‘Strength in numbers’ is the name of the game for Italy, a country enjoying a tennis boom and with 11 players – six men and five women – inside the world’s top 100.
Matteo Berrettini heralded this new era for Italian men’s tennis by reaching the 2021 Wimbledon final and climbing to world No.6, a position younger compatriot Jannik Sinner has since bettered.
PODCAST: New No.4 Sinner showcasing superstar attributes
Last weekend, fourth-ranked Sinner led his country to its first Davis Cup title in 47 years, two weeks after Italy’s women – enjoying their own renaissance – advanced to the Billie Jean King Cup final.
Italian fans have plenty to look forward to when this talented troupe descends on Melbourne Park for Australian Open 2024.
Jannik Sinner
Italy’s smooth-striking, quietly-spoken new talisman is on a roll, reeling off consecutive final victories over Daniil Medvedev in Beijing and Vienna to jump to a career-high world No.4.
The 22-year-old equals Adriano Panatta and Francesca Schiavone as the highest-ranked Italian in history.
A first Masters 1000 trophy in Toronto and his Montpellier trophy from February take Sinner’s 2023 title tally to four, improving his credentials as the player best placed to become Carlos Alcaraz’s biggest long-term threat.
Sinner claimed two of their three meetings – in Beijing and Miami – in 2023.
He also beat No.1-ranked Novak Djokovic twice in November – in the group stages of the ATP Finals, and then the Davis Cup semifinals – to end his season on a high.
Jasmine Paolini
A maiden WTA 500 semifinal in Zhengzhou in early October bumped 163cm-dynamo Jasmine Paolini into the top 30 for the first time.
The 27-year-old carried that hard-court form to Tunisia a week later, where she reached the Monastir final before a defeat to Elise Mertens.
FEMALE NEW WAVE: Jasmine Paolini
It marked Paolini’s second tour-level final of the year, following Palermo.
While unable to land a singles trophy in 2023, she departed Monastir assured of finishing the season as the top-ranked Italian woman and pocketed the doubles trophy with compatriot Sara Errani for good measure.
Lorenzo Musetti
A few months younger than Sinner, Musetti ensures the increasingly bright spotlight on Italian men’s tennis is not trained on one player.
While the 21-year-old may not have quite matched Sinner’s heights, in April he stunned top seed Djokovic at the Monte Carlo Masters – before Sinner ended his run in the quarterfinals.
Musetti also beat Cameron Norrie en route to the Barcelona semifinals and again at Roland Garros to reach the fourth round before being toppled by Alcaraz.
A top-15 debut ensued a month later.
Elisabetta Cocciaretto
Cocciaretto enjoyed a bunch of firsts in 2023, starting with her maiden tour final in Hobart to open the season.
While she succumbed to Lauren Davis in that match, Cocciaretto picked up her first top-10 victory over Petra Kvitova at Roland Garros and made her top-30 debut in August after she landed the silverware in Lausanne.
The 22-year-old was at her tenacious best that week when she became the first woman since 2019 to prevail in two matches from match point down at the same event.
Matteo Arnaldi
Confidence gained from a first top-10 victory over Casper Ruud in Madrid worked wonders for 22-year-old Arnaldi.
While three Challenger titles before Wimbledon rolled around were nothing to sneeze at, it was his breakthrough victory as a qualifier at a Masters 1000 that cemented Arnaldi’s belief.
A first tour-level semifinal in Umag in July and a maiden Davis Cup win over former top-20 Chilean Cristian Garin came either side of his fourth-round US Open run, a result helping him make his top-50 debut.
He closed the season with a win over Alexei Popyrin in the first rubber of the Davis Cup final, laying the foundation for Italy’s eventual triumph.
Martina Trevisan
Few could forget smiling Trevisan’s breakout run at Roland Garros in 2020 when she denied Coco Gauff and Maria Sakkari en route to the quarterfinals.
Proving it was no fluke, she was one of the last four standing in Paris last year, before Gauff took revenge.
After opening 2023 with another victory over Sakkari to help guide Italy to the inaugural United Cup final in Sydney, Trevisan cracked the top 20 in May with a quarterfinal run in Miami. A second WTA 1000 quarterfinal came in Guadalajara following an upset of top seed Ons Jabeur.
Best of the rest
Following a forgettable 2023 in which right leg, abdominal and right ankle ligament injuries derailed much of his season, Berrettini called time on his season, having not played since the US Open. However, the AO 2022 semifinalist is eyeing a return Down Under in 2024.
Former world No.21 Lorenzo Sonego reached the fourth round at both Indian Wells and Roland Garros in 2023 to maintain a top-50 ranking and was also a part of Italy’s winning Davis Cup team; he combined with Sinner to defeat Djokovic and Miomir Kecmanovic in a live doubles rubber to send their country into the final.
One of four Italian men under 23 in the top 100, Flavio Cobolli picked up his second Challenger title, in Lisbon, in October and posted his first ATP quarterfinal in Munich as a qualifier in April. He closed his season by qualifying for the NextGen ATP Finals, alongside countryman Luca Nardi, who is ranked 115th.
Meanwhile, Camila Giorgi’s all-out aggression carried her to a fourth career title in Merida, Mexico this season. The 31-year-old downed three top-20 opponents en route to her biggest title, the WTA 1000 event in Montreal, two years ago and rose as high as world No.26 in 2018.
Lucia Bronzetti bagged a maiden tour title in Rabat in May – a run which included a win over Sloane Stephens – before a second final of the season a month later in Bad Homburg to briefly crack the top 50.