KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. – Down to the final seconds of his playing days, former Australian Open finalist Fernando Gonzalez gave it is all before calling it a career after 13 years.
The Chilean hung on as long as he could before coming up just short against Nicolas Mahut 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (3) at the Sony Ericsson Open on Wednesday night.
Gonzales says he would like to be remembered as someone who gave "100 percent every single time when he went to the court. And, of course, I think is much better to remember as a person than as a tennis player."
Gonzalez was only able to play four tournaments last year after undergoing right hip surgery in Oct. 2010. His best 2011 result was reaching the third round at Wimbledon.
He reached the 2007 Australian Open final, won 11 career singles titles, the 2004 Olympic gold medal in doubles and bronze medal in singles, along with a silver in singles in 2008.
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