Guillermo ‘Willy’ Cañas was without a doubt a sport warrior, a tennis player with always the right attitude — a mix of hard work, dedication and passion for the sport. It’s about being the best player you can be, even if it means more training and giving 100% in every match and never giving up.
“There is nothing like the adrenaline you feel on a court,” said the former player, winner of seven titles in his career and that is the core of Sportnatic, so that anyone can experience the same sensations as the best athletes in the world and prepare accordingly no matter their level.
Cañas left professional activity in 2008, after being on the circuit for almost 15 years (he debuted in 1995) but he always stayed connected to the sport in one way or another. In fact, he founded his own tennis Academy Canas Tennis back in 2009, a full-service tennis management company that develops programs in all segments of tennis for people of all levels and ages, based mainly in Miami.
Some oof the most outstanding memories of Cañas was indeed also in 2007, when he reached the definition from the qualys and fell to a 19 yo Novak Djokovic, who in the time won his first ATP Masters 1000 crown.
“It’s a unique memory, reaching a final in Miami and playing the final with Djokovic… Beating Federer was two (four actually) very good weeks and great memories remain. That was the best year that I remember in my career”, analyzed Cañas, who at that time reached this definition after a long road of almost two weeks that included two qualifying matches, with a historic victory against Roger Federer, in addition to two other top 10 and two top 20: Tim Henman, Juan Carlos Ferrero (19), Richard Gasquet (15), Tommy Robredo (6) and Ivan Ljubicic (7).
Btw, during his career, Cañas was not just No. 8 tennis player in the world, he defeated Roger Federer three times. The first was in 2002 in Canada, the second and third in 2007, where he beat him twice in 15 days, first in Miami and then in Indian Wells. “I have incredible memories, I faced him at a tremendous moment in my career. Most people remember me for those victories, because he was the one who had not lost for 70 games. I am happy to have been able to live that stage and have those memories,” he recalled enthusiastically.
Indeed, Cañas was a player with a competitive spirit who always striving for victory. That kind of players are the ones that anyone can have access in Sportnatic, we are not satisfied with second-best.