Juan Ignacio Chela (Spanish pronunciation: [xwan iɣˈnasjo ˈtʃela]; born 30 August 1979), nicknamed as "El Flaco" or "Liliano," is a former professional tennis player from Argentina. Chela was given a three-month ban from the professional tour in 2001 for failing a drugs test. Post-doping ban, Chela went on to reach the quarterfinals 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.

Juan Ignacio Chela
Chela in 2019
Country (sports) Argentina
ResidenceBuenos Aires
Born (1979-08-30) 30 August 1979 (age 44)
Ciudad Evita, Argentina
Height1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)
Turned pro1998
Retired3 December 2012
PlaysRight-handed (two-handed backhand)
Prize money$5,601,394
Singles
Career record326–277 (54.1%)
Career titles6
Highest rankingNo. 15 (9 August 2004)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open4R (2006)
French OpenQF (2004, 2011)
Wimbledon2R (2003, 2004, 2007, 2011)
US OpenQF (2007)
Other tournaments
Tour FinalsAlt (2007)
Olympic Games2R (2000)
Doubles
Career record104–122
Career titles3
Highest rankingNo. 32 (6 June 2011)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open3R (2004)
French Open3R (2004, 2008)
WimbledonSF (2010)
US Open2R (2006)

Career edit

2000–2001: Failed drugs test and doping suspension edit

In April 2001, Chela was found to have failed a routine drugs test (in August 2000) – testing positive for the banned steroid methyltestosterone – and was given a three-month ban, as well as being made to forfeit all prize money and ranking points accumulated over the previous eight months since testing positive.[1]

2004 edit

In February, he reached the quarterfinals in Salvador, defeating Flávio 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 Óscar Hernández Pérez 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 quarterfinals of the French Open, where he lost to Tim Henman, 2–6, 4–6, 4–6. In doubles, he reached the quarterfinals 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 edit

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.[2]

2006 edit

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 quarterfinals.

2007 edit

In May 2007, he appeared in the quarterfinals 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 quarterfinals in Barcelona, where they lost to the Bryan brothers 1–6, 2–6.

In July, he reached the semifinals in Stuttgart, where he lost to Stan Wawrinka, 7–6, 4–6, 1–6.

He reached the quarterfinals 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 semifinals in doubles, partnering Fernando González.

2008 edit

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

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

2009 edit

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 edit

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.[3] The singles title was his sixth career ATP World Tour victory.

2011 edit

 
Chela at the 2012 French Open

He reached the quarterfinals in Vienna and Santiago, and the semifinals 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 semifinals in Santiago, partnering Santiago González.

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 quarterfinals of the French Open, where he lost to Andy Murray, 6–7, 5–7, 2–6. In August, he reached the semifinals 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, 7–5, 6–4, 6–3.

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

2012 edit

Chela did not make any ATP Tour finals in 2012, either in singles or in doubles. He did reach the third round of Wimbledon 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 semifinals 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 edit

Singles: 12 (6–6) edit

Legend
Grand Slam (0–0)
ATP World Tour Masters 1000 (0–0)
ATP World Tour 500 series (2–2)
ATP World Tour 250 series (4–4)
Finals by surface
Hard (0–2)
Clay (6–4)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)
Finals by setting
Outdoors (6–6)
Indoors (0–0)
Outcome No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent Score
Winner 1. Feb 2000 Mexico City, Mexico Clay   Mariano Puerta 6–4, 7–6(7–4)
Runner-up 1. Jan 2001 Bogotá, Colombia Clay   Fernando Vicente 4–6, 6–7(6–8)
Runner-up 2. Jan 2002 Sydney, Australia Hard   Roger Federer 3–6, 3–6
Winner 2. Jul 2002 Amersfoort, Netherlands Clay   Albert Costa 6–1, 7–6(7–4)
Runner-up 3. Aug 2002 Long Island, United States Hard   Paradorn Srichaphan 7–5, 2–6, 2–6
Winner 3. Apr 2004 Estoril, Portugal Clay   Marat Safin 6–7(2–7), 6–3, 6–3
Runner-up 4. Mar 2006 Acapulco, Mexico Clay   Luis Horna 6–7(6–8), 4–6
Runner-up 5. Jul 2006 Kitzbühel, Austria Clay   Agustín Calleri 6–7(9–11), 2–6, 3–6
Winner 4. Feb 2007 Acapulco, Mexico Clay   Carlos Moyá 6–3, 7–6(7–2)
Winner 5. Apr 2010 Houston, United States Clay   Sam Querrey 5–7, 6–4, 6–3
Winner 6. Sep 2010 Bucharest, Romania Clay   Pablo Andújar 7–5, 6–1
Runner-up 6. Feb 2011 Buenos Aires, Argentina Clay   Nicolás Almagro 3–6, 6–3, 4–6

Doubles: 6 (3–3) edit

Legend
Grand Slam (0–0)
ATP World Tour Masters 1000 (0–1)
ATP World Tour 500 series (0–1)
ATP World Tour 250 series (3–1)
Finals by surface
Hard (0–0)
Clay (3–3)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)
Finals by setting
Outdoors (3–3)
Indoors (0–0)
Outcome No. Date Tournament Surface Partner Opponents Score
Winner 1. Feb 2004 Viña del Mar, Chile Clay   Gastón Gaudio   Nicolás Lapentti
  Martín Rodríguez
7–6(7–2), 7–6(7–3)
Runner-up 1. Mar 2004 Acapulco, Mexico Clay   Nicolás Massú   Bob Bryan
  Mike Bryan
6–2, 6–3
Winner 2. Apr 2004 Estoril, Portugal Clay   Gastón Gaudio   František Čermák
  Leoš Friedl
6–2, 6–1
Runner-up 2. May 2005 Estoril, Portugal Clay   Tommy Robredo   František Čermák
  Leoš Friedl
6–3, 6–4
Winner 3. Sep 2010 Bucharest, Romania Clay   Łukasz Kubot   Marcel Granollers
  Santiago Ventura
6–2, 5–7, [13–11]
Runner-up 3. Apr 2011 Monte Carlo, Monaco Clay   Bruno Soares   Bob Bryan
  Mike Bryan
6–3, 6–2

Performance timelines edit

Key
W  F  SF QF #R RR Q# DNQ A NH
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.

Singles edit

Tournament 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 W–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 edit

Tournament 2003 2004 2005 2006 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 W–L
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

Top-10 wins edit

Season 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 Total
Wins 0 0 0 3 1 2 3 1 2 2 2 0 0 1 0 0 17
# Player Rank Event Surface Rd Score CR
2000
1.   Gustavo Kuerten 6 Mexico City, Mexico Clay 2R 3–6, 7–6(10–8), 6–4 129
2.   Tim Henman 10 Monte Carlo, Monaco Clay 2R 6–2, 4–6, 6–3 84
3.   Yevgeny Kafelnikov 3 Mallorca, Spain Clay 2R 5–7, 6–0, 6–3 59
2001
4.   Sébastien Grosjean 7 Amsterdam, Netherlands Clay 1R 6–4, 6–4 826
2002
5.   Albert Costa 7 Amersfoot, Netherlands Clay F 6–1, 7–6(7–4) 28
6.   Tim Henman 5 US Open, New York Hard 3R 6–3, 6–3, 6–2 24
2003
7.   Albert Costa 8 Sydney, Australia Hard 1R 7–6(7–4), 6–1 23
8.   David Nalbandian 10 Indian Wells, United States Hard 1R 4–6, 6–4, 7–5 30
9.   Jiří Novák 9 Monte Carlo, Monaco Clay 2R 6–4, 6–2 33
2004
10.   Lleyton Hewitt 9 Indian Wells, United States Hard 3R 6–3, 4–6, 6–1 34
2005
11.   Tim Henman 9 Hamburg, Germany Clay 3R 3–6, 6–4, 6–2 40
12.   Nikolay Davydenko 6 New Haven, United States Hard 2R 6–1, 7–6(7–5) 50
2006
13.   Lleyton Hewitt 6 Australian Open, Melbourne Hard 2R 6–4, 6–4, 6–7(8–10), 6–2 51
14.   Nikolay Davydenko 6 Cincinnati, United States Hard 1R 6–4, 2–6, 6–2 35
2007
15.   Andy Roddick 3 Rome, Italy Clay 3R 6–0, 6–4 23
16.   Fernando González 5 World Team Cup, Düsseldorf Clay RR 6–3, 7–5 21
2010
17.   Nikolay Davydenko 6 Umag, Croatia Clay QF 6–2, 6–1 56

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ John Parsons (9 April 2001). "Drug Ban for Chela". The Telegraph.
  2. ^ "Most Hated Athletes". Archived from the original on 2015-06-07. Retrieved 2017-09-09.
  3. ^ "Chela: "Quiero meterme en el top 30 y volver a la Copa Davis"". Cancha Llena (in Spanish). 2010-09-26. Retrieved 2010-09-26.

External links edit