It makes official what I sort of saw coming for a couple of years now, but the news will still I suspect, leave a slightly bitter aftertaste.
After losing to Gaudio during the 2004 RG final, that well documented meltdown costing him a Slam he almost certainly should have won, Coria still played well enough to reach a grass court final at Hertogenbosch the same year, and of course produce those defining matches during the 2005 clay court season against a plucky 18 year old Spanish kid named Rafael Nadal.
That really was the beginning of the end. Over the next couple of years he was troubled by poor form, injuries and an Elena-like chronic case of the service yips.
It became increasingly difficult to follow his career or even find much news on him at one point - the few dribs and drabs of information suggesting alarming levels of disillusionment with his game. Some suggest he never got over his loss to Gaudio.
Keepin' it Western...VERY WesternWhatever the truth of it, I'll miss ol' Guillermo. I didn't always appreciate his questionable levels of sportsmanship, and he was never one to turn down an opportunity to needle his opponents. But it was for the most part kept within acceptable limits. Nothing remotely Hewitt like about it at all.
It's not just his speed around the court or his drop shot (the best of it's time) I'll miss - skills that took him to #3 in the world at the age of 22; since Guga's departure, Coria for me was the last elite level dirtballer we had left on tour, and though it's pretty fantastic to suggest he would have been able to stay with Rafa had he continued playing at a high level, I've no doubt in my mind he would have regularly featured in many more clay court quarters and semis, providing this section of the calendar with a much needed window into a different style of play. A style that's sadly not currently finding it's heights with the shows put on by the Ferrers and Almagros.
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