This is a video from the French former tennis champion, Yannick Noah, now, he’s a popular singer and one of his last video was made in Chile, in Atacama desert. I have never been a fan of Yannick, but I like the song and the video, makes me want to travel to Chile someday. Enjoy 
A bit closer with Feña
The “intimate Feña”, the one who already thinks about the future.
“I’d love to become DC captain”, Gonzalez says.
“I know that my career is not for all the life, the dream of each player is to occupy the captain chair and it’s mine also. It’s necessary to think about the moment, to know the players, to travel all round the world”
- Do you see your retirement like that ?
”I want to continue to follow tennis. The specific way I do not know but tennis is what it passionates me the most”
- Do you see yourself as a trainer ?
”I do not know if I would like to travel 30 weeks per year. I would not like to speak so soon, but I want to be linked to tennis in Chile here. I would like to help to form tennis players of first level “
- You have spent many years on the tour, but I imagine that must be tired of the trips, the hotels…
”The life of a tennis player is a routine, although it does not seem to be. Because they see us playing in Paris, they see us in New York or Miami, but it is the same nastiness. You rise, you are in a hotel, you are going away to train, you go to the match and you are going away to lay down. Then it is like the same, but you are changing the place. When I can do it, I leave, but often I return to the hotel and there is nothing. There is no home heat. When you return and you have won, it’s great, but when you have lost, it’s terrible. And when you lose, Monday becomes eternal “
- What do you do during your free time ?
”I chat a lot with MSN and I read newspapers. Now I am reading a book that is like of thoughts. I am suddenly lonely and I read it to find the sense to be lonely. I do not know, poh, is like philosophy, going away “
- We hear that Fernando Gonzalez has of few friends. It is true ?
“Yes, the important thing is to have true friends that they know what to say to you when you are bad or good. There is much people that is surrounded by people who say that everything is well. The true friend is the one that says to you when you are mistaken and the one that makes you aware when there is a situation that you are making bad. For me, that is super valuable “
Davis Cup : ”Nobody knows what is to be in my mind”
What happened in La Serena against the Russians was a true trauma for Gonzalez.
“Friday, was a very tough day. I’ve never felt so uncomfortable againt Andreev, but he was dominating and from a minute to another, everything occured to me and I lost. Safin was playing well and I defeated him, he defeated Nico, it was logical but I lost and It complicated everything. When we are at 2-2, it was no doubt that Nico was going to win againt Andreev. But, to lose, hurt us a lot, but there are no mysteries : we gave everything we could and we didn’t reach”.
- All the controversy of this, did you have or not to play in Viña ?
“When we lost, everything was bad. If we had won, the same decisions had been the correct ones. Many spoke, said that I must not have done this. The point is that people, dpn’t know what it is to be in my mind, that does not know what I wanted, and what I felt. After a so great wearing down, emotional and physical, like the one of Australia, it is going to you to come an emotional and physical bassoon like which I suffered. In addition, I had to train a lot on clay. I couldn’t arrive and train on monday at La Serena. Perhaps if we had won they had said that the decision was the correct one “
- Gildemeister did not talk about the subject before Davis Cup ?
“People know that I am professional and I always want the best thing for my career, in this case for the Davis Cup. At the end only, I played three matches in Viña, it was not so much. What it affected me the most is the change of time. I hardly slept three or four hours per day in Viña “
- We have lost the only opportunity to host until the final ? Did they talk about that?
“After which had happened, we did not want to speak more about the subject. But we have a good team. This year could not be, but the good thing of tennis is that there is always a new opportunity. The tin of the DC is that there is to wait for much and now it is necessary to play the play offs that can be very dangerous. But if we have a possibility, next year we are going to give the win “
- The great problem of Chile is that there’s only two tennis players of high level…
“Sure it’s not like the French, Swedish, American, Spanish… 70 percent of the team of the World-wide Group has more than two players which are at a high level and that makes differences. And to Paul Capdeville and Adrián Garcia, it’s what they lack”
- In any case, there is an unrestricted support to Hans, no ?
“This is a team. All, we lost. People will throw the fault to him to whoever, but all, we tried to contribute more than we had and it was not possible to win. As a team, we must be together. Hans was a great player of DC and he knows what it is.”
- What does it mean to him that Horacio de la Peña has postulate himself as a captain, in the future ?
“Everybody can postulate… I do not have problems with him, but our relation was. And I do not know how it would be if he was captain again. It is a surpassed stage, that happened “.
- After which happened to you in Australia, the expectations for Indian Wells and Miami must be high… ?
“I always go with the illusion and mainly now that I feel playing well, that I feel to regulate and to gain many consecutive matches”.
- The impression is that all the merit of the change like a player comes from Stefanki ?
“It’s not the point for me to know to whom the merit occurs while I’m winning. I have been calm with my work and I have always been thankful to the people who have helped me. Now, obvioulsy the one who helped me the most is Larry. We have improved a ton of things, also with Carlos Burgos. But this is a process. With Horacio de la Peña, we’ve been working for four years and we’ve worked very well. He helped me to improve many things and we had good results. When I was with Viver, I won my first tournament (Orlando), and with Marco Colignon, I won Roland Garros Juniors. I believe that all of them contributed more or less”
- What was the most important thing you learnt from Stefanki ?
“The most important is to play in the court. Today, I feel that I can make chip and charge, return and go to the net. Or, I remain playing, putting balls back, and attack later. That is what I asked to him when, I went to search him. I want to win, but to win I must improve. With more arms, it will become easier. He felt that I have many things to improve. To be able to volley and to match on the net, has been very important for me. That allows me to player shorter points”
- Do you feel like another player after Australia ?
“In the same Australian Open, when I was in the final moments, I felt a different treatment. But what is worrying me is that I have always liked to play tennis, it is to win matches. Sure, that the triumphes can bring you some privileges, people know you a little bit more, give a better room in the hotel, but on the court, I continue to be the same person”
- Do you think that, regarding the game level, only Federer and Nadal seem to be above yours ?
“It can be, but the tour is very competitive. Any player between the 50 first can defeat you. It is always necessary to be on alert “
- What can still be improved?
“The net game. I have improved it much last times and it motivated me. The return is something that I must continue to improve”
- Will you be able to repeat in Roland Garros a level like the one in Australia, thinking that the French Grand Slam is much more difficult physically ?
” A Grand Slam on clay is very tough. It is very physical, last to five sets with much more long points, but the important thing now is that I am going to arrive well at all the Grand Slams. With time to train and to adapt “
“I prefer to be…”
After Australia, Gonzalez stayed as the best Latin American tennis player in the rankings. Another data of his new status.
“To be the reference, on a continent is an honor. But, I continue being the same player. All the profits, I value much but they don’t affect me. I prefer being in the top 5 and the finalist of the Australian Open and not the first player of Chile and the first of America. In my mind, I have always been international”
- In any case, you are already in the history of Chilean tennis ?
“I imagine that I will occupy an important page in history. I do not know if more or less than other players. All, we are different and we played at different times. First, there was Luis Ayala, now myself. We are a small country, with a few tennis players, but who always have given things. Ayala with his two infla of Roland-Garros. Pato Cornejo and Jaime Fillol in the Davis Cup. Hans Gildemeister that was world number 12 in the world, the “Chino” that was number one, Nico who won the Olympic Games… and I also have made important things. Always people, try to compare “
- But, it’s inevitable. Rios for example was finalist in Australia also, but in addition, he won 5 Masters Series ans was number 1.
“For me, it matters to occupy important pages of history and to have a long affluent trajectory. Hopefully he could be the best one of the history, but people and the press do not have to say it. My work is to win matches and not to compare what I won and what I did not win “.
R Federer : “By far, he’s the best tennis player of all the history, but at one moment, he’ll have to decline”
R. Nadal: “He is a beast that always imposes his physical to play and for that reason it is so difficult to defeat him on clay”
N. Davydenko: “He is a wall that every time gives back the ball very hard to you. But he plays in a single way “
I. Ljubicic: “Great player and a great fighter. He was three in the world and he is very dangerous in indoors ”
Roddick: “Tremendous player and a great competitor. He is a great athlete and it’s entertaining to play against him, but dangerous “
D. Nalbandian: “Except Federer, he is better than all the previous ones. His problem is that he does not arrive prepared as he should
J. Blake: “A great athlete also, plays well on all the courts. The best forehand of the race at the moment “
In Australia, Gonzalez said that he had tennis to be number one in the world, as long as the Swiss Roger Federer declines in his present level.
“It is the truth: I have the tennis to be number one. Now, to become number one is another different thing “
- Ten times, you played against Federer and the ten times you lost, how could remove him from number one without defeating him ?
“To remove him from where he is, will be very difficult. He is a player who plays well on all the surfaces and throughout the year well. He is or selective with the tournaments he plays and make the things. But he is human like all of us. If Nadal had appeared two years before, he would have deserved to be number a one, winning Grand Slam, several Masters Series, and almost ten tournaments during the year. But Nadal did all that and as soon as, he has half of the points of Federer. Then, it is a luck subject: it is very bad luck to have now Federer, but simultaneously it is a good luck to play against the best player of the history and it is a pleasure to play against him. But when a moment passes badly, it is necessary to be well to be able to defeat him “
[Interview from El Mercurio (Feb. 25th)]
Translation by the webmaster
Although, he hates the comparisons, the number 1 player from Chile, says that he wants to occupy one page of tennis as his fellow countryman, Marcelo Rios. The world number 5 analyses in depth, his new status on the tour, the changes he has lived with his coach, Larry Stefanki and the tough moments he passed with the DC tie against Russia.
The building of the Roger del flor’s street has something from the airport. Many foreigners, and many languages are listened in the lobby without any identity. It’s like if Fernando Gonzalez, had found a recreation of what he hates with his career : the routine, the planes, the hotels, and the loneliness.
“We’ll be better in the lounge”, said the world number 5, with street clothes, his two mobile phones and his vest.
His father says that he’ll wait for him on the top, even if later, he’ll return to look for him, so that, they won’t tire him with so many questions. “He’s my dad and my friend”, he recognises. But, Fernando González Ramirez is also his manager, a complicated job, if the one represented is the Australian Open finalist because you have to think to negociate better contracts, to do some good invests and to request good garanties in the tournaments.
Acapulco paid a very good one, but Gonzalez, the tennis player, decided at the last minute to listen to his technical staff (trainer Larry Stefanki and the physical trainer Carlos Burgos) , they came and said saying that since he lost at the Australian Open final against Roger Federer : that he should focuse on the great matches and it was better to arrive rested at Indian Wells that to tire himself by playing Buenos Aires and in Mexico.
Gonzalez thought big. The tour is big. “Considering everything that I played during the month, the changes of hours and surface, it was enough more logical to return for Indian Wells. I thought big. If you want to go far, you have to search the points in the great tournaments. It is there, where an important difference is marked “, he says.
Mas que tenis : episode 3
The episode 3 took place in Pucón, Pucón is a city and municipality in Chile. Located, 780 km south of the capital Santiago in the Province of Cautín, Araucanía Region. Its unrivaled location by a lake and a volcano and quite stable weather (especially in the summer) make it a popular destination for tourists. Pucon offers a variety of sports and adventure/recreational activities for tourists, including water skiing, snow skiing, backpacking, white water rafting and kayaking, natural hot springs, zip line rides, and guided ascents of Volcano Villarrica.
Fernando did a sport adventure, called “Canopy”. In Central America, the scientists who explored the flora and fauna thought to a form to be transported between trees by means of the use of a steel cable and pulleys. Canopy, is a sport which allows by means of platforms built close of the trees and interlaced by steel wire ropes by carrying out a preestablished circuit, while making it possible to the tourists to move while hanging by means of a pulley and by using a harness, a helmet and gloves and thus to enjoy nature from the inside, enjoy the forest, the rivers or the volcanic lava and the valleys.
Then, Fernando stopped in Buenos Aires, to make some promotional stuff, signing autographes at the tournament, and giving interviews to apologize of his withdraw from the tournament.
[Interview of Fernando, about Pucon, from proaraucania.cl]
Fernando González en Pucón : “Esta es una zona que me gusta mucho”
Pasa completamente inadvertido entre los miles de turistas que por estos días aún veranean en la zona lacustre… Luce ropa deportiva (como siempre) y algo de barba que demuestra su merecido relajo. Lo cierto es que el número 5 del mundo eligió para su descanso al balneario de Pucón, donde además aprovechó la estadía para realizar las grabaciones del programa “Más que Tenis” que se emite los días sábado, a las 18:30 horas por las pantallas de TVN.
Según nos comenta, Pucón es de los mejores lugares para descansar y divertirse, haya o no haya sol :
“Pese a las condiciones climáticas, me fui dos días a Pucón para descansar… Es una zona que me gusta mucho y donde se pueden hacer varias actividades”.
Prueba de esto último es que visitó un salto de agua cercano a las termas de Huife, escenario donde por primera vez se animó y tuvo tiempo para realizar un descenso en canopi.
Fernando González se mostró feliz con la experiencia, además de ratificar su admiración por la zona lacustre de la Araucanía: “Primera vez que realizaba esto, la verdad es que cuesta lanzarse al vacío así como así, pero me explicaron que todo era muy seguro…”
En medio de estas actividades, el tenista número uno de Chile confesó que en materia de deporte aventura sólo había realizado antes un vuelo en parapente en Montecarlo, durante uno de sus múltiples viajes por el mundo, pero nunca antes algún tipo de turismo aventura en nuestro país.
En su visita a Pucón, el “bombardero de La Reina” ha compartido con lugareños y turistas, además de causar mucha sorpresa cuando se detuvo a orillas del camino a comprar empanadas para el equipo de producción, situación que los incrédulo transeúntes aprovecharon para pedir autógrafos y sacarse fotografías.
Todo, en medio de las grabaciones del citado programa de TV, un docureality que muestra su vida fuera de la cancha y donde él es el entrevistador y narrador de historias.
Dicho espacio televisivo, que ya se ha anotado buenas sintonías, es realizado por la productora Río Negro TV, con asiento en la capital y cuyos camarógrafos lo seguirán por todo el mundo.
Esta semana, González estará en Acapulco, sólo para dar parte de lesionado y no jugar, con el fin de poner toda su concentración en los torneos más importantes. Es de esperar que sirva de algo este último descanso en la Araucanía, donde además de probar la gastronomía y jugar en el casino, pudo conocer en carne propia las emociones y actividades que han hecho famoso a este bello destino turístico.
[Internet website of the place]
Even if Fernando withdrew from the tournament of Buenos Aires, Fernando came to see the organisers and made some promotional stuff in the Argentinian Capital.
Interview published on the Argentinian website (Ole.com.ar)
[Translation by the webmaster]
- In Buenos Aires, when you were 17, you started in Davis Cup against Franco Squillari and you finished vomitting on the court ?
FG :Yes, Yes, but there are big memories in this stadium. I came a lot of time, when I used to practrice with De la Peña and Poncharelo (Cañas’ coach). I spent more time here than in Santiago…
- You liked so much the country that you have an Argentinian fiancée, Gisela Dulko ?
FG : Yeah (he looks down. Traduction : he doesn’t want to speak about that subject)
Final in Madrid and Basel… Gonzalez has promised at the end of the year, and started to concretize this season, when he made the final in Australia, beating players such as Hewitt, Nadal and Haas. The break ? Federer.
- What did Larry Stefanki bring that you couldn’t obtain with De la Peña ?
FG : Tranquillity in the important moments and improve strokes like the backhand and the serve, which have helped me on the fast courts. But, with Horacio, I learnt a lot, and he’s also responsible of that.
- Can you win a grand slam this year ?
FG : I have a lot of confidence, I can do great things. We’ll go step by step. One, always want to continue improving, but the most important is to manage well the career, to have good period of rests, and to prepare myself very well
Feña says that the reception in Chile was multitudinal, but “nothing compares to the Olympic Games”, when we won the doubles with Nicolas Massu and the bronze in the singles. During these free days in Buenos Aires, “I went to Palermo Soho, as they say, San Telmo.. I ate very well. It’s necessary to leave and to visit places, unless the routine smashes you”. They already know which whom he walked
San telmo
In its beginnings, the quarter was inhabited by the wealthiest families of Buenos Aires until 1871’s Yellow Fever epidemic forced them to move North. With the passing of time, San Telma’s appearance changed and it became a sightseeing must’ in which old time’s valuable architecture can be appreciated.
Among the interest spots you’ll find the Orthodox Russian Church (1904), La Defensa” Alley (typical eighteenth century large house that recreates the Colonial Buenos Aires) and Colonel Manuel Dorrego Square (every Sunday from 10 a. m. to 5 p. m. there’s an antiques fair), where you can spend some time at a coffee shop, tango or jazz dance clubs.
The virtue of San Telmo neighborhood lies on those interesting places one gets to know while walking, while going through stone pavement and narrow streets that surround colonial buildings, many of which act as antique dealers and ateliers. If you want to feel something different, it’s worth the visit.
PALERMO
In Palermo, there is something for everyone. Here some of Buenos Aires’ most expensive restaurants intermix with the bars of the Plaza Serrano. On weekends, the Bosques de Palermo and Rose Garden are ideal spots for walking, playing soccer, and for boat rides. Other nearby attractions include the Jardín Zoológico, the Planetario Galileo Galilei, and the tea offered in the impeccable Japanese gardens.
Fernando won’t play in Acapulco next week.
In la Tercera, he said “There’s still a lack of 5 or 6 days. I think that it’s not necessary to hurry, all hurried decision is not good. It is necessary to see how I feel and how will the exams. All the rest is good and is necessary to load the batteries “
The Chilean have just watched the second episode of “Mas que tenis”, the new docu-reality starring Fernando Gonzalez.
In today’s show :
La Serena, the Davis Cup with the backstages, Fernando having lunch in a restaurant and Fernando playing football with children, in Renca, a school which has the name of Fernando Gonzalez, “Escuela de Fútbol Deportiva y Social “
A few words and pictures of La Serena, second oldest city of Chile, at about 471 km from Santiago, the Chilean capital. La Serena features a wealth of historic architecture, including some 29 churches from the colonial era and 19th century. A splendid climate and outstanding selection of hotels have made La Serena, one of Chile’s top beach resorts, just inland is the Valle Elqui.
About Renca… it’s a city in the suburbs of Santiago. Fernando inaugurated the school last september. The school “Escuela de Fútbol Deportiva y Social ” has Fernando’s name, and is composed of 61 children of the city of Renca.
I found an article about this school in “La Cuarta”. They decided to give the name of Fernando instead of a soccer player, because Fernando represents all the spirit and the mirror in which they want to be reflected like sportsmen.
Later next week, the video will be on TVN website, I’ll let you know
[From gonzaleztenis.com]
Fernando won’t play the tournament of Buenos Aires, which starting on monday, he prefers to recover that the exhaustion he’s suffered since the Australian Open final. Fernando will go to Buenos Aires to apologize and his next tournament will be Acapulco, starting on February 26th.
From la Tercera, by Fernando Gonzalez (translation by the webmaster)
We all knew that this year could have been our year in the Davis Cup. Nevertheless, with the loss against Russia, the dream has been postponed until next year. One last time, I was thinking that if we had won, we could have face France at home, with a lot of possibilities to continue to advance in a competition that we always had dreamt to win. In fact, it will be one of my main goal next year. But, it doesn’t worth to talk more about the subject.
Of course, there are things I have heard the days before, which make me laugh. So, when we lose, we search for the guilties, the ones responsible of the loss. Let’s talk about the ones who said that I shouldn’t have played in Viña del mar, a bad schedule etc.. At this moment, everything that arrived to face Russia was bad. Last year, with a similar schedule, we won against Slovakia in Rancagua and then, nobody said anything. Including me, at that period, I arrived with shoulder injuries, which continued in Viña del mar. But, we won and nobody said anything.
Here, we don’t try to find any individual guilties, because we are a team and the guilties of the loss were us. Hans Gildemeister, has all our support and he’s not the only guilty of the way we lost. He’s played for many years in the Davis Cup, and knows how it is. Moreover, we want him to continue and we talked once we left la Serena. So, nobody has any doubts and we are satisfied with his work as a captain.
It was a pain to lose and it saddened us. I played in Viña because I thought that it was the best to arrive prepared in La Serena. Even if I haven’t played, I had to continue to practrice during these days, then, we didn’t care about the result. I had to be accustomed to the clay and It wasn’t easy, and I added that it took me some time to be accustomed to the change of time with Australia. It’s clear that I was tired and that I didn’t play well against Andreev the first day, it was crucial, and we lost in the final result. But, in tennis, there are days we don’t play well and this time, it was like that. This sport is a sport of moments, neither Nicolas or myself have spent a good week. Recently, on sunday, against Marat Safin, I started to feel well. During all the week, I wasn’t confortable on the court. It cost me the adaptation of the clay and it has been seen the first day. Against Safin, I played very well, but unfortunately, this victory didn’t allow Chile to qualify for the quarters in the World Group. As well, we faced a great team, which have more than two players to play each tie.
At the moment, I’m sure that we’ll have a revenge. I have to focus now on my career. I’m commiting in Buenos Aires and in Acapulco as well. At that moment, I have a problem with an adductor, problem I had during the double, but I have to wait and see. The most important will be to have a rest during several days and to prepare myself for the upcoming challenges on the tour.
