| 27 March 2010
By Mike McIntyre
Guillermo Canas of Argentina officially announced his retirement from the ATP Tour on Friday at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami. In a press conference with the media the 32 year old Canas admitted that after four surgeries to his right wrist he finally decided that enough was enough.
"I tried again at the US Open and I felt too much pain," Canas said. "I played two exhibitions in Argentina in December, but it was not good. My wrist just won't let me play."
Asked about the highlights of his fifteen year professional career and the Canas did not hesitate to mention his back-to-back victories over world number-one Roger Federer in March of 2007. He managed to beat the seemingly invincible Federer at Indian Wells ending his 41 match winning streak and then again a week later in Miami.
"I beat the most talented player in the world," the Argentine said. "For me it was unbelievable. And then to do it again 10 days later was like a dream for me."
Asked this week for his memories of playing against Canas, Federer was his usual gracious self.
"He was always a grinder and always gave his best on the court, so you always knew you were in for a tough match,'' Federer said. "It was a bit different losing to the same player back-to-back. It hadn't happened to me in years.''
The media has chosen to focus on those two Canas victories to contort their headlines into portraying Canas as Federer's nemesis when in fact the two have a 3-3 career head-to-head record with Federer easily winning the last two matches by a combined score of 24 sets to 9. I think it's safe to say that Rafael Nadal still holds the official title of nemesis to Roger, but Canas did have his moments.
My own personal favorite memory of Guillermo Canas was from back in 2002 when he claimed the only Masters Series title of his career in Toronto. I was attending the tournament that year with my father and we were both impressed with his play throughout the week. We had seats on Centre Court for his opening round match against an up-and-coming Roger Federer who was seeded 10th at the time. Canas dispatched Federer 7-6(10), 7-5 on that day and continued on to defeat some big names including Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Marat Safin, Tommy Haas and then Andy Roddick for the title.
Unfortunately some will remember Canas for a doping suspension that took him out of competition from summer 2005 until the Fall of 2006. He was initially banned for two years for taking a diuretic called hydrochlorothiazide. Although not an illegal substance in itself, the drug was commonly used as a masking agent to hide other performance enhancing substances. Canas claimed at the time that he unknowingly was given some medication for a sore throat at a tournament in Mexico that include the drug.He would fight the ruling and eventually have the Court of Arbitration for Sport rule in his favor and reverse the ban.
Canas finishes his career with seven ATP titles to his name and a respectable record of 252-195. His best Grand Slam showings were three quarter-final appearances at Roland Garros in 2002, 2005 and 2007. Canas reached a career-high ranking of 8th in the world in June of '05 before the doping suspension would take him out of the game. One cannot help but wonder what he might have been able to accomplish on tour during these prime years of his career.
In retirement, Canas will now focus on running the Canas Tennis Academy in Key Biscane.
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