Fernando Francisco González Ciuffardi (Latin American Spanish: [feɾˈnando ɣonˈsales];[a] born 29 July 1980) is a Chilean former professional tennis player.

During his career, González defeated many top players, including Lleyton Hewitt, Andre Agassi, Federer (all while they held the top spot), Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Andy Roddick, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Carlos Moyá, Gustavo Kuerten, Marat Safin, Pete Sampras, and Andy Murray.

In 1988, when he was eight years old, González and his father spent a month and a half in the United States, training and participating in tennis championships.

That year, at the age of 17, he made his Davis Cup debut in Chile's tie against Argentina, losing in four sets to Franco Squillari.

In the three Futures events held in Chile that year, he reached two semifinals and defeated Italian Enzo Artoni in the final in Santiago.

He reached his first Challenger quarterfinal in Edinburgh and played his first ATP tournament in Washington, where he defeated Ivan Ljubičić in the first round before losing to Marc Rosset.

González won his first ATP Tour title in May 2000 when he defeated Massú at the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships final in Orlando, Florida.

In February 2002, González won his second career ATP title in Viña del Mar by defeating Nicolás Lapentti in the final.

Later that year, he won his third title in Palermo, Italy, and reached the semifinals at the Cincinnati Masters (defeating seeded Tim Henman and Andy Roddick en route), and the quarterfinals at the US Open.

His results in 2005 were good enough for him to attend the year-end Masters Cup in Shanghai first as a reserve and then as a player after the withdrawal of Andre Agassi following his first match.

González became the first Chilean to win a Masters match when he beat Mariano Puerta and missed out on making the semifinal—and finishing the year as No.

10 in the world after winning a quarterfinal match at the Monte-Carlo Masters, shortly after parting ways with longtime coach Horacio de la Peña.

After reaching his first Masters Series singles final in Madrid (losing to Roger Federer in straight sets) in October, he ascended to world No.

En route to the final, he defeated Evgeny Korolev, Juan Martín del Potro, Lleyton Hewitt, James Blake, world No.

From July to August, González went on a five-match losing streak, which ended in September when he captured the China Open tournament title in Beijing.

The following month, he reached the quarterfinals of the French Open for the second time, losing to top seed Roger Federer in four sets.

In August, González represented Chile at the Beijing Olympics in both singles and doubles events, where he was his country's standard-bearer at the opening ceremony.

[3][4] In the first round of the Australian Open, González prevailed in a five-set thriller over Lleyton Hewitt, which lasted for 3 hours and 7 minutes.

At the Viña del Mar tournament in February, González claimed victory once again, taking the title for the fourth time in five finals.

He conditioned his return on the resignation of the federation's current directive and promised to relinquish all his future Davis Cup proceeds for the "benefit of younger players.

In the semifinals, he played Robin Söderling, who had previously defeated top seed Rafael Nadal and Nikolay Davydenko.

At the US Open, González reached the quarterfinals for the second time, beating seventh seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the fourth round.

When the match resumed on Saturday, González was visibly flat, losing the remaining four points in the tiebreaker and not winning a game in the third set.

With his notable performances at the French and US Open, González achieved a career-high 14 victories in Grand Slam events during the year.

González won against Olivier Rochus, Marsel İlhan, and Evgeny Korolev at the Australian Open, but lost to Andy Roddick in the fourth round in a tense and controversial five-set match that lasted for 3 hours and 25 minutes.

In the Abierto Mexicano Telcel, González made it to the semifinals, defeating Sam Querrey, Victor Hănescu, and Eduardo Schwank in three sets before suffering a bad loss to David Ferrer.

He also hosted a benefit for the Chilean earthquake victims called Champions for Chile, appearing alongside Andy Roddick, Jim Courier, and Gustavo Kuerten.

His father, Fernando González Ramírez, is the manager of the Molina flour mill in Santiago, and his mother, Patricia Ciuffardi, a housewife of Italian descent.