It was a while I wanted to write this piece and the great performance of Fabio Fognini in Montecarlo was a good occasion to do so.
Italy has never been a super power in tennis, indeed: 41 years have passed since an Italian (man) was in the top 10, the last being Corrado Barazzuti and little earlier Adriano Panatta, the RG champion. Since then, there have been few very good Italian players, such as Omar Camporese and the same Fabio Fognini and some good players, such as Renzo Furlan, Paolo Canè (he actually was really good, but also really mad), the unlucky Cristiano Caratti, Andreas Seppi, Andrea Gaudenzi and indeed some others that I do not immediately recall.Though, the latter were all players that could rank within the top 30, sometimes the top 20, but not in the top 10s.
It now seems that a “golden age” has started for Italian males players: beside Fognini, who has been a top 20 for long time and finally reached his peak (has he?), there is a further top 20, Marco Cecchinato, and there are 4 more top 100, led by rising Matteo Berrettini; overall, 19 of the first 200 players are Italian: as noted by “Ubitennis”, no other country can currently count on so many top 200. Maybe Italians are still missing a super-champion some other countries can rely on; nevertheless, the above data allow one to state that Italian males’ tennis is currently healthy, strong and solid.
Even more interestingly, at junior level Italians are achieving not only good results as the above, but even excellent ones. Six Italians rank in the first 100 spot of the junior ranking and, most noticeably, Lorenzo Musetti is current number 2: he was the finalist in 2018 U.S. Open and won the last Australian Open. He has recently declared that he will play Roland Garros and maybe Wimbledon, and then his junior career will end. Which sounds fair. There is Giulio Zeppieri, currently ranking in 14the spot on the junior tour, having reached the semi-finals in the last U.S. Open; and there is Yannik Sinner: a different case, as he basically doesn’t own a junior pedigree at all.
Let’s focus on Sinner and Musetti, who are currently the most promising Italian youngsters.
Yannik Sinner was born in the Austrian part of Italy, Sud-Tirol, which has become the centre of Italian tennis, as in such small region Andreas Seppi and former top 30 Karin Knapp were also born. Yannik has not played a lot on the junior tour and reached a highest ranking of 133 (not great). I’ve seen Yannik playing twice live: once in the qualis of Salso Maggiore, a Grade 2, losing a tight match; that happened two years ago, if I correctly remember. In 2018, Yannik impressed me in the semi-final in 2018 Milan’s Grade A, which he lost because he couldn’t handle stress: though I had the impression that the guy had some good weapons and that he was actually the most gifted player within the four semifinalists. He started to play continuously on the pro tour in 2018 and reached a final in a Future event. However, in 2019 he literally exploded. After a semifinal in a 25k, he was the first player born in 2001 to win a Challenger (Bergamo) and then he won two further 25k in a row. Having exited early in a 25k and a further challenger (defeated by top 200 Arnaboldi), Yannik debuted in the last days, thanks to a wild card, in the qualification rounds of an ATP event, in Budapest. He has beaten Rosol and lost by 109 ranked Yannik Maiden; though, Yannik was lucky enough to be admitted to the main draw as lucky loser (as Dusan Lajovic is still partying, most probably). I have recently seen Sinner on TV, playing against Marcora, in Bergamo’s final. He appeared to me as complete player, already owning a good serve and a symmetrical game, as he is able to hit winners and defend effectively both with his forehand and backhand. He is an offensive baseliner but he quite often closes points volleying, something which he is able to do, indeed; not owning a huge built, he is very fast and coordinated, so that he is also able to counterplay effectively. I think his main feature is his ability in returning, also to first serves. I believe Yannik is more a fast court than a clay player; but in general, the guy is really solid: it seems he doesn’t miss anything to play good tennis. You can check Sinner training with Djokovic here.
If you prefer variety and imagination to solidity, then switch to Lorenzo Musetti, as his matches are the most entertaining one can see, at least at junior level. Until recently, Lorenzo’s serve was weak: his swing looks weird, as he arches very much his back; though, since few months ago, he has improved this shot and he is now able to hit serves that are not slower than his peers’. Last year, Lorenzo reached the final of the U.S. open and won a set against a two-year-older boy by basically playing without a first serve: he did that thanks to his wonderful forehand, his best shot, and an elegant one handed backhand, which he plays by alternating top and slice. The range of shots he is able to play is sort of unlimited: serve and volley, chops, drop-shots, demi-volleys, also from the baseline; all that he can do, and even more. For sure Lorenzo is enormously gifted and his tennis is most imaginative. Now that he has found a more solid serve, he has won a slam and reached the peak in juniors one year in advance – he was born in 2002; though, in my view, he is yet not powerful enough to achieve noticeable results on the pro tour; he needs further time to build up some strength. If he will be able to play all the variety of shots also against balls running 20km/h faster than the juniors’, he will be a kind of player that everybody will love, due to his immense skills and willingness of finding unusual shots. Non-Italians too should hope he will meet expectations, since players so entertaining to see are good for tennis overall.
What about girls, then? Opposite situation: after a glorious era, very dark times for Italian girls’ tennis have come. There is only one player ranking in the top 100, four in the top 200; and there is no sign that this situation will change any soon; but I leave further details on this topic to another article which, most probably, I will never write.
