The Most Famous

TENNIS PLAYERS from Italy

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This page contains a list of the greatest Italian Tennis Players. The pantheon dataset contains 1,569 Tennis Players, 35 of which were born in Italy. This makes Italy the birth place of the 11th most number of Tennis Players behind Argentina, and Sweden.

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.

Photo of Jannik Sinner

1. Jannik Sinner (b. 2001)

With an HPI of 61.21, Jannik Sinner is the most famous Italian Tennis Player.  His biography has been translated into 54 different languages on wikipedia.

Jannik Sinner (born 16 August 2001) is an Italian professional tennis player. He is currently ranked as the world No. 1 in men's singles by the ATP, the first Italian to reach the top ranking. Sinner has won 19 singles titles on the ATP Tour, including three majors at the 2024 and 2025 Australian Opens, 2024 US Open, as well as the 2024 ATP Finals and four Masters 1000 titles. He also led Italy to the 2023 and 2024 Davis Cup crowns. Despite limited success as a junior, Sinner began playing in professional men's events aged 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. In 2021, he became the youngest ATP 500 champion at the Washington Open, and the first player born in the 2000s to enter the top 10 in rankings. Sinner won his first Masters 1000 title at the 2023 Canadian Open and finished the season by reaching the final of the ATP Finals and leading Italy to the Davis Cup crown. At the 2024 Australian Open, Sinner defeated world No. 1 Novak Djokovic and then Daniil Medvedev in a five-set final, coming back from two sets down to win his first major title. He followed by winning three Masters 1000 events, the US Open, and the ATP Finals to finish the year as the world No. 1.

Photo of Adriano Panatta

2. Adriano Panatta (b. 1950)

With an HPI of 61.08, Adriano Panatta is the 2nd most famous Italian Tennis Player.  His biography has been translated into 29 different languages.

Adriano Panatta (born 9 July 1950) is an Italian former professional tennis player. He won the French Open in 1976, becoming 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.

Photo of Lilí Álvarez

3. Lilí Álvarez (1905 - 1998)

With an HPI of 56.74, Lilí Álvarez is the 3rd most famous Italian Tennis Player.  Her biography has been translated into 21 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.

Photo of Francesca Schiavone

4. Francesca Schiavone (b. 1980)

With an HPI of 54.81, Francesca Schiavone is the 4th most famous Italian Tennis Player.  Her biography has been translated into 52 different languages.

Francesca Schiavone (Italian pronunciation: [franˈtʃeska skjaˈvoːne]; born 23 June 1980) is an Italian former professional tennis player. She had career-high rankings of world No. 4 in women's singles and No. 8 in women's doubles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA). Schiavone won eight WTA Tour-level singles titles, including a major at the 2010 French Open, the first Italian woman to win a singles major. To date, Schiavone is the last one-handed backhand player to win a major women's title. Schiavone was also runner-up in singles at the 2011 French Open and in women's doubles at the 2008 French Open. She helped Italy win the Fed Cup in 2006, 2009 and 2010, and has the most match wins of any player for the Italian team. Schiavone played the longest ever women's singles match at a major, defeating Svetlana Kuznetsova 6–4, 1–6, 16–14 in the fourth round of the 2011 Australian Open after 4 hours and 44 minutes. Schiavone announced her retirement from the sport at the 2018 US Open, and shared aspirations of winning a major as a coach. In April 2021, Schiavone began coaching Petra Martić.

Photo of Sara Errani

5. Sara Errani (b. 1987)

With an HPI of 54.31, Sara Errani is the 5th most famous Italian Tennis Player.  Her biography has been translated into 43 different languages.

Sara Errani (Italian: [ˈsaːra erˈraːni]; born 29 April 1987) is an Italian professional tennis player. Errani is one of only seven women who have completed a career Golden Slam in doubles. She is an Olympic Games gold medalist, a former doubles world No. 1, achieved on 10 September 2012, major champion in doubles and mixed doubles, and a finalist in singles. She reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 5 on 20 May 2013. With nine singles titles and 35 doubles titles (including eight majors, eight WTA 1000 titles, and an Olympic gold medal), she is the Italian tennis player with the highest number of career titles. In doubles, she entered the top 10 on 11 June 2012, remaining there for 94 straight weeks and 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. She became the seventh player in the Open Era to achieve a Golden Slam, winning the Olympics with Jasmine Paolini. She won three times the WTA Awards as best doubles team with Vinci and once in 2024 with Paolini. 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. At the 2024 Summer Olympics, she was the only player along with fellow countryman Andrea Vavassori to qualify and play at the same time in singles, doubles and mixed doubles. Her partnership with Vavassori has proven successful, they taking mixed doubles major titles at 2024 US Open and 2025 French Open at their first participations.

Photo of Flavia Pennetta

6. Flavia Pennetta (b. 1982)

With an HPI of 53.76, Flavia Pennetta is the 6th most famous Italian Tennis Player.  Her biography has been translated into 48 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 with Dulko 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.

Photo of Fabio Fognini

7. Fabio Fognini (b. 1987)

With an HPI of 51.95, Fabio Fognini is the 7th most famous Italian Tennis Player.  His biography has been translated into 32 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.

Photo of Lorenzo Musetti

8. Lorenzo Musetti (b. 2002)

With an HPI of 50.68, Lorenzo Musetti is the 8th most famous Italian Tennis Player.  His biography has been translated into 26 different languages.

Lorenzo Musetti (Italian pronunciation: [lorɛnt͡so muzet.ti]; born 3 March 2002) is an Italian professional tennis player. He has a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 6, achieved on 9 June 2025 and a doubles ranking of No. 142, achieved on 1 April 2024. Musetti has won two ATP Tour singles titles, and has reached two major semifinals at the 2024 Wimbledon Championships and the 2025 French Open. He is currently the No. 2 Italian. Representing his country, Musetti won the bronze medal in men's singles at the 2024 Paris Olympics. He was part of the Italy national team that won the Davis Cup in 2023 and 2024.

Photo of Camila Giorgi

9. Camila Giorgi (b. 1991)

With an HPI of 49.62, Camila Giorgi is the 9th most famous Italian Tennis Player.  Her biography has been translated into 37 different languages.

Camila Giorgi (Italian pronunciation: [ˈkaːmila ˈdʒordʒi]; born 30 December 1991) is an Italian former professional tennis player. She had a career-high singles ranking of world No. 26, which was achieved on 22 October 2018. Giorgi was known for her aggressive style of play and powerful flat groundstrokes, and she was considered one of the hardest hitters of the ball on the tour. 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.

Photo of Matteo Berrettini

10. Matteo Berrettini (b. 1996)

With an HPI of 49.50, Matteo Berrettini is the 10th most famous Italian Tennis Player.  His biography has been translated into 30 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 ten 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 is the first man born in the 1990s and first Italian man to reach the quarterfinals or better at all four majors. Berrettini was part of the Italy Davis Cup team that won the 2024 crown, going undefeated in all his rubbers. 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.

People

Pantheon has 35 people classified as Italian tennis players born between 1905 and 2002. Of these 35, 34 (97.14%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Italian tennis players include Jannik Sinner, Adriano Panatta, and Francesca Schiavone. The most famous deceased Italian tennis players include Lilí Álvarez. As of April 2024, 35 new Italian tennis players have been added to Pantheon including Jannik Sinner, Adriano Panatta, and Lilí Álvarez.

Living Italian Tennis Players

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Deceased Italian Tennis Players

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Newly Added Italian Tennis Players (2024)

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