TENNIS PLAYERS from Italy

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Italian Tennis Players of all time. This list of famous Italian Tennis Players is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Italian Tennis Players.

1. Adriano Panatta (1950 - )

With an HPI of 49.56, Adriano Panatta is the most famous Italian Tennis Player.  His biography has been translated into 25 different languages on wikipedia.

Adriano Panatta (born 9 July 1950) is an Italian former professional tennis player. He is a major champion, winning the French Open in 1976, and was the first Italian man in the Open Era to win a major singles title. Panatta was also the only player ever to defeat Björn Borg at Roland Garros, doing so twice. From 2018 to 2021, he was a regular guest of the RAI sport broadcast Quelli che... il Calcio.

2. Lilí Álvarez (1905 - 1998)

With an HPI of 48.40, Lilí Álvarez is the 2nd most famous Italian Tennis Player.  Her biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

Elia Maria González-Álvarez y López-Chicheri, also known as Lilí de Álvarez (Spanish pronunciation: [liˈli ˈalβaɾeθ]; 9 May 1905 – 8 July 1998), was a Spanish multi-sport competitor, an international tennis champion, an author, feminist and a journalist.

3. Flavia Pennetta (1982 - )

With an HPI of 44.94, Flavia Pennetta is the 3rd most famous Italian Tennis Player.  Her biography has been translated into 46 different languages.

Flavia Pennetta (Italian pronunciation: [ˈflaːvja penˈnetta]; born 25 February 1982) is an Italian former professional tennis player. She became Italy's first top-ten female singles player on 17 August 2009 and the first Italian to be ranked world No. 1 in doubles, on 28 February 2011. She is a major champion, having won the 2011 Australian Open women's doubles title with Gisela Dulko, and the 2015 US Open singles title over childhood friend Roberta Vinci in the first all-Italian major final. Pennetta won ten other WTA singles titles, including the 2014 Indian Wells Open, where she defeated the top two seeds. She also was a mainstay in the Fed Cup team competition, helping Italy win four titles in 2006, 2009, 2010, and 2013. Her other highlights in doubles include winning the 2010 WTA Finals and finishing runner-up at the 2005 and 2014 US Open tournaments, partnering respectively with Elena Dementieva and Martina Hingis. After winning the 2015 US Open, Pennetta announced she would retire at the end of the season, playing her last tournament at her WTA Finals singles debut. There, she defeated eventual champion Agnieszka Radwańska in the round-robin stage and retired with a top-ten singles ranking. Pennetta was pronounced a Knight of Order of Merit of the Republic on 24 January 2007 by Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, then President of Italy.

4. Francesca Schiavone (1980 - )

With an HPI of 43.23, Francesca Schiavone is the 4th most famous Italian Tennis Player.  Her biography has been translated into 51 different languages.

Francesca Schiavone (Italian pronunciation: [franˈtʃeska skjaˈvoːne]; born 23 June 1980) is an Italian former tennis player. She turned professional in 1998 and won the 2010 French Open singles title, becoming the first Italian woman to win a Grand Slam event in singles. She was also runner-up at the 2011 French Open. Her career-high ranking is world No. 4, achieved on 31 January 2011. To date, Schiavone is the last one-handed-backhand player to win a Grand Slam title on the women's tour. She won eight career singles titles in total, seven on the WTA Tour and one at Roland Garros. In doubles, her career-high ranking is world No. 8, peaking with an appearance in the final of the 2008 French Open. Furthermore, she helped Italy to win the Fed Cup in 2006, 2009 and 2010, and has the most wins for the Italian team. Schiavone played in the longest ever women's singles match at a Grand Slam tournament, when she defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova 6–4, 1–6, 16–14 in the fourth round of the 2011 Australian Open women's singles draw, the match lasted 4 hours and 44 minutes and in the process secured her first and only quarterfinal at the Australian Open. On 5 September 2018, Schiavone announced her retirement from tennis at the US Open. During the announcement, she shared aspirations of winning a Grand Slam as a coach. In April 2021, Schiavone began coaching Petra Martić.

5. Camila Giorgi (1991 - )

With an HPI of 42.90, Camila Giorgi is the 5th most famous Italian Tennis Player.  Her biography has been translated into 34 different languages.

Camila Giorgi (Italian pronunciation: [ˈkaːmila ˈdʒordʒi]; born 30 December 1991) is an Italian professional tennis player. She has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 26, achieved on 22 October 2018. She is the current Italian No. 3. After winning her first ITF title in 2009, Giorgi made her Grand Slam main-draw debut at the 2011 Wimbledon Championships. Giorgi reached the fourth round of the 2012 Wimbledon Championships in just her second appearance at the tournament. After her successful run at the championships, she made her top-100 debut in the WTA rankings. The following year, she followed it up with a third-round run at the Wimbledon Championships, and made her second Grand Slam fourth round at the US Open. She reached her first Grand Slam quarterfinal at the 2018 Wimbledon Championships, six years after her Wimbledon breakout. Giorgi reached her first WTA Tour final in 2014 at the Katowice Open, and then won her first title at the Rosmalen Open. She won the biggest title of her career at the 2021 National Bank Open in Montreal, defeating former world No. 1, Karolína Plíšková, in the final. Giorgi is known for her aggressive style of game and her powerful flat groundstrokes, and is considered to be one of the hardest hitters of the ball on the tour. Her most notable professional wins have come at the 2013 US Open, Indian Wells Open, and Eastbourne International, defeating former world No. 1 players Caroline Wozniacki, Maria Sharapova, and Victoria Azarenka, respectively.

6. Fabio Fognini (1987 - )

With an HPI of 41.59, Fabio Fognini is the 6th most famous Italian Tennis Player.  His biography has been translated into 31 different languages.

Fabio Fognini (Italian pronunciation: [ˈfaːbjo foɲˈɲiːni]; born 24 May 1987) is an Italian professional tennis player. He has a career-high ATP ranking of world No. 9 achieved on 15 July 2019. Fognini's most successful surface is red clay, where he has won eight of his nine ATP singles titles, most notably at the 2019 Monte-Carlo Masters. He also reached the quarterfinals of the 2011 French Open. Together with Simone Bolelli, Fognini won the 2015 Australian Open doubles championship, becoming the first all-Italian men's pair to win a Grand Slam title in the Open Era.

7. Matteo Berrettini (1996 - )

With an HPI of 40.75, Matteo Berrettini is the 7th most famous Italian Tennis Player.  His biography has been translated into 27 different languages.

Matteo Berrettini (Italian pronunciation: [matˈtɛːo berretˈtiːni]; born 12 April 1996) is an Italian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 6 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he achieved in January 2022, and world No. 105 in doubles, attained in July 2019. Berrettini has won eight ATP Tour singles titles and two doubles titles, and produced his best major performance by reaching the singles final of the 2021 Wimbledon Championships. He also became the first man born in the 1990s and first Italian man to reach the quarterfinals or better at all four majors after earning his first Australian Open semifinal in 2022. After turning professional in 2015, Berrettini won two singles titles on the ITF World Tennis Tour and three on the ATP Challenger Tour, breaking into the top 100 of the ATP rankings in May 2018. Two months later, he reached his first ATP Tour final at the 2018 Swiss Open, where he won his maiden title and made his top 60 debut. In 2019, after claiming two further titles at the Hungarian Open and Stuttgart Open, he entered into the top 25, and carried his momentum into his maiden career major semifinal at the US Open to end the year ranked in the top 10. Berrettini made additional strides in 2021 after reaching his first Masters 1000 final at the Madrid Open, winning his first ATP 500 title at the Queen's Club Championships, and becoming the first Italian player, male or female, to contest a Wimbledon singles final. Berrettini is known for his aggressive game style boosted by his large build. At 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in), Berrettini possesses one of the tour's fastest serves and often uses his heavy topspin forehand to dictate rallies and set up one-two punches, making him versatile on all surfaces. In order to compensate for his weaknesses, he often deploys his backhand slice to keep the ball low for his opponent and uses a blocked return to neutralize points. As an all-court player, he has also developed these tactics to be comfortable at the net to close points.

8. Andreas Seppi (1984 - )

With an HPI of 40.71, Andreas Seppi is the 8th most famous Italian Tennis Player.  His biography has been translated into 28 different languages.

Andreas Seppi (born 21 February 1984) is an Italian former professional tennis player. He reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 18 on 28 January 2013. He became the first Italian to win a title on all three surfaces.

9. Sara Errani (1987 - )

With an HPI of 39.55, Sara Errani is the 9th most famous Italian Tennis Player.  Her biography has been translated into 39 different languages.

Sara Errani (Italian pronunciation: [ˈsaːra erˈraːni]; born 29 April 1987) is an Italian professional tennis player. She is a former top five player in singles and former world No. 1 in doubles. With nine singles titles and 29 doubles titles (including 5 Grand Slam doubles championships and 5 Premier Mandatory/Premier doubles titles), she is the Italian tennis player with the highest number of WTA titles. She entered the top 10 in doubles on 11 June 2012, remaining there for 94 straight weeks, and she reached her career-high singles ranking of world No. 5 on 20 May 2013. Errani became the world No. 1 in doubles for the first time on 10 September 2012. She was the year-end number-one doubles player in both 2013 and 2014, and has held the top ranking for a combined total of 87 weeks. Errani's breakthrough season occurred in 2012. At the Australian Open, she reached the quarterfinals in singles (the first time she advanced past the third round in a Grand Slam singles draw) and was a finalist in doubles. Known as a clay-court specialist, Errani won three titles on clay going into the 2012 French Open, where she reached the finals in both the singles (becoming the second Italian woman to ever reach a Grand Slam singles final, with Francesca Schiavone being the first at the 2010 French Open) and doubles tournaments, winning the doubles title with her partner Roberta Vinci. They also won the doubles titles at the 2012 US Open, and the 2013 and 2014 Australian Open. By winning the 2014 Wimbledon Women's Doubles title, Errani and Vinci became only the fifth pair in tennis history to complete a Career Grand Slam. Her achievement in reaching the 2012 US Open singles semifinals leaves Wimbledon as the only Grand Slam tournament in which Errani has yet to make the quarterfinals in singles. She also made the semifinals at the 2013 French Open, the quarterfinals at the 2014 French Open, 2014 US Open, and 2015 French Open, and qualified to the WTA Finals twice in 2012 and 2013. In 2017, Errani was banned from playing for ten months due to a failed drug test.

10. Jannik Sinner (2001 - )

With an HPI of 38.44, Jannik Sinner is the 10th most famous Italian Tennis Player.  His biography has been translated into 25 different languages.

Jannik Sinner (born 16 August 2001) is an Italian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 2 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), and is the highest-ranked Italian tennis player in history. Sinner has won 13 ATP Tour singles titles, including a Grand Slam title at the 2024 Australian Open and two Masters 1000 titles. He has reached the semifinals at Wimbledon as well as the quarterfinals of the French Open and US Open. At the end of the 2023 season, Sinner was runner-up at the ATP Finals and led Italy to the Davis Cup crown. Sinner also has a career-high ranking of world No. 124 in doubles, achieved in September 2021, and has won one ATP Tour title in doubles. Sinner grew up in northern Italy in the predominantly German-speaking region of South Tyrol. He was active in sports such as skiing, football, and tennis as a child. After being a competitive skier between the ages of 8-12, Sinner switched to focus exclusively on tennis at age 13 and moved to Bordighera on the Italian Riviera to train with veteran coach Riccardo Piatti. Despite limited success as a junior, Sinner began playing in professional men's events at age 16 and became one of the few players to win multiple ATP Challenger Tour titles at age 17. In 2019, he broke into the top 100, winning the Next Generation ATP Finals and the ATP Newcomer of the Year award. Sinner continued his rise into the top 50 in 2020 with his first top 10 victory, a French Open quarterfinal, and his first ATP Tour title at the 2020 Sofia Open. In 2021, he became the youngest ATP 500 champion at the 2021 Citi Open, was a Masters runner-up at the Miami Open, and became the first player born in the 2000s to enter the top 10 in rankings. After reaching his first major semifinal at the 2023 Wimbledon Championships, Sinner won his first Masters 1000 title at the 2023 Canadian Open. He finished the season by reaching the final of the ATP Finals and contributed to Italy lifting the Davis Cup for the first time since 1976. In the 2024 Australian Open, Sinner defeated world No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the semifinals to reach his first major final. He then defeated Daniil Medvedev in a five-set final, coming back from two sets down to win his first Grand Slam title.