Juan Ignacio Chela

Juan Ignacio Chela (August 30, 1979 in Ciudad Evita, Buenos Aires, Argentina) is a former Argentine professional tennis player, coach and presenter. He won 2 ATP 500, 4 ATP 250, and 9 ATP Challengers titles in his career, and in 2004 he reached his best position in the ranking when he reached 15th place in the world rankings. His best participations in Grand Slam tournaments are at Roland Garros 2004 and 2011, and at the 2007 United States Open where he reached the quarterfinals.

He finished eleven seasons among the 75 best in the world and four of them among the best 30, which highlights his great consistency. He retired from tennis playing his last match at Wimbledon 2012 losing to Martin Klizan in the first round, and ending at the age of 33 with a 15-year professional career on the circuit.

Despite not having reached the Top Ten, he is the sixth Argentine tennis player with the most victories on the ATP circuit, behind Guillermo Vilas, Juan Martín del Potro, David Nalbandian, José Luis Clerc and Juan Mónaco, totaling 326.

Biography

Tennis career

Born in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Ciudad Evita, he started playing tennis at the age of 6. Being a player in the junior category he managed to win the Latin American Junior Championship in Brazil in 1997. That same year he made his professional debut in the Santa Cruz de la Sierra challenger. His rise began at the end of the following year, when he won his first two future tournaments consecutively in Argentina and Paraguay respectively. Two weeks after his title in Paraguay he would reach his first final in a challenger tournament in the city of Lima in which he lost in 3 sets against the Austrian Stefan Koubek.

In 1999 he definitively joined the challenger circuit and won two titles in the category: the first in Salinas, on a hard surface, and the second in Lima, on clay. That same year he made his ATP debut at the Kitzbühel Tournament. He finished 124th in the world rankings.

In 2000 he finished within the top 100 in the world ranking for the first time and surprised everyone by winning his first ATP title. In the Mexico Tournament he managed to pass the qualification and advance directly to the title, beating his compatriot Mariano Puerta in the final. On his way to the title he defeats whoever finished as No. 1 in the world that year, the Brazilian Gustavo Kuerten. That year he also made his Grand Slam debut at the Roland Garros Tournament, defeating No. 22 Todd Martin in the first round and then losing to Younes El Aynaoui. He debuted in Davis Cup in a series against Canada, losing his 2 singles matches and played in the Sydney Olympic Games, managing to pass a round. He finishes the year ranked #63.

In 2001, after a loss in the third round of the Australian Open in 5 sets against the American Pete Sampras and reaching his second final of an ATP tournament at the Bogotá Tournament, his rising career was cut short in April when a committee The ATP suspended him for 3 months due to a positive doping control carried out at the Cincinnati Masters the previous year. Despite verifying that the substance (methyltestosterone, an anabolic steroid) was ingested without his knowledge, the committee decided, in addition to the suspension, to remove him from all the points earned in the months following the Cincinnati Masters and the money won at that time. tournament. As a result, Chela fell to number 810 in the ranking. He returned to the circuit in the Scheveningen challenger and a week later he achieved an excellent victory against Sébastien Grosjean, world no. 7, in the Amersfoort Tournament. After that he embarked on an impressive series of challenger tournaments in which he won 6 tournaments in the category in 7 finals played, 5 on clay and one on hard courts. This impressive streak catapulted him to #70 in the rankings at the end of the year, almost the same place he started, recovering more than 700 spots along the way.

2002 was an excellent year, finishing for the first time in his career among the best 25 in the world ranking. Already inserted back into the big circuit, Chela reached the final of the Sydney Tournament, his first on hard courts, where he lost to the Swiss Roger Federer. He then made two consecutive semifinals on the slow-court Latin American circuit and quarterfinals at the Miami Masters. In the Amersfoort Tournament he won his second ATP title, defeating the Roland Garros champion, the Spanish Albert Costa, in the final. His good performance continued with a final on hard courts in the Long Island tournament and his best performance in a Grand Slam, reaching the fourth round of the US Open after beating Tim Henman (5th in the world) in the third round and losing in 4 sets against the American Andy Roddick. He was part of the Argentine Davis Cup team that reached the semifinals of the tournament, playing in every series of the year with a 3-2 record in singles. He finished the year at number 23 in the ranking.

In 2003 he did not have great results, with only one semifinal in the year, but he acquired good regularity in large tournaments, usually reaching the round of 16 or quarterfinals and beating 3 top-10 and 5 top-20 in year. He is also part of the Davis Cup team that reached the semifinals for the second consecutive year, participating in the first round series against Germany. He ends the year at number 38 in the ranking.

2004 was once again a great year, reaching what to date is its best position in the ranking (15th). He gets the third title of his career at the Estoril Tournament, defeating Marat Safin in the final. At Roland Garros he reached the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam for the first time, losing in three sets to Tim Henman, which prevented the semifinals from being completely Argentine in the Parisian tournament (Gaudio, Coria and Nalbandián managed to overcome this instance). The rest of the year he does not achieve great results, although with few defeats in the first round, and he ends the year in position 26 in the world ranking. This year he also won his first two titles in doubles, both with Gastón Gaudio.

2005 starts in a good way with consecutive semifinals in Adelaide and Auckland and third round at the Australian Open. Other good performances were the semi-finals in Los Angeles and New Haven (all on hard courts) and the quarter-finals at the Hamburg Masters. He ends the year in 39th place.

In 2006 it finished in the top-40 for the fifth consecutive year. His best performances are the round of 16 at the Australian Open (he beats local idol Lleyton Hewitt in the second round) and the finals at the Acapulco Tournament (lost to Luis Horna) and the Kitzbühel Tournament (lost to Agustín Calleri). He is part of the Davis Cup team in all series, including the first final for Argentina in 25 years. In the quarterfinal series against Croatia he plays a dramatic match against the relatively unknown Saša Tuksar, beating him in sudden death in the fourth set and granting Argentina a place in the semifinals. In the final he played the first match of the series against Russia, losing to Nikolai Davydenko in 4 sets and for the second point he was replaced by José Acasuso. He finishes the year at #33.

In 2007 he had his best year on the circuit. After announcing his non-availability to the Davis Cup team to prioritize the circuit, Chela acquired notable regularity, without losing in the first round until mid-year. Along the way he achieved his fourth title in Acapulco, defeating Carlos Moyá in the final and reached consecutive quarterfinals in the Indian Wells and Miami Masters and then in Rome. At the US Open he reached the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam for the second time in his career, beating the Croatian Ivan Ljubičić and the Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka along the way, then losing to David Ferrer. The end of the year is not entirely good, but his great consistency places him in 20th place in the ranking at the end of the season, the best ranking of his career at the end of a year and allowing him to attend the Tennis Masters as a second substitute. Cup in Shanghai.

In 2008 he again announced his availability for the Davis Cup team but his results were not the best, although the semifinals in the Buenos Aires Tournament stood out.

In 2010, showing high-level tennis, he won 2 ATP 250 titles, the first in Houston against the American Sam Querrey, defeating him 5-7, 6-4, 6-3, and his second title was won in Bucharest, beating the Spaniard. Pablo Andujar 7-5 6-1. He also participates in the Paris Master 1000, facing the Latvian Ernest Gulbis in the first round.

In 2011 he reached the quarterfinals of Roland Garros by beating Colombian Alejandro Falla 4-6, 6-2, 1-6, 7-6(5) and 6-2, this result leaving him as the new number 1 in Argentina and placing it in 20th place in the ATP ranking.

In 2012 he announced through his Twitter account that he would retire from professional tennis.

Subsequent activity

Along with his tennis career, Juan Ignacio Chela hosted the television program Tenis Pro with Mariano Zabaleta between 2004 and 2009. In it they revealed the intimacies of the professional circuit.

In 2013 he hosted 'Concentrados en Red' on DeporTV; with Luciana Rubinska, Juan Manuel Herbella, Gerarldine Neumann and Juanchi Baleiron.

In 2014 he made "En el set de Chela" where she interviewed people from the world of tennis such as Gabriela Sabatini, Guillermo Vilas and Martin Jaite on DeporTV. Currently (2015) he hosts with Juan Marconi, Muni Seligmann, Miguel Granados and Nati Jota on ESPN the program 'ESPN Redes'. There he also participates in a soap opera in which he plays Liliano, the channel's fashion styler.

As of 2017, he is Diego Schwartzman's coach.

Style

He is right-handed, with a two-handed backhand. Chela based his game on the power of his blows, which he performs with very little effect, making extensive use of flat blows. His skinny and lanky appearance earned him the nickname "Skinny."

ATP Tournaments (9; 6+3)

Individuals (6)

Titles

N.o	Date	Tournament	Surface	Oponente en la final	Outcome
1.	21 February 2000	Mexico City.	Whipped earth	Mariano Puerta	6-4 7-6(4)
2.	15 July 2002	Amersfoort	Whipped earth	Albert Costa	6-1 7-6(4)
3.	12 April 2004	Sterilo.	Whipped earth	Marat Safin	6-7(2) 6-3 6-3
4.	26 February 2007	Acapulco	Whipped earth	Carlos Moyá	6-3 7-6(2)
5.	11 April 2010	Houston	Whipped earth	Sam Querrey	5-7 6-4 6-3
6.	26 September 2010	Bucharest	Whipped earth	Pablo Andújar	7-5 6-1

Finalist (6)

N.o	Date	Tournament	Surface	Oponente en la final	Outcome
1.	28 January 2001	Bogotá	Whipped earth	Fernando	4-6 6-7(6)
2.	7 January 2002	Sydney	Dura	Roger Federer	3-6 3-6
3.	19 August 2002	Long Island	Dura	Paradorn Srichaphan	7-5 2-6 2-6
4.	27 February 2006	Acapulco	Whipped earth	Luis Horna	6-7(5) 4-6
5.	24 July 2006	Kitzbühel	Whipped earth	Agustín Calleri	6-7(9) 2-6 3-6
6.	20 February 2011	Buenos Aires	Whipped earth	Nicolás Almagro	3-6 6-3 4-6

Classification in Grand Slam tournaments

Tournament	2012	2011	2010	2009	2008	2007	2006	2005	2004	2003	2002	2001	2000	Titles
Open from Australia	3r	1r	1r	-	1r	3r	4r	3r	2r	2r	2r	3r	-	0
Roland Garros	1r	CF	2r	1r	2r	2r	1r	2r	CF	3r	1r	-	1r	0
Wimbledon	1r	2r	1r	-	-	2r	1r	-	2r	2r	1r	-	1r	0
US Open		3r	2r	2r	-	CF	1r	1r	1r	3r	4r	-	-	0

Classification in Masters Series tournaments

Tournament	2012	2011	2010	2009	2008	2007	2006	2005	2004	2003	2002	2001	2000	Titles
Indian Wells	2R	3R	1R	1R	3R	CF	2R	3R	CF	2R	3R	1R	-	0
Miami	2R	2R	1R	1R	2R	CF	4R	3R	3R	3R	CF	1R	-	0
Monte Carlo	1R	1R	-	2R	1R	2R	2R	1R	3R	CF	3R	-	3R	0
Rome	1R	3R	1R	1R	1R	CF	1R	2R	1R	2R	2R	-	1R	0
Madrid	1R	1R	2R	1R	-	2R	2R	2R	2R	CF	1R	-	-	0
Montreal / Toronto	-	1R	2R	-	-	1R	1R	1R	3R	2R	1R	-	1R	0
Cincinnati	-	1R	-	-	-	2R	3R	3R	3R	3R	1R	-	1R	0
Shanghai		-	-	-	No TM1000									0
Paris		-	1R	-	-	2R	2R	-	1R	1R	1R	-	-	0
Total	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
World Tour Finals, London		-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	0
Legend: G:Torneo won; F:Finalist; SF:Semifinalist; CF:Cuartos de final; 1R: Primera Ronda; 2R: Segunda Rona; RR: Round Robin**:From 2009

Doubles (3)

N.o	Date	Tournament	Surface	Couple	Opponents in the final	Outcome
1.	9 February 2004	Viña del Mar	Whipped earth	Gaston Gaudio	Nicolás Lapentti Martín Rodríguez	7-6(2) 7-6(3)
2.	12 April 2004	Sterilo.	Whipped earth	Gaston Gaudio	František Čermák Leoš Friedl	6-2 6-1
3.	25 September 2010	Bucharest	Whipped earth	Łukasz Kubot	Marcel Granollers Santiago Ventura	6-2 5-7 13-11

Finalist (3)

N.o	Date	Tournament	Surface	Couple	Opponents in the final	Outcome
1.	1 March 2004	Acapulco	Whipped earth	Nicolas Massú	Bob Bryan Mike Bryan	2-6 3-6
2.	25 April 2005	Sterilo.	Whipped earth	Tommy Robredo	František Čermák Leoš Friedl	3-6 4-6
3.	17 April 2011	Monte Carlo M1000	Whipped earth	Bruno Soares	Bob Bryan Mike Bryan	3-6 2-6

Challengers Tournaments (9)

Individuals (9)

Titles

N.o	Date	Tournament	Surface	Oponente en la final	Outcome
1.	8 March 1999	Salinas	Dura	Hernán Gumy	6-4 7-6(7)
2.	18 October 1999	Lima	Whipped earth	Jiří Vaněk	6-2 7-5
3.	23 July 2001	Budaors	Whipped earth	Werner Eschauer	7-5 6-1
4.	30 July 2001	Segovia	Dura	Oleg Ogorodov	6-2 6-3
5.	20 August 2001	Ribeirão Preto	Whipped earth	Pavel Snobel	6-3 6-2
6.	27 August 2001	Campinas	Whipped earth	Diego Moyano	6-3 6-3
7.	17 September 2001	Szczecin	Whipped earth	Nicolas Coutelot	6-1 6-3
8.	8 October 2001	Lima	Whipped earth	Marcos Daniel	6-2 1-0 ret.
9.	8 November 2009	Medellín	Whipped earth	João Souza	6-4 4-6 6-4