Tennis in Italy
Tennis in Italy is the 6th sport, with 1,298,000 people, by number of practitioners.
History
The five successes of Italian tennis player in the Grand Slam tournament regards Nicola Pietrangeli, Adriano Panatta, Francesca Schiavone and Flavia Pennetta.Also the Italy Davis Cup team won 1976 Davis Cup and Italy Fed Cup team four times the Fed Cup.
Women's tennis in particular has seen tremendous successes in the 21st century, with the advent of Francesca Schiavone, Sara Errani, Flavia Pennetta and Roberta Vinci. All these four women reached the Top 10 of the WTA rankings in both singles and doubles and reached Grand Slam finals in both disciplines. Schiavone and Pennetta won singles Grand Slam titles, while Pennetta, Errani and Vinci won doubles Grand Slam titles, with Errani and Vinci achieving the Career Grand Slam in doubles as a pair. They were also responsible for Italy's 4 Fed Cup victories as members of the national Fed Cup team.
Players best ranking
In this table only those who have reached the top 20 in the world ranking.Updated to 4 November 2019. Data refer to the Open Era.
Men
Women
Grand slam best results
Men
Eight Italian tennis players played at least the semi-final in a Grand Slam tournament.Player | Tournament | Result |
Umberto De Morpurgo | Roland Garros 1930 | Semifinal |
Giorgio De Stefani | Roland Garros 1932 | Final |
Giorgio De Stefani | Roland Garros 1934 | Semifinal |
Giuseppe Merlo | Roland Garros 1955 | Semifinal |
Giuseppe Merlo | Roland Garros 1956 | Semifinal |
Nicola Pietrangeli | Roland Garros 1959 | Win |
Nicola Pietrangeli | Roland Garros 1960 | Win |
Nicola Pietrangeli | Roland Garros 1961 | Final |
Nicola Pietrangeli | Roland Garros 1964 | Final |
Nicola Pietrangeli | Wimbledon 1960 | Semifinal |
Orlando Sirola | Roland Garros 1960 | Semifinal |
Adriano Panatta | Roland Garros 1973 | Semifinal |
Adriano Panatta | Roland Garros 1975 | Semifinal |
Adriano Panatta | Roland Garros 1976 | Win |
Corrado Barazzutti | Us Open 1977 | Semifinal |
Corrado Barazzutti | Roland Garros 1978 | Semifinal |
Marco Cecchinato | Roland Garros 2018 | Semifinal |
Matteo Berrettini | US Open 2019 | Semifinal |
Women
Seven Italian female tennis players have reached at least the semifinals of a Grand Slam singles tournament.Player | Tournament | Result |
Maud Rosenbaum Levi | 1930 U. S. National Championships | Semifinalist |
Annalisa Ullstein Bossi Bellani | 1949 French International Championships | Semifinalist |
Silvana Lazzarino | 1954 French International Championships | Semifinalist |
Francesca Schiavone | 2010 French Open | Won |
Francesca Schiavone | 2011 French Open | Runner-up |
Sara Errani | 2012 French Open | Runner-up |
Sara Errani | 2012 US Open | Semifinalist |
Sara Errani | 2013 French Open | Semifinalist |
Flavia Pennetta | 2013 US Open | Semifinalist |
Flavia Pennetta | 2015 US Open | Won |
Roberta Vinci | 2015 US Open | Runner-up |