He was in the groove. Roger Federer , though, was a different proposition in the final. The Swiss was at the height of his powers, winning five of the previous six majors and was against Gonzalez. Gonzalez held two set points at , on his own serve, and had he converted on one of them, the momentum player he was, who knows what might have happened. Instead he was broken, lost the first set, and Federer cruised.
I always try to think of what it was. Gonzalez finally topped Federer in a classic three-set match at the year-end championships in Shanghai in , striking his backhand better than ever.
He was in charge of the Australian team. Obviously, he was pretty wild back then. He played Lleyton, they had a great match, and Lleyton hit a few too many balls back at him, but Fernando was leaving dents on the back fence with the power he was generating on the forehand. As for those rackets that died a quick, forceful death -- watch his demolition job at Indian Wells in against Federer -- Gonzalez wasn't proud of his behavior.
At those moments, it was akin, he said, to having an out-of-body experience. Outside the court Stefanki described Gonzalez, who once aided a dog hit by a car in Chile, as a "gentle soul who didn't have a mean bone in his body.
Cahill, who added that Gonzalez's smile and personality lit up a room, also said: "He's one of the nicest guys around. Gonzalez, ranked as high as No. Besides those two memorable weeks in Melbourne, he has fond memories of winning a gold in doubles with Nicolas Massu and bronze in singles at the Olympics in Athens, and a silver in singles in Beijing -- where he carried the flag at the opening ceremonies -- four years later.
Saving match points at the Olympics was commonplace. He fended off two against Taylor Dent in the bronze medal match in Athens that ended in the third, and he and Massu survived four in the doubles final against Germany -- later the same day. Gonzalez fought off three match points in the semifinals against Dent's fellow American, James Blake, prevailing in another long one, in the third. He plans to do more charity work and play as many exhibitions as possible, both inside and outside of Chile.
We're a really long country; one side to another is far away. I want to be in many places. The senior tour is more [entertainment], and I think it's going to be a great time for me.
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He never hesitated to show his displeasure when he felt like he was being wronged. The two most memorable instances of this? His decision to fire a shot right at Radek Stepanek when the Czech gamely tried to slow down Gonzalez's pace of play, and of course, the controversial line call at Roland Garros in The common theme in these clips? Gluteus maximus.
The Talent : Gonzalez was always one of my favorite players to watch because you genuinely had no idea what to expect. His game could go off the rails -- and with it his emotions.
But he could also look like a world beater when on his game. I'm a sucker for a big forehand, and Gonzalez's attempts to work a point to set up that forehand was always fun to watch.
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