12+ Best Italian Tennis Players of All Time

Over the years, Italy has always had a strong tennis team on both the men’s and women’s sides of the game.

With recent success at the 2023 United Cup where they got to the final, it is looking like Italy is going to be a very strong country for many years to come.

But who are the greatest Italian tennis players of all time?

This guide lists the greatest male and female Italian players in history as well as the best current players on both the ATP and WTA tours.

Best Current Male Tennis Players

There are currently 17 players in the top 200 on the ATP Tour, with the No.1 in Italy being Matteo Berrettini. There are also many youngsters moving up the rankings such as Jannik Sinner and Lorenzo Musetti who are showing a lot of potential for the future of Italian tennis.

Best Current Female Tennis Players

On the WTA Tour there are currently 7 players in the top 200. The women’s side isn’t as strong as the men’s however recent results from Martina Trevisan show there is potential for the future.

Greatest Male Players of All Time

Adriano Panatta

Adriano Panatta was a very successful clay court player and is the person that has inspired the new generation of Italian tennis players.

Born in Rome, Panatta grew up playing on clay courts at the Tennis Club Parioli where his father was a caretaker.

In 1976, Panatta had the peak in his career when he won the Italian Open, which is an ATP Masters 1000 event, as well as the French Open. He also went on to win the Davis Cup at the end of 1976 which was Italy’s first-ever Davis Cup title. To finish off the year Panatta reached his highest ranking of world No.4 which is the highest of any Italian player.

To this day, Adriano Panatta remains the only Italian in the Open Era to win a Grand Slam.

Matteo Berrettini

Matteo Berrettini is the most successful player to come out of Italy since Adriano Panatta.

Berrettini had his breakthrough year in 2018 when he won his first ATP Tour title at the 2018 Swiss Open. In 2019 he then went on to win another two titles at the Hungarian Open and Stuttgart Open and reached his first Grand Slam semi-final at the 2019 US Open. With all these good results, Berrettini ended 2019 in the top 10 for the first time.

In 2021 Matteo Berrettini reached his first Grand Slam final at Wimbledon where he became the first Italian player to ever reach a Wimbledon final and he even competed in the ATP Finals at the end of the year.

Berrettini is still an active player to this day and hopefully, we will see a lot more from him.

Nicola Pietrangeli

Nicola Pietrangeli is considered to be Italy’s greatest-ever tennis player and is one of the only Italian players to win a Grand Slam (pre Open Era).

Pietrangeli reached the French Open final on four occasions, winning it twice in 1959 and 1960. He also represented Italy for a record 164 rubbers where he won 120 between the years of 1954 and 1972 and even captained Italy’s Davis Cup team in 1976 where they won the title for the first time.

Nicola Pietrangeli was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1986 and even has a tennis stadium named after him in Foro Italico in Rome.

Fabio Fognini

Fabio Fognini is one of the most famous Italian players in the Open Era due to his impressive results as well as his fiery attitude.

Fognini has been most successful on clay courts over the years, winning 8 of his 9 titles on the surface, and winning his most notable title at the Monte-Carlo Masters.

But Fognini has also been very successful on hard courts winning the 2015 Australian Open Doubles title and was even the first player to beat Rafael Nadal from two sets to love down at the 2015 US Open.

Fognini reached a career-high ranking of world No.9 making him one of the only Italians to reach the top 10.

Jannik Sinner

Jannik Sinner is the newest top Italian player and at only 21 years of age, he has reached a career-high ranking of world No.9.

Sinner grew up in Northern Italy and was a very impressive skier as well as tennis player, winning a national championship in skiing at eight years old. However at age thirteen to moved to the Italian Riviera where he was coached by Riccardo Piatti who has coached many top players such as Novak Djokovic, Richard Gasquet and many more.

Jannik Sinner started competing in professional tournaments at 16 years old and at 19 years became the youngest quart-finalist at the 2020 French Open since Djokovic in 2006.

Sinner continues to achieve good results and has reached the quarter-finals in every Grand Slam. He was also the first player born in the 2000s to enter the ATP top 10.

Giorgio de Stefani

During his career, Giorgio de Stefani won an incredible 85 singles titles and was the top Italian player during the 1930s.

Giorgio grew up learning to play tennis from his mother on the courts of their family house at Lake Garda. He also competed during his time at university where they won the world university championships.

Giorgio de Stefani’s best result at a Grand Slam came in 1932 when he got to the final of the French Open.

Giorgio de Stefani paved the way for many Italian players and will go down as one of the greatest Italian tennis players of all time.

Greatest Female Players of All Time

Francesca Schiavone

Francesca Schiavone was the first Italian woman to win a Grand Slam and is the player that has inspired female Italian tennis players for years to come.

Schiavone was born in Milan on 23 June 1980. During her career, she won 8 WTA titles one of those being the 2010 French Open where she beat Caroline Wozniacki and Sam Stosur en route. She even managed to reach the French Open final the following year but lost to Li Na in the final.

Schiavone also had a very successful doubles career reaching the final of the French Open in 2008 and winning 7 doubles titles.

Francesca Schiavone is still involved with tennis to this day where she coaches Petra Martic with hopes to win a Grand Slam as a coach.

Flavia Pennetta

Flavia Pennetta is the only other Italian woman to win a Grand Slam singles title.

Born on 25 February 1982, Pennetta was introduced to the sport by her father and had a successful juniors career where she won the French Open Girls Doubles title in 1999.

Pennetta’s best run at a Grand Slam came in 2015 when she won the US Open title in a final against fellow Italian Roberta Vinci in the first all-Italian major final. This then led to her achieving her highest ranking of world No.6.

In a speech after winning the US Open Flavia Pennetta announced her retirement as there was no more she wanted to achieve in tennis and declared this as the “perfect ending.”

She also had a very successful doubles career where she won the Australian Open in 2011 and was the first Italian woman to be ranked No.1 in doubles.

Flavia Pennetta is also married to tennis player and Italian Fabio Fognini and they have three children.

Sara Errani

Sara Errani was born in Bologna in 1987 and at age 12 was sent to the Nick Bollettieri Academy in Florida where she trained during her teens.

Errani was a very successful doubles player, alongside partner Roberta Vinci, where they won five Grand Slams and are only the fifth pair in history to complete a Career Grand Slam (winning every Grand Slam).

She also had a very good singles career reaching the French Open final in 2012 and achieving a world ranking of No.5.

Sara Errani is still active to this day, however, is ranked outside the top 100.

Roberta Vinci

Roberta Vinci was also a very successful doubles player with her partner Sara Errani where they won 5 Grand Slams.

In singles, she won 10 career titles and even had a magical run in 2015 where she reached the US Open final losing to good friend Flavia Pennetta.

Whilst she is not involved in tennis anymore, Vinci has started competing on the professional padel tour where she reached a ranking of No.66 in the world in her first season.

Silvana Lazzarino

Silvana Lazzarino was born on 19 May 1933 and was an impressive clay court player.

In 1954 she reached the semi-finals of the French Open in singles and even reached the semi-finals of the doubles French Open in 1953, 1957 and 1964.

She was one of the first female Italian players to achieve such results.

Silvia Farina Elia

Silvia Farina Elia started playing tennis when she was 10 years old and was introduced to the sport by her mother who enjoyed playing tennis.

She achieved a world ranking of No.11 in 2002 and won three WTA titles. Her best result came at Wimbledon when she got to the quarter-finals.

How Many Italian Players Have Been World No.1?

Achieving the world No.1 ranking is one of the hardest feats in tennis as it requires you to consistently perform as one of the best in the world and normally means winning at least one Grand Slam in a given year.

No Italian has ever achieved the world No.1 ranking in history however we are hoping that youngsters such as Jannik Sinner and Matteo Berrettini will change that.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Many Tennis Tournaments are in Italy?

There are currently two tournaments on the ATP tour in Italy.

The biggest tournament is the Italian Open, a Masters 1000 event held in Rome, Italy. This attracts some of the biggest players on the ATP Tour. The ATP finals are also held in Turin, Italy, where the top 8 players compete in a year-end tournament.

There are also two tournaments on the WTA tour in Italy, one being the Italian Open. The other is a WTA 250 event called Palermo International, held in Palermo, Italy.

How Many Italians Have Won Grand Slams?

Winning a Grand Slam is the ultimate goal of any tennis player as they are the world’s biggest and most prestigious tournaments.

There are four Grand Slams on the tennis circuit: the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US Open. Each Grand Slam has 2000 ranking points on offer to the champion as well as big prize money.

Listed below are Italian players who have won a Grand Slam:

Men

Women

Conclusion

So now you have learnt about all of the greatest Italian tennis players.

What country do you want to learn about next?

Image Source: Tennis Majors