The Italian men dominated the ATP Tour in 2024.
Jannik Sinner had a historic season, winning two Grand Slam titles and holding the world No.1 ranking from June onwards.
Nine Italians ended the year in the top 100 – tied for second with Australia, while they became the first country since Czechia in 2012 and 2013 to win consecutive Davis Cup crowns.
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At Australian Open 2025, Italy could boast its biggest contingent at the tournament in history. Nine Italians have already been awarded direct entry – Sinner, Lorenzo Musetti, Flavio Cobolli, Matteo Berrettini, Matteo Arnaldi, Luciano Darderi, Lorenzo Sonego, Fabio Fognini, and Luca Nardi – with six more players entered into qualifying.
Notably, six of Italy’s top-100 men were born in the 21st century.
The eldest member of that collective, Arnaldi, revealed on The AO Show Weekly podcast that they were a tight-knit friendship group on tour – something from which they all reaped benefits.
“I know basically all of them since we were like 11, 12 [years of age],” he said. “It’s really nice because you get to spend all your time with them, you know them very well.
“So it’s like a friendship, it’s very long and the tournaments are not just tournaments but you can enjoy more like going out to dinner with them, you know each other since you were very young so [it’s like a] home away from home.”
Arnaldi, who touched down in Melbourne last month to prepare for his second AO campaign, said watching his mates succeed serves as strong motivation.
“When you see your friends going up, growing, winning a lot of matches, it gives you that kind of mindset where you can say like ‘if he did it, I can do it’,” the world No.37 said.
“For sure it’s not easy to do it, but I think you go onto the court with a different mindset, maybe that gives you more energy.”
For a second straight year, Arnaldi is the first international player to arrive in Melbourne ahead of the Australian Open.
His early arrival Down Under last year resulted in a strong start to 2024; he reached the quarterfinals in Barcelona and also defeated top-10 players Taylor Fritz and Andrey Rublev.
The 23-year-old seeks to follow the same blueprint for success in 2025.
“This is definitely my favourite [tournament]. Since I was a kid, I always loved this because for a European it’s the other part of the world, it’s summer [in Australia] when it’s winter [in Italy],” he said.
“When I can, I come here. It’s always nice and it’s winter in Europe so it’s not the best, I prefer to stay here in summer and practice well in the same courts, same balls, same kind of weather [as the Australian Open].
“It’s not going to change much so you adapt very well, and you are ready to start the season.”
After playing against two hometown heroes – beating Adam Walton before losing to Alex de Minaur – at AO 2024, Arnaldi is hopeful the crowd will be on his side this summer.
“They’re going to see a fight, that’s for sure. They’re going to see me running around the court, sliding – that’s what I do,” Arnaldi promised.
“And then if they’re lucky, they’re going to see me trying to push sometimes and go to the net like the older Australians were doing like Rod Laver on grass courts here.”
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