Tennis star was slapped with doping ban before being accused of 'spitting' at rival

Retired tennis star Juan Ignacio Chela's career was full of high highs and low lows. The Argentine reached a career-high ranking of No. 15, lifted six titles, and made it to three Grand Slam quarter-finals.

However, he also dropped outside the world's top 800 after testing positive for a prohibited substance, which saw him docked ranking points and suspended for three months. A few years after he returned to competition, Chela was also fined for unsportsmanlike conduct after he was accused of "spitting" at Lleyton Hewitt at the Australian Open.

Chela had already picked up his first career title in Mexico by the time he was suspended from competition in April 2001. During the 2000 Cincinnati Masters, he tested positive for the prohibited steroid methyltestosterone.

The Argentine said he did not knowingly take the substance, and a three-person anti-doping tribunal believed him. He was handed a lesser sentence, serving a three-month ban, but still had to forfeit all ranking points he amassed in the eight months before April 2001.

It meant that Chela dropped from No. 76 to outside of the top 500. He also lost the £6.5k ($8.5k) prize money he earned in Cincinnati. By the time he returned to competition at the Scheveningen Challenger that July, Chela was ranked at No. 810 in the world. However, his comeback soon gained momentum, and he won six Challenger titles before the end of the season.

Chela hit headlines again in 2005 after losing to Hewitt in a fiery third-round match at the Australian Open. In the fourth and final set, the Argentine grew frustrated with Hewitt's yells of "come on", and TV cameras caught him spitting in his direction. The pair shook hands at the net as normal when the match ended.

After winning 6-2 4-6 6-1 6-4, Hewitt said: "He spat in my direction. He apologised to me at the net after the match and I accepted his apology. It's unfortunate because we were having a good dogfight. It's sad something like that happens but at the end of the day he apologised and I said, 'Just forget about it mate'."

Chela was fined £1.5k ($2k) for unsportsmanlike conduct. Speaking through an interpreter, Chela confirmed that he spat on the court, but denied that it was aimed at Hewitt.

He said: "There was one mistake I made and Lleyton made his sign and I was a bit upset about that because the match was very tense. I was spitting but not in Lleyton's direction. Lleyton thought it was at him and I apologised for that at the end of the match, but I was not spitting at Lleyton."

During his time on the tour, Chela was also part of a strong Argentine Davis Cup team. In 2006, he helped his country reach the finals of the 'World Cup of men's tennis', but they lost to Russia.

Chela retired from professional tennis in 2012. His last career singles title came at the 2010 Romanian Open. He also lifted three doubles titles while on the tour, and earned 17 wins over top-10 players.

The 46-year-old has also been through a lot since retiring. He enjoyed a successful career as a coach, working with Diego Schwartzman. But in 2021, while he was still part of Schwartzman's team, Chela had to undergo surgery for an unruptured brain aneurysm.

Speaking to La Nacion, Chela explained: "We decided that the best thing was for me to have surgery, and I had it. It was the only time in my life that I was emotionally very unstable. I had moments when I was fine, moments when I was really bad, moments when I cried, when I said, 'I'm going to die'.

"And the good thing is that, if the surgery went well, I was cured. You have to be monitored for a year, and then that's it, you're discharged. Everything turned out fine, and luckily I had that year of follow-up care, and now the issue is resolved. It was a scare."

Chela has also adopted two children with his wife, Veronica Alonso, a few months ago. "We're really happy now after a process that took many years," he said.

"We adopted two children from Haiti: a three-year-old boy and a five-year-old girl. They've only been with us for three months, so we're still adjusting. They're learning the language, they've already started kindergarten, but we're so happy."