When you think of Italian men's tennis players, who do you think of first?
Beretini, Sina, Sonego, Musetti, Seppi, Cekinato... These are the old faces of the ATP Tour, but today's protagonist Fognini is definitely a non-negligible existence of the Italian men's tennis.
#24岁首进前五十, the big instrument is late
Fognini moved into professional tennis in 2004, but for a long time he was ranked outside the top 50 in the world, and it wasn't until the 2011 season that he crossed that threshold.
That year at the French Open, he defeated Istomin, Robert, García López and Montanes as a dark horse to reach the men's singles quarterfinals of a Grand Slam for the first time in his career.
However, due to the physical exhaustion of the Italians in the fourth round at that time (nearly five hours of fighting, thigh cramps in the last minute and even unable to move), Fognini had no choice but to withdraw from the 1/4 final with Djokovic.
The world rankings broke late, Fognini's first career title is also "long overdue", in 2004 he turned professional, in the 2013 season Stuttgart won the first ATP250 singles title.
Later, at the ATP500 Hamburg Open, Fognini reached the men's singles final again and achieved a wave of back-to-back championships, and the world ranking was further improved (the first top 20).
#2019赛季首进前十, highlight moments
Fognini currently holds nine ATP singles titles, the heaviest of which is the Monte Carlo Masters in 2019.
At that time, Fognini defeated Rublev, Zverev, Churić, Nadal and Rajovic on the road to victory, becoming the first Italian player in history to reach the top of the Masters.
Later, the French Open Fagonini once again reached the fourth round of the men's singles, and he also came to the top 10 for the first time in the world ranking with the good state at that time.
This is the first men's singles top ten in The Italian men's tennis since 1979, and the then 32-year-old Fognini also became the world's oldest player for the first time.
Looking at Fognini's achievements so far, although it is far from being comparable to the Big Four, it is still outstanding overall, of course, the Italian veteran's most regrettable should be his own grand slam results.
From the first main tour of the French Open in 2007, Fognini has played in the past decade, and as of this year's French Open, the best record of the men's singles is only once in the quarterfinals, and more often than not, it is early in the first few rounds.
Of course, the family life of Fognini off the court has been very happy over the years, and he has been associated with the Italian women's tennis star Penetta for a long time, and the two officially held a wedding in June 2016.
So what impressed you the most about Fognini? (Source: House of Tennis Author: Barbie)
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