Despite being a country quite passionate about tennis, judging by the number of tournaments held, Italy has produced surprisingly few major singles champions, especially in recent decades. In fact, Italy’s only major winners since 1976 (for almost half a century) have been women, with Francesca Schiavone winning the French Open in 2010 and Flavia Pennetta winning the US Open in 2015. The women’s singles final was held in Nuremberg. Pennetta defeated her compatriot Roberta Vinci in the York competition that year, making it an all-Italian competition.
But now that Jannik Sinner has defeated Novak Djokovic in the first semi-final of the Australian Open, if Sinner can defeat Daniil Medvedev, who defeated Sasha Zverev in the other semi-final, in Melbourne on Sunday, Italy will has a chance to become the third man to win a major.
Who are the past two Italian men’s major champions? And what are the chances that Sinner will follow in their illustrious footsteps? As always, resident tennis historian Martin Keady has the answers. Masu.
1. Nicola Pietrangeli: Proto Federer
Great athletes and artists always have predecessors. Its influence may not have been immediately obvious at the time, but over time it becomes indisputable. So, just as The Stooges and MC5 laid the foundation for punk nearly a decade before the Ramones and Sex Pistols, Italy’s first men’s major champion and only multiple major winner Nicola Pietrangeli (after winning the French Open in 1959 and 1960) can also be considered one of Roger Federer’s ancestors and is undoubtedly the most beautiful tennis player of all time.
Pietrangeli was actually born not in Italy, but in Tunisia, one of a long line of Italian immigrants to what was then a French colony. However, because of his heritage, Pietrangeli has always considered himself Italian and moved to Italy early in his life to pursue his tennis career. It was on the country’s many clay courts that he, like Federer more than half a century later, developed a luxurious playing style with a spectacular one-handed backhand and incredible shot-making ability.
However, unlike Federer, Pietrangeli has always been a clay court specialist. His best result at a major tournament other than Roland Garros was reaching the Wimbledon semifinals in 1960. Fortunately, he was one of the best clay court players of his time, but that was, of course, during his amateur days, or “shamateur” days. It was also called this era because players often illegally received compensation from the federation. By the time tennis finally became fully professional in 1968, Pietrangeli was past his best and nearing the end of his career, finally retiring in 1973.
But a decade earlier, Pietrangeli was a prince in Paris. In 1959, he won his first French Open title, defeating Australian great Neil Fraser in the semi-finals and South Africa’s Ian Vermaak in the final. And a year later, he defeated Luis Ayala, perhaps Chile’s first great tennis player (and thus ancestor of Marcelo Ríos and Fernando González), in a classic five-set final, ending 3-6, They won 6-3 and doubled. 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.
Pietrangeli reached the final of Roland Garros again in 1961 and appeared to have completed a hat-trick of wins at Roland Garros, but in the final he was defeated by Spain’s first great tennis player, Manuel “Manolo” Santana (Nadal, Alcaraz). , Nadal’s ancestor). and countless other Spanish champions). Unfortunately for Pietrangeli, the result of the 1961 final was repeated in 1964, with Santana defeating him again, and Pietrangeli never made it to the French Open final again. Nevertheless, his consecutive wins at Roland Garros made Pietrangeli a legend in Italian tennis. And fortunately, at 90 years old, he is still a living legend, drawing much attention as a spectator at the Italian Open and many other blue ribbon events on the European clay court circuit.
Adriano Panatta: The manager’s son
Adriano Panatta, the second Italian man to win a major singles title, may not enjoy the legendary status of Pietrangeli, but he deserves credit for his own accomplishments, especially considering his backstory. was still very impressive. Like Francis Tiafoe today, he was the son of a tennis court caretaker and first took up the sport when paying customers left for the day.
Unlike Pietrangeli, whose career was coming to an end just as Panatta’s was beginning in earnest, Panatta had only a brief stint as an amateur before turning pro at the beginning of the Open Era. It was only in between. However, like Pietrangeli, he was a clay court specialist who had success at Roland Garros, but did not perform very well at other major tournaments. (His best result at a major tournament other than Roland Garros was reaching the quarterfinals of Wimbledon in 1979.)
Panatta may only have won the French Open once, defeating American Harold Solomon 6-1, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (7-3) in the 1976 final. do not have. But he is arguably more famous than just winning a major, as he is the only man to beat Bjorn Borg at Roland Garros, and he did it not just once, but twice.
The first time Borg played in the French Open in 1973, when he was 17 years old, Panatta defeated Borg in four sets in the fourth round. Borg won the French Open twice, in 1974 and 1975, and looked like he might score a hat trick in 1976, but Panatta defeated him again in four sets in the quarterfinals. After missing the 1977 tournament due to injury concerns, Borg never lost at Roland Garros and won the tournament four more times before his retirement, with Panatta winning the previous two over Borg. This made it even more impressive.
Although Panatta never won a major again, he accomplished something for his country that the more famous Pietrangeli could not: win the Davis Cup. Pietrangeli led Italy to the Davis Cup final twice, in 1960 and 1961, but on both occasions they lost to a strong Australian team of Laver, Emerson and Fraser, which was certainly due to Pietrangeli and his Italian teammates. It didn’t help. Both finals were played on grass. But in 1976, Panatta’s Italy had to play the final away to Chile, but the surface was clay and Panatta tied for both the singles and doubles (with Paolo Bertolucci). He won Italy’s first, and until recently only, Davis Cup victory. .
- Jannik Sinner: La carota divina?
Jannik Sinner, of course, virtually single-handedly won Italy’s second Davis Cup title, defeating Novak Djokovic in both singles matches despite facing three match points last November. and Doubles (against Lorenzo Sonego) in the semi-finals on the same day. And less than 24 hours later, she defeated Australia’s Alex de Minaur in the second round of the singles final, achieving a virtually miraculous victory.
When interviewed on court after defeating Djokovic again in Melbourne, Sinner mentioned his Davis Cup victory and defeating Djokovic in the group stage of the ATP Finals, saying those things made him competitive. He said that it gave him a sincere belief. Play against great players and beat them even more. After all, if he can beat the GOAT (at least statistically Djokovic) twice in one day, it should look relatively easy compared to the others.
Since winning the 2019 NextGen Finals, Sinner has been viewed as a major favorite. His progress seemed to slow down for a while, especially when compared to his 2021 Next Gen winner Carlos Alcaraz. But that all seemed to change with his win in Beijing last fall, and he has been virtually unstoppable since then.
At the Beijing Games, Sinner not only defeated Carlos Alcaraz on his way to the final, but also defeated Daniil Medvedev, who had previously lost six straight, in the final. Of course, Sinner will face Russia’s Octopus again in Sunday’s final in Melbourne, but Sinner has two aces up his sleeve. Firstly, he plays much less tennis compared to Medvedev, who spends almost twice as much time on court (more than 20 hours total) as he does in Australia, and stays with Sinner if the match drags on. It will definitely be difficult. Second, he has defeated Djokovic in three of his last four matches, including a five-set match at a major, so no one has anything to fear in the men’s game.
The stage was thus set for “La Divina Carota” (nicknamed the Carrot of the Gods in his home country due to his extremely rare red hair in Italy) to become only the third Italian man to win a major tournament. Ta. Singles title. It will not be easy to play against Medvedev. However, given his current incredible form, Sinner and his legion of fans in Italy and abroad will be confident. He follows in the footsteps of Pietrangeli and Panatta, making all the changes to complete a truly brilliant Italian hat-trick.
Main photo credit: Mike Frey-USA TODAY Sports