Agustin Calleri, one of the Gauchos who dominated the early part of the last decade, hung up his saddle during a ceremony in Buenos Aires. Photo via i2.esmas.com

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Agustin Calleri's retirement from professional tennis was recently made official in a ceremony at the Copa Telmex in his native Buenos Aires.  Calleri, 33,  was honored by peers in the Argentine tennis community including Juan Monaco, Jose Acasuso, and Juan Ignacio Chela.

Calleri had not played at all in 2010, with his last match coming last year in a challenger in Bogota.  Hanging up the racquet after his last season is certainly understandable, since 2009 saw his ranking fall from #83 to outside the top 400, a precipitous fall that fit his 3-15 record for the year.

Calleri is certainly not the first name to come to mind when you think of players who spent time in the top twenty, but he did reach a career high ranking of #16.  He won two ATP titles, Acapulco 2003 and Kitzbuhel 2006, both of which were (unsurprisingly) on clay courts, interestingly beating an Argentinian in both finals.  He never made the second week of a slam, but he did have a surprising run to the finals of the Hamburg Masters in 2003, one of the four Argentinians who made it to the semifinals that year. 

Perhaps most impressively, Calleri compiled an 11-1 record on clay in his Davis Cup career playing for Argentina, a record which is just about as good as any you'll ever find.

Calleri will not be remembered as much as the other Gauchos (Guillermo Coria, Gaston Gaudio, David Nalbandian), but he deserves credit for his relative consistency.  It's amazing to think that despite being the most regularly visible of the four for the last several years, Calleri is actually the oldest, and first of the Gauchos to officially retire.  Coria and Gaudio have been working hard at comebacks to absolutely no avail for some time now, and Nalbandian's lack of fitness has cut short every attempt at resuming a full-time career on the tour. 

Calleri certainly doesn't have the resume of any of the other three, but at least he knew when to call it a day.