Top 5 best Italian tennis players

Italian tennis was a very popular sport that experienced its heyday in the 60s and 70s. During those years there were very few high-level tennis players. But despite this, Italy has reported some beautiful victories! 67 victories in ATP tournaments and among these only one victory in a Grand Slam and three in the Masters 1000. We can say that only in the last twenty years Italian tennis returned to shine.  Without forgetting women’s tennis which had a great period in the 2000s. To date, the trend has changed, and many young Italian tennis players are proving to be up to it. They are entering the ATP rankings and achieving excellent results. For this reason, it is difficult for me to make a definitive ranking of the top 5 best Italian tennis players. Here you will find the 5 top best Italian tennis players considering their results and their history. Let’s step inside the world of tennis with the top 5 best Italian tennis players!

1. The symbol of Italian tennis: Adriano Panatta

Adriano Panatta in Sicily by Angelo Tonelli- Wikimedia Commons

The tennis player Adriano Panatta is still today the symbol of Italian tennis. He was born in Rome on 09 July 1950 and approached tennis at a young age thanks to his father. Especially because his father was the keeper of the tennis courts located in the Eur area of Rome. His career gains momentum and earns his points for the national team. In 1970 he became part of the history during the Italian Absolute Championships. He won the clash with the champion Nicolò Pietrangeli. His success increased thanks to the defeat of Bjorg and the victory of the French tournament in 1976. In the same year he won the Davis Cup and the Wct in Houston in 1977, and twice the Florence tournament (1975 and 1980). In 1979 he reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon losing to the American Pat Duprè.

2. The strongest Italian tennis player ever: Flavia Pennetta

Flavia Pennetta by Cdpache – Wikimedia Commons

Today Flavia Pennetta is the strongest Italian tennis player ever even if she abandoned the sport at 33. Her sports career began in 1996 and by winning the Italian U14 double championship. In 2000, on the day of her 18th birthday, she enters the professional list. During her career, she conquered 11 WTA singles tournaments beating Williams and many others. In 2015 she entered the sixth place in the world rankings and was the first Italian in the top 10 of the WTA Tour. She obtained excellent results during the doubles, speciality in which she was the first-ever. She won 17 WTA tournaments and the Grand Slam in Australia in 2011 and the 2010 WTA Tour Championships in Doha. But she also has won the Fed Cup four times with Italy in 2006, 2009, 2010 and 2013.

3. One of the greatest Italian players: Fabio Fognini

Fabio Fognini by Carine06 – Wikimedia Commons

Fabio Fognini is an Italian tennis player born in 1987 in Sanremo. He grew up in a Ligurian town known as Arma di Taggia where he attended the local tennis club. At the age of fifteen, he began his career with many losses and few victories. It was only in 2007 that he managed to win his first Challenger final. Fognini is well known for his outbursts on the orange field against line judges and referees. But, his talent helped him to emerge. His debut occurred in 2008 in his first Davis Cup while wearing the national team jersey. In 2010 at Wimbledon he defeated Fernando Verdasco with only four sets. He reached the Panatta record in 2011 by winning in Stuttgart and Hamburg. Together with Bolelli in 2015, he won three Australia Open tournaments. With his debut at the Auckland tournament in 2019, he won the decisive set on Gojowczyk. At the Australian Open, he eliminated Jaume Munar and then Leonardo Mayer. In 2016 Fabio Fognini got married to Flavia Pennetta.

4. The golden player: Nicola Pietrangeli

Nicola Pietrangeli by Rapsodin – Wikimedia Commons

Nicola Pietrangeli is a former tennis player, TV host, TV commentator and actor. To date, many do not know this great tennis player born in 1933. An experienced baseline player and strong backhand who played 164 Davis Cup matches and took home 120 wins. In 1959 and 1960 he won Roland Garros and was then recognized as a champion. For this reason, he reaches the third place in the world rankings in both years. In 1961 he reported a sensational victory at the Internazionali di Italia and participates for 22 times. The central court of the Foro Italico in Rome was named after him. Nicola Pietrangeli is one of the very few living tennis players to have obtained this recognition. As a result, he is also the only Italian to have been inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

5. Women’s tennis with Francesca Schiavone

Francesca Schiavone by Glenn Thomas – Wikimedia Commons

Francesca Schiavone was born on 23 June 1980 in Milan. At the age of 23, she becomes a player crossing the threshold of the top 20. In January 2006 she was then included in the WTA ranking in 11th place for instance. Between 1998 and 2000 she reaches the first ITF titles and in 2000  becomes a finalist in the WTA of Tashkent. Thanks to her talent in 2001 she stands out. The tennis player Schiavone gets included in the top 50 thanks to the quarterfinals of Roland Garros and the five placings of the WTA.  Schiavone premiered in the Italian national team in the Fed Cup in 2002. In the same year, she participated in the finals at the US Open. In 2003 she conquers a lot of results by taking part in the Canberra, US Open, Kremlin Cup, Warsaw and Palermo finals. As a result, she reaches the final in Bali, Hasselt and Moscow by winning. Francesca Schiavone competes in the Fed Cup final in 2007 and wins her first WTA title in Bad Gastein. She takes home her third WTA title in Barcelona and the Roland Garros. For this reason, she became the first Italian to triumph a Grand Slam title. In April 2017 she conquers her eighth title at the Bogota tournament, beating the Spanish Lara Arruabarrena with a score of 6-4, 7-5 in the final. At the end in 2018, after a series of defeats, she gives up her career to become a coach.