Guillermo "Willy" Ignacio Cañas (; born November 25, 1977) is an Argentine former professional
tennis
Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...
player and coach. He was ranked world No. 8 in men's singles by the
Association of Tennis Professionals
The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) is the governing body of the men's professional tennis circuits – the ATP Tour and the ATP Challenger Tour. It was formed in September 1972 by Donald Dell, Jack Kramer, and Cliff Drysdale to p ...
(ATP), achieved in June 2005. Cañas won seven singles titles on the
ATP Tour
The ATP Tour (known as ATP World Tour between January 2009 and December 2018) is the sole worldwide top-tier tennis tour for men organized by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) founded in 1990 that replaced the earlier dual Grand Prix ...
, including the
2002 Canada Masters, and reached the quarterfinals of the
French Open
The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...
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
Surbiton is a suburban neighbourhood in South West London, within the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames (RBK). It is next to the River Thames, southwest of Charing Cross. Surbiton was in the Historic counties of England, historic county of ...
, 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
The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...
and
Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* W ...
.
[ ]
In the 2002 ATP Masters Series of Canada, an unseeded Cañas won his first
ATP Masters Series
The ATP 1000 events, also known as ATP Masters 1000 tournaments, are an annual series of nine tennis tournaments featuring the top-ranked players on the ATP Tour since its inception in 1990. The ATP 1000 tournaments, sitting below the Grand ...
title in Toronto, defeating
Andy Roddick
Andrew Stephen Roddick (born August 30, 1982) is an American former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 13 weeks, including as the year-end No. 1 in ...
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
Marat Mubinovich Safin ( rus, Мара́т Муби́нович Са́фин, , mɐˈrat ˈsafʲɪn, Ru-Marat-Safin.ogg; ; born 27 January 1980) is a Russian former professional tennis player and former politician. He was ranked as the List of ...
, and top-ten ranked
Yevgeny Kafelnikov
Yevgeny Aleksandrovich Kafelnikov ( rus, Евгений Александрович Кафельников, , jɪvˈɡʲenʲɪj ˈkafʲɪlʲnʲɪkəf, a=Ru-Yevgeny-Kafelnikov.ogg; born 18 February 1974) is a Russian former professional tennis p ...
and
Roger Federer
Roger Federer ( , ; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 3 ...
. 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
A diuretic () is any substance that promotes diuresis, the increased production of urine. This includes forced diuresis. A diuretic tablet is sometimes colloquially called a water tablet. There are several categories of diuretics. All diuretics ...
called
hydrochlorothiazide
Hydrochlorothiazide, sold under the brand name Hydrodiuril among others, is a diuretic medication used to treat hypertension and swelling due to fluid build-up. Other uses include treating diabetes insipidus and renal tubular acidosis and t ...
, a substance with no benefits in itself other than as a treatment for
hypertension
Hypertension, also known as high blood pressure, is a Chronic condition, long-term Disease, medical condition in which the blood pressure in the artery, arteries is persistently elevated. High blood pressure usually does not cause symptoms i ...
, 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
Acapulco de Juárez (), commonly called Acapulco ( , ; ), is a city and Port of Acapulco, major seaport in the Political divisions of Mexico, state of Guerrero on the Pacific Coast of Mexico, south of Mexico City. Located on a deep, semicirc ...
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
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS; , TAS) is an international body established in 1984 to settle disputes related to sport through arbitration. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland, and its courts are located in New York City, Sy ...
. 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
Roger Federer ( , ; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 3 ...
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
Rafael Nadal Parera (born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for ...
) 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
Novak Djokovic ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Новак Ђоковић, Novak Đoković, separator=" / ", ; born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players#Weeks at N ...
of Serbia in straight sets. To get to the final, Cañas defeated
Tim Henman,
Juan Carlos Ferrero
Juan Carlos Ferrero Donat (; born 12 February 1980) is a Spanish former professional tennis player and current coach. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Pro ...
,
Richard Gasquet
Richard Gabriel Cyr Gasquet (; born 18 June 1986) is a French former professional tennis player. He was ranked as high as world No. 7 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP, attained in July 2007. Gasquet won 16 singles ...
, Roger Federer,
Tommy Robredo
Tomás Robredo Garcés (, ; born 1 May 1982) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking was world No. 5, which he reached in August 2006 as a result of winning the 2006 Hamburg Masters – Singles, Hamburg M ...
, 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
The Barcelona Open (currently sponsored by Banc Sabadell) is an annual tennis tournament for male professional players. The event was founded in 1953 as a combined men's and women's tournament until 1980. It is played at the Real Club de Tenis B ...
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
Nikolay Vladimirovich Davydenko ( ; born 2 June 1981) is a Russian former professional tennis player. He achieved a career-high singles ranking of World No. 3 in November 2006. Davydenko's best result in a Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam tournam ...
.
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
The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is organised by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and contested annually between teams from over 150 competing countries, making it the world's largest annual ...
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
Jelena Janković ( sr-Cyrl, Јелена Јанковић, ; born 28 February 1985) is a Serbian former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the W ...
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
Bernarda Pera ( ; ; born 3 December 1994) is a Croatian-American professional tennis player. Pera has won two singles titles and one doubles title on the WTA Tour, along with nine singles and eight doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. She achieved ...
.
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)
Career finals
Singles: 16 (7 titles, 9 runner-ups)
Doubles: 2 (2 titles)
Career ATP Challenger finals
Singles: 15 (11–4)
;Wins (11)
;Runner-ups (4)
Doubles
;Wins (5)
Performance timeline
Singles
Top 10 wins
See also
*
List of sportspeople sanctioned for doping offences
References
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Canas, Guillermo
Argentine male tennis players
Argentine sportspeople in doping cases
Doping cases in tennis
Olympic tennis players for Argentina
Sportspeople from La Matanza Partido
Tennis players from Buenos Aires Province
Tennis players from Buenos Aires
Tennis players at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Argentine tennis coaches
1977 births
Living people
21st-century Argentine sportsmen