudio came into the French Open ranked 44th and was unseeded for the tournament. In the first round he upset top-ten player and compatriot Guillermo Cañas over 2 days in 5 sets, then he won another 5 set match against Jiří Novák. Gaudio drop just one set en route to the final, as he defeated Thomas Enqvist, Igor Andreev, Lleyton Hewitt and David Nalbandian to set up an all-Argentine final with world no. 3 and pre-tournament favourite Guillermo Coria.

In the final, Gaudio defeated Coria 0–6, 3–6, 6–4, 6–1, 8–6. Gaudio became the first Argentine to win a Grand Slam since Guillermo Vilas in 1979, and the first man ever to win a Grand Slam after losing the first 6–0. He became the fifth lowest ranked player to win a Grand Slam, and the first man in the open era to win a Grand Slam having saved match points in the final. Gaudio reached the top 10 in the ATP Entry rankings for the first time. Gaudio had achieved his childhood dream by winning at Roland Garros [5] and likened the match to a movie and did not know what was going on.[6] Gaudio did not play Wimbledon and returned to tour in Båstad losing in the final to friend Mariano Zabaleta. He also made finals in Stuttgart and Kitzbühel and made his first appearance at the Tennis Masters Cup where he had a 0–3 record.

2005

Gaudio consolidated his top 10 ranking in 2005, by winning 5 tournaments and his 42–8 on clay only second to Nadal. Gaudio and Coria were at the centre of another dispute at the World Team Cup where Gaudio said "Let's be truthful, this isn't a team, because there's someone who makes decisions choosing the best for himself. I can understand that a player gets tired and decides to rest before Paris. I also did so on Tuesday against the Czechs but not in the most important match of all. Coria and I were the best team and if we were a real team this wouldn't have happened." [7]

He lost in fourth round of Roland Garros to David Ferrer after leading 4–0 in the 5th set and losing 6 consecutive games, when leading in the 5th set Gaudio said to Ferrer's coach at one point."Don't worry; I'm not going to win today". Gaudio also qualified again for the Tennis Masters Cup where he made the semi finals defeating Mariano Puerta and Fernando González and lost to Nikolay Davydenko in the round robin, before losing to Roger Federer 6–0, 6–0 in the semifinals.

2006

Gaudio was not able to keep up his level of play to the standards he set from mid 2004 to 2005. His best performances for 2006 have included semi finals in Acapulco and the Monte Carlo Masters and he finished the year ranked at 34. Ranked in the top ten, Gaudio started 2006 off well at the French Open, where he lost in the fourth round in four sets to Russia's Nikolay Davydenko . Gaudio lost at Wimbledon match to Irakli Labadze (a qualifier), and lost his 2006 US Open 3rd round match to Marc Gicquel.

2007

Gaudio started 2007 poorly and lost 8 consecutive matches stretching back to 2006 before recording a victory over Luis Horna who retired from the match with a strained hamstring, but Gaudio followed up with a conventional win against Juan Pablo Guzmán before losing to Juan Carlos Ferrero in the quarter finals of Acapulco. At the French Open in 2007, he won his first round match against Marc Gicquel (he lost to him the previous year) in five sets. He was to face Lleyton Hewitt, seeded 14, and won the first two sets 6–4, 6–3. However, Hewitt won the next three sets and thus the match 4–6, 3–6, 6–2, 6–4, 6–2. As a result, Gaudio's rank dropped to 99. In late 2007, Gaudio's ATP ranking had fallen to 180 in the world. During the second part of the year, he started to play clay court challenger events in Europe to attempt to rebuild his career, but he suffered an ankle injury while playing in the Napoli challenger.

2008-09

Gaudio came back in January 2008 at a Challenger Series event in Miami, Florida. He lost in the opening round 6–0, 6–3 to Kei Nishikori of Japan. Later in the month Gaudio continued his comeback attempt at the Movistar Open in Viña del Mar, Chile. Granted a wild card into the main draw of the tournament, Gaudio lost to Santiago Ventura 6–0, 6–3 in the first round.

In February 2009, Gaudio received a wild card into the main draw for the Buenos Aires tournament, an ATP World Tour 250 event in his home country. Gaudio lost to Daniel Gimeno Traver of Spain in the first round 6–2, 4–6, 6–2.

Gaudio received another wild card into the main draw in the Barcelona tournament, an ATP World Tour 500 event, where he won his first match on the world tour since the 2007 French Open by defeating Diego Junqueira of Argentina 6–4, 3–6, 6–4, before losing his second round match to Tommy Robredo 7–6, 6–1.

Gaudio won a tournament after almost four years at the Tunis Challenger. He beat Portuguese Frederico Gil 6–2, 1–6, 6–3 in the final. Gaudio was awarded a wild card into the first round of the 2009 French Open, where he was beaten by Czech Radek Štěpánek in the first round 6–3, 6–4, 6–1. Playing his first tournament since the US Open qualifying. In October Gaudio made the final of the Buenos Aires challenger losing to training partner Horacio Zeballos 6–2, 3–6, 6–3.

After finish the 2008 season without a ranking.[8] Gaudio finished the 2009 season ranked at #167[9]

2010

In an interview on the Argentine program Vertigo, Gaudio revealed that he had received psychiatric treatment for clinical depression during his time away from tennis [10] After a poor start in 2010, Gaudio won the San Remo Challenger, defeating countryman Martín Vassallo Argüello 7–5, 6–0.

In an unlikely turn of events, Gaudio returned to the French Open to play in the qualifying where he was a Grand Slam winner just 6 years before. He posted an impressive victory over American Lester Cook in the first round but was taken out by Thiago Alves in straight sets in his next match.

Gaudio announced his retirement from tennis on August 30, 2011.[10]

Major finals

Grand Slam finals

Singles: 1 (1-0)

Outcome Year Championship Surface Opponent in the final Score in the final
Winner 2004 French Open Clay Guillermo Coria 0–6, 3–6, 6–4, 6–1, 8–6

Career finals

Singles: 15 (8–7)

Wins (8)
Legend
Grand Slam (1)
Tennis Masters Cup (0)
ATP Masters Series (0)
ATP International Series Gold (2)
ATP International Series (5)
No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent in the final Score in the final
1. 22 April 2002 Barcelona Clay Albert Costa 6–4, 6–0, 6–2
2. 29 April 2002 Majorca Clay Jarkko Nieminen 6–2, 6–3
3. 24 May 2004 French Open, Paris Clay Guillermo Coria 0–6, 3–6, 6–4, 6–1, 8–6
4. 31 January 2005 Viña del Mar Clay Fernando González 6–3, 6–4
5. 7 February 2005 Buenos Aires Clay Mariano Puerta 6–4, 6–4
6. 1 May 2005 Estoril Clay Tommy Robredo 6–1, 2–6, 6–1
7. 4 July 2005 Gstaad Clay Stanislas Wawrinka 6–4, 6–4
8. 31 July 2005 Kitzbühel Clay Fernando Verdasco 2–6, 6–2, 6–4, 6–4
Runner-ups (7)
No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent in the final Score in the final
1. July 2000 Stuttgart Clay Franco Squillari 6–2, 3–6, 4–6, 6–4, 6–2
2. 12 February 2001 Viña del Mar Clay Guillermo Coria 4–6, 6–2, 7–5
3. 15 July 2002 Gstaad Clay Àlex Corretja 6–3, 7–6(7–3), 7–6(7–3)
4. 5 July 2004 Båstad Clay Mariano Zabaleta 6–1, 4–6, 7–6
5. 12 July 2004 Stuttgart Clay Guillermo Cañas 5–7, 6–2, 6–0, 1–6, 6–3
6. 25 July 2004 Kitzbühel Clay Nicolás Massú 7–6(7–3), 6–4
7. 24 July 2005 Stuttgart Clay Rafael Nadal 6–3, 6–3, 6–4

Doubles: 3 (3-0)

Wins (3)
No. Date Tournament Surface Partnering Opponent in the final Score in the final
1. February 16, 2004 Viña del Mar Clay Juan Ignacio Chela Nicolás Lapentti
Martín Rodríguez		 7–6(7–2), 7–6(7–3)
2. April 19, 2004 Estoril Clay Juan Ignacio Chela František Čermák
Leoš Friedl		 6–2, 6–1
3. July 24, 2006 Stuttgart Clay Max Mirnyi Yves Allegro
Robert Lindstedt		 7–5, 6–7(4–7), [12-10]

Challengers and futures (8)

Challengers (7)
Futures (1)
No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent in the final Score in the final
1. 13 July 1998 Elche Clay Diego Hipperdinger 6–3, 6–4
2. 31 August 1998 Santa Cruz Clay Luis Morejon 6–2, 6–3
3. 7 December 1998 Santiago Clay Karim Alami 6–2, 3–6, 6–4
4. 12 April 1999 Nice Clay Jacobo Díaz 6–2, 6–3
5. 26 April 1999 Espinho Clay Markus Hipfl 6–4, 6–1
6. 19 June 2000 Braunschweig Clay Franco Squillari 6–4, 6–7(2–7), 6–4
7. 27 April 2009 Tunis Clay Frederico Gil 6–2, 1–6, 6–3
8. 2 May 2010 San Remo Clay Martín Vassallo Argüello 7–5, 6–0

Performance timeline

Singles

Key
W  F  SF QF #R RR Q# A P Z# PO SF-B F NMS

Won tournament, or reached Final, Semifinal, Quarterfinal, Round 4, 3, 2, 1, played in Round Robin or lost in Qualification Round 3, Round 2, Round 1, Absent from a tournament or Participated in a team event, played in a Davis Cup Zonal Group (with its number indication) or Play-Off, won a bronze or silver match at the Olympics. The last is for a Masters Series/1000 tournament that was relegated (Not a Masters Series).

Tournament 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 W–L
Grand Slam Tournaments
Australian Open A A A A A 1R 1R 3R 2R 2R 3R 3R 1R A A A 8–8
French Open A A A A 3R 2R 1R 4R 3R W 4R 4R 2R A 1R Q2 22–9
Wimbledon A A Q1 Q1 1R 1R 1R 2R 1R A A 2R A A A A 2–6
US Open A A A A 1R 1R 1R 3R 1R 2R 1R 3R A A Q1 A 5–8
Win–Loss 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 2–3 1–4 0–4 8–4 3–4 9–2 5–3 8–4 1–2 0–0 0–1 0–0 37–31
Year-End Championship
ATP World Tour Finals A A A A A A A A A RR SF A A A A A 2–5
Olympic Games
Summer Olympics NH A Not Held 1R Not Held A Not Held A Not Held 0–1
ATP World Tour 1000
Indian Wells Masters A A A A A A 1R QF 1R 3R 3R 3R A A A Q1 6–6
Miami Masters A A A A A 2R QF 4R 2R 2R 4R 2R 2R A Q1 Q1 10–8
Monte Carlo Masters A A A A A SF 2R Q2 3R 2R QF SF 2R A A A 16–7
Rome Masters A A A A 2R 2R 1R 1R 3R 1R 3R 1R 2R A A A 7–9
Madrid Masters A A A A A A Q1 1R 2R A 2R 1R A A A A 1–4
Canada Masters A A A A A 2R 2R 1R 1R 1R QF 1R A A A A 5–7
Cincinnati Masters A A A A A 1R 2R 1R 3R 2R 1R A A A A A 4–6
Shanghai Masters Not Held NMS Not Held Not ATP Masters Series A A 0–0
Paris Masters A A A A A 1R A 2R 2R 2R QF A A A A A 4–5
Hamburg Masters A A A A A 1R 3R A SF 1R 3R 2R 1R A NM1 9–7
Career statistics
Finals 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 3 0 4 6 0 0 0 0 0 15
Titles 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 5 0 0 0 0 0 8
Year End Ranking 813 323 639 138 73 34 48 21 34 10 10 34 182 – 167 326

References

  1. ^ (Spanish) "Temperley vibró con la conquista". La Nación. 2004-06–07. http://www.lanacion.com.ar/archivo/Nota.asp?nota_id=608264 (Spanish). 
  2. ^ "Tennis Feuds by Paul Fein". Sports Illustrated South Africa. 2006–12-20. http://www.sportsillustrated.co.za/static/tenner/story.php?id=1749. 
  3. ^ "Old insult gives final edge by Linda Pearce". The Age. 2004-06–06. http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/06/05/1086377184922.html. 
  4. ^ "Superbrat inspired French Open title miracle, says Gaudio". ABC Australia. 2004-06–07. http://www.abc.net.au/sport/content/s1126087.htm. 
  5. ^ "Gaudio finds faith at death". SMH. 2004-06–08. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/06/07/1086460239224.html?oneclick=true. 
  6. ^ Source
  7. ^ "Argie Bargy". BBC. 2008-05-27. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tennis/4447479.stm. 
  8. ^ "2008 End of Season Ranking". SteveGTennis. 2010-01-31. http://stevegtennis.com/rankings/2008/s2008.htm. 
  9. ^ "2009 End of Season Ranking". SteveGTennis. 2010-01-31. http://stevegtennis.com/rankings/2008/s2008.htm. 
  10. ^ a b "El Gato En La Red". Telefe En Vivo. 09-05-2010. http://es.justin.tv/zeustvenvivo_31/b/263228865. 

External links