Jannik Sinner and Jasmine Paolini ready to crown golden age of Italian tennis in Rome
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Jasmine Paolini (left) after winning the Italian Open women's singles final as Coco Gauff poses with the runners-up trophy on May 17.
PHOTO: REUTERS
ROME – The Foro Italico (Italian Forum) has lived up to its name last week as Jannik Sinner and Jasmine Paolini have given home fans a local hero to cheer for in both singles finals at the Italian Open.
Sinner can end a near five-decade wait for an Italian winner of the men’s tournament in Rome, with Adriano Panatta way back in 1976 the last man to claim the title for a home player.
The world No. 1 on May 18 took on rival Carlos Alcaraz in a blockbuster final for tennis fans who have watched Sinner return from his three-month doping ban for testing positive twice in March 2024 for traces of clostebol, a contamination doping authorities accept was accidental. The final ended after press time.
The 23-year-old was the first Italian to win a Grand Slam tournament since Panatta, again since 1976, when he won the Australian Open in January 2024.
He then became the first of his compatriots to claim top spot in the world rankings in June, and then the first to win the year-ending ATP Finals.
But Sinner, already a winner of 19 titles including three Grand Slams, is not alone at the top of the game as attested by Italy winning both the Davis Cup and, led by Wimbledon and Roland Garros finalist Paolini, the Billie Jean King Cup in 2024.
Italian men have won 31 ATP titles since the start of 2016, compared to just eight in the previous decade.
Lorenzo Musetti made his debut in the top 10 of the world rankings on May 5 after reaching the Monte Carlo final in April and going deep in other tournaments, including a run to the semi-finals in Rome.
Nine Italians, including Luciano Darderi and Flavio Cobolli – winners in Marrakech and Bucharest in the same week in April – are in the men’s top 100. Only the United States and France have more, with 13 and 10 respectively.
At the start of the century, the best Italian man was Andrea Gaudenzi, now the chairman of the ATP, at 54th in the world, while the Italian men’s team played in the third tier of the Davis Cup.
Italian tennis’ revival began with its women, with four Fed Cup wins between 2006 and 2013, Francesco Schiavone’s French Open title in 2010 and Flavia Pennetta at the US Open five years later.
On May 17, Paolini became the first Italian woman to win the Rome event since Raffaella Reggi in 1985 after overcoming former US Open champion Coco Gauff in straight sets 6-4, 6-2.
This comes on the back of her reaching two Grand Slam finals in 2024 and winning Olympic gold in the women’s doubles at Paris 2024 with Sara Errani. The pair will take on Veronika Kudermetova and Elise Mertens in the doubles final on May 18.
After some good showings from Fabio Fognini, who became the first Italian to win a Masters 1000 tournament at Monte Carlo in 2019, men’s tennis upped its game with the arrival of 2021 Wimbledon finalist Matteo Berrettini and Sinner.
“It’s the result of 15 years of good work within the federation (FITP), starting from the clubs up to the top level and with a lot of international tournaments in all ages groups,” said Spanish former world No. 7 Emilio Sanchez, now a coach.
“They’ve decentralised the organisation of their youth structure. Before, everyone had to go through a national training centre and be taken away from their home environment. Now the federation goes to the players, and funds them.”
Filippo Volandri, the head of top-level men’s tennis training for the FITP, says that the decentralisation, a wide network of coaches and access from a young age to both physical and mental trainers, allows “all young players to express their potential”.
“That’s the big difference between what we did before, when we saw that Italian players matured late or never reached their full potential,” added Volandri.
The FITP, headed since 2001 by Angelo Binaghi, has also implemented a plan to build hard courts in a clay-court dominated country, a move which has also been accompanied by a change in playing style and training.
“We prioritise tactics over technique, and to serves and returns ahead of repetitive coaching of forehand or backhand strokes,” said Michelangelo Dell’Edera, the director of the FITP’s Higher Training Institute. AFP
