Fabio Fognini (; born 24 May 1987) is an Italian professional
tennis
Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...
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
The 2019 Monte-Carlo Masters (also known as the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters for sponsorship reasons) was a tennis tournament for male professional players played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 113th edition of the annual Monte Carlo Masters to ...
. He also reached the quarterfinals of the
2011 French Open. Together with
Simone Bolelli
Simone Bolelli (; born 8 October 1985) is an Italian professional tennis player. He has a career-high ATP ranking in doubles of World No. 6 achieved on 13 January 2025 and in singles of No. 36 achieved on 23 February 2009. Bolelli is a Grand S ...
, Fognini won the
2015 Australian Open
The 2015 Australian Open was a tennis tournament that took place at Melbourne Park from 19 January to 1 February 2015. It was the 103rd edition of the Australian Open, and the first Grand Slam tournament of the year.
Stan Wawrinka was the de ...
doubles championship, becoming the first all-Italian men's pair to win a Grand Slam title in the
Open Era
The racket sport traditionally named lawn tennis, invented in Edgbaston, Warwickshire, England, now commonly known simply as tennis, is the direct descendant of what is now denoted real tennis or royal tennis, which continues to be played today a ...
.
["ATP player profile"](_blank)
''ATPWorldTour.com''
Early life
Fognini was born to Silvana and Fulvio, a businessman, and has a younger sister.
, ''OnTheGoTennis.com'', 15 May 2012. He began playing tennis when he was four years old and is also a fan of football, supporting
Inter Milan
Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football ...
and
Genoa CFC
Genoa Cricket and Football Club () is an Italian professional Association football, football club based in Genoa, Liguria. The team competes in the Serie A, the top division of the Italian football league system.
Established in 1893, Genoa is ...
. He also enjoys motorbike racing and is a fan of
Valentino Rossi
Valentino Rossi ( ; ; born 16 February 1979) is an Italian racing driver, former professional motorcycle road racer and nine-time Grand Prix motorcycle racing World Champion. Nicknamed "the Doctor", Rossi is widely considered one of the greate ...
. Fognini speaks Italian, English, Spanish, and French, and his nickname is "Fogna".
Career
Juniors
As a junior, Fognini posted a singles win–loss record of 72–36. He achieved a combined ranking of No. 8 in the world in May 2004, reaching the quarterfinals of both the
Australian Open
The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...
and
French Open
The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...
.
2004–2006
Fognini began his professional career by playing a variety of
Futures
Futures may mean:
Finance
*Futures contract, a tradable financial derivatives contract
*Futures exchange, a financial market where futures contracts are traded
*''Modern Trader'', formerly Futures, an American finance magazine
Music
* ''Futures' ...
and
Challenger tournaments, winning his first Futures title in 2005 at Spain No. 1 and another at Italy No. 9. In 2005, he also finished runner-up at Italy No. 3 and qualified for his first
ATP Challenger
The ATP Challenger Tour (known until the end of 2008 as the ATP Challenger Series) is a series of international men's professional tennis tournaments. It was founded in 1976 as a replacement for the ILTF Satellite Circuit (founded in 1971) as ...
tournament at
Palermo
Palermo ( ; ; , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The ...
. During 2006, Fognini had moderate success at Challengers and, after qualifying, made his debut on the
ATP World Tour
The ATP Tour (known as ATP World Tour between January 2009 and December 2018) is the sole worldwide top-tier tennis tour for men organized by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) founded in 1990 that replaced the earlier dual Grand Pri ...
at
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...
. He was defeated in the first round by former
World No. 1 Carlos Moyá
Carlos Moyá Llompart (; born 27 August 1976) is a Spanish former professional tennis player and coach. He was ranked as the world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). Moyá won 20 ATP Tour-level singles tit ...
, the eventual champion.
2007: Top 100
In 2007, Fognini made some real progress on the
ATP Tour
The ATP Tour (known as ATP World Tour between January 2009 and December 2018) is the sole worldwide top-tier tennis tour for men organized by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) founded in 1990 that replaced the earlier dual Grand Prix ...
, notably when he qualified for the
2007 French Open to make his first appearance in a
Grand Slam event. He lost in the first round to World No. 35
Juan Mónaco
Juan Mónaco (; born 29 March 1984), nicknamed "Pico", is an Argentine former professional tennis player. He won nine singles titles, reached the semifinals of the 2010 Shanghai Rolex Masters – Singles, 2010 Shanghai Masters and the 2012 Sony ...
in five sets. In addition, he had a fantastic tournament at the
2007 Rogers Masters in Montreal, Canada. Having qualified for the tournament, he defeated
Peter Polansky
Peter Polansky ( ; born June 15, 1988) is a Canadian professional tennis player of Czech origin. He was Canada's top singles player from June 21, 2010, until January 17, 2011, in the Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP rankings. He was also ...
in the first round, before taking out the 13th seed
Andy Murray
Sir Andrew Barron Murray (born 15 May 1987) is a British former professional tennis player and coach. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professio ...
in straight sets. Fognini was halted by World No. 1
Roger Federer
Roger Federer ( , ; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 3 ...
in the third round.
On the
ATP Challengers circuit, Fognini made the finals in
Santiago
Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...
,
Sanremo
Sanremo, also spelled San Remo in English and formerly in Italian, is a (municipality) on the Mediterranean coast of Liguria, in northwestern Italy. Founded in Roman times, it has a population of 55,000, and is known as a tourist destination ...
, and
Fürth
Fürth (; East Franconian German, East Franconian: ; ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in northern Bavaria, Germany, in the administrative division (''Regierungsbezirk'') of Middle Franconia.
It is the Franconia#Towns and cities, s ...
, losing in three-set battles each time. Partnering
Frederico Gil
João Frederico Limpo Franco Gil (born 24 March 1985), known as Fred Gil (), was a Portuguese people, Portuguese professional tennis player, who competed in the ITF Men's Circuit. He reached a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP ...
, he also lost in the doubles final of the
Fürth
Fürth (; East Franconian German, East Franconian: ; ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in northern Bavaria, Germany, in the administrative division (''Regierungsbezirk'') of Middle Franconia.
It is the Franconia#Towns and cities, s ...
Challenger. He finished the year ranked in the top 100 for the first time at No. 94.
2008: First doubles final
Fognini lost a five-set first-round encounter against
Michael Russell in the
2008 Australian Open
The 2008 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 96th edition of the Australian Open, and the first Grand Slam event of the year. It took place at the Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia, from 14 thro ...
.
During the South American clay swing, he reached the quarterfinals of
Viña del Mar
Viña del Mar (; meaning "Vineyard of the Sea") is a List of cities in Chile, city and Communes of Chile, commune on Zona Central, Chile, central Chile's Pacific coast. Often referred to as ("The Garden City"), Viña del Mar is located withi ...
(defeating second seed clay-court specialist
Juan Ignacio Chela
Juan Ignacio Chela (; born 30 August 1979), nicknamed as "El Flaco" or "Liliano," is a tennis coach and former professional player from Argentina. Chela was given a three-month ban from the professional tour in 2001 for failing a drugs test. Post ...
in the first round) and the semi-finals of
Costa Do Sauipe.
After missing the
2008 French Open
The 2008 French Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 107th edition of the French Open, and the second Grand Slam event of the year. It took place at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, from 25 May until 8 ...
due to injury problems, Fognini reached the semi-finals of both
Warsaw
Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...
and
Umag
Umag (; ; ) is a coastal town in Istria, Croatia.
Its patron saint is Peregrine (martyr), St. Peregrine.
Geography
It is the westernmost town of Croatia, and it includes Bašanija, the westernmost point of Croatia.
Demographics
According to the ...
(beating former World No. 1 and French Open champion
Carlos Moyá
Carlos Moyá Llompart (; born 27 August 1976) is a Spanish former professional tennis player and coach. He was ranked as the world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). Moyá won 20 ATP Tour-level singles tit ...
), whilst also winning the
Turin
Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...
and
Genova
Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitants ...
challengers, further enhancing his clay pedigree.
2009: San Benedetto title
In April 2009, Fognini reached the third round of the
2009 Monte-Carlo Masters as a qualifier, upsetting
Tomáš Berdych
Tomáš Berdych (; born 17 September 1985) is a Czech former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 4 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), achieved in May 2015. Berdych won 13 ATP Tour singles titles, i ...
(after losing the first set 1–6) and 14th seed
Marin Čilić
Marin Čilić (; born 28 September 1988) is a Croatian professional tennis player. He has been ranked world No. 3 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), achieved on 28 January 2018. Čilić has won 21 ATP Tour-level si ...
(for the loss of only two games). Fognini then played a typically topsy-turvy match with World No. 4
Andy Murray
Sir Andrew Barron Murray (born 15 May 1987) is a British former professional tennis player and coach. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professio ...
, losing in two tight sets after being up 5–0 in the first set. In July, Fognini won the San Benedetto Challenger title defeating
Cristian Villagrán
Cristian Villagrán (born 20 January 1982) is a Swiss-Argentine professional tennis player. He has a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 200 achieved on 7 July 2009, and a career-high ATP doubles ranking of world No. 115 achieved on 6 ...
in the final.
2010: 50 wins
A remarkable win during this season was against the 13th seed
Gaël Monfils
Gaël Sébastien Monfils (; born 1 September 1986) is a French professional tennis player. He has been ATP rankings, ranked as high as world No. 6 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), achieved in November 2016. Mon ...
at the
2010 French Open
The 2010 French Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 109th edition of the French Open, and the second Grand Slam event of the year. It took place at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, from 23 May through ...
by also coming from two sets to love down in a match that spanned two days. In June 2010, Fognini followed up his vein of good form as he defeated
Fernando Verdasco
Fernando Verdasco Carmona (; born 15 November 1983) is a Spaniards, Spanish tennis coach and a former professional player. He was ranked world No. 7 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP, achieved in April 2009, and w ...
, the 8th seed, in the first round of
Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* W ...
without dropping serve the entire match.
2011: Major quarterfinal
In
2011
The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...
Fognini achieved a number of breakthroughs. He reached the quarterfinals of a
Grand Slam event for the first time at the
2011 French Open. He defeated
Denis Istomin
Denis Olegovich Istomin (born 7 September 1986) is an Uzbekistani professional tennis player. He won two singles titles (at the 2015 Aegon Open Nottingham and 2017 Chengdu Open) and achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 33 in Au ...
in the first round and qualifier
Stéphane Robert
Stéphane Robert (; born 17 May 1980) is a French tennis coach and a former professional player.
Professional career 2007–2008
Robert missed 16 months of tennis action in 2007–2008 because he was infected with the Hepatitis A virus in F ...
in the second. In the third round, Fognini beat
Guillermo García López
Guillermo García López (, born 4 June 1983) is a Spanish tennis coach and a former professional player. He won five singles titles and achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 23 in February 2011.
As of 2021, he collected thirte ...
, the 30th seed, in four sets to advance to his first Grand Slam fourth round. Here, he made the quarterfinals in dramatic fashion as he beat
Spaniard
Spaniards, or Spanish people, are a Romance languages, Romance-speaking Ethnicity, ethnic group native to the Iberian Peninsula, primarily associated with the modern Nation state, nation-state of Spain. Genetics, Genetically and Ethnolinguisti ...
Albert Montañés
Albert Montañés Roca (, ; born 26 November 1980) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. He first entered the top 100 in 2001, achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 22 in 2010, and has won six singles titles and two doubl ...
in a match lasting 4 hours and 22 minutes.
["Fognini pulls out of French, sending Djokovic to semis"](_blank)
''Tennis.com'', 30 May 2011. Barely able to walk at the end, Fognini eventually prevailed and clinched the epic match 11–9 in the fifth set. After the match, he described his run at the French Open as a "little dream", maintaining that he "would love to play the next match ... even if I'm only at 50 percent". He was due to face World No. 2
Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Новак Ђоковић, Novak Đoković, separator=" / ", ; born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players#Weeks at N ...
in the quarterfinals but, prior to the match, he announced that he had made the "difficult" decision to withdraw on doctors' advice that it would be "dangerous" to play.
Nonetheless, Fognini became the first Italian man in the French Open quarterfinals since
1995
1995 was designated as:
* United Nations Year for Tolerance
* World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War
This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...
and the first to reach that stage at a Grand Slam since 1998. His achievement saw him rise to a then career-high singles ranking of World No. 32.
With
Simone Bolelli
Simone Bolelli (; born 8 October 1985) is an Italian professional tennis player. He has a career-high ATP ranking in doubles of World No. 6 achieved on 13 January 2025 and in singles of No. 36 achieved on 23 February 2009. Bolelli is a Grand S ...
, Fognini reached the semi-finals of the
2011 US Open men's doubles.
2012: First ATP finals
After numerous ATP semi-final appearances, Fognini finally reached his first career final at
Bucharest
Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...
in April 2012, ousting fifth seed
Marcos Baghdatis
Marcos Baghdatis (Greek language, Greek: Μάρκος Παγδατής, Arabic language, Arabic: ماركوس بغداتيس); born 17 June 1985 is a Greek Cypriot former professional tennis player and coach. He was the runner-up at the 2006 Aus ...
and sixth seed
Andreas Seppi
Andreas Seppi (born 21 February 1984) is an Italian former professional tennis player. He reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 18 on 28 January 2013. He became the first Italian to win a title on all three surfaces.
Personal lif ...
along the way. He finished runner-up to top seed
Gilles Simon
Gilles Simon (; born 27 December 1984) is a French former tennis player. He turned professional in 2002 and won fourteen singles titles on the ATP Tour, and attained a career-high ATP singles ranking of No. 6, on 5 January 2009.
Personal li ...
.
At the
2012 French Open
The 2012 French Open (also known as Roland Garros, after the famous French aviator) was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 111th edition of the French Open, and took place at the Stade Roland Garros from 27 May until 1 ...
, he was once again the subject of much drama, saving two match points while battling past the seeded
Viktor Troicki
Viktor Troicki ( sr-Cyrl, Виктор Троицки, ; born 10 February 1986) is a Serbian tennis coach and a former professional player. He won three singles and two doubles titles on the ATP Tour. Troicki won his first ATP singles title at t ...
in five sets to advance to the third round for the third successive year. He subsequently lost to World No. 5
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (; born 17 April 1985) is a French former professional tennis player. He was ranked as high as world No. 5 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he achieved in February 2012. Tsonga won 18 singles titles on th ...
in a match with considerable shot-making flair and variety. In the
Croatia Open
The Croatia Open (currently sponsored by Plava laguna) is a men's ATP tennis tournament held in Umag, Croatia that is part of the 250 series of the ATP Tour.
The tournament began in 1990 when it was part of Yugoslavia, and is the oldest tennis ...
, Fabio lost to defending champion
Alexandr Dolgopolov
Alexandr Oleksandrovych Dolgopolov (born 7 November 1988), formerly known as Oleksandr Dolgopolov Jr., is a Ukrainian retired professional tennis player. He changed his forename spelling to the current form in May 2010. Dolgopolov reached the qu ...
of Ukraine in the second round.
Fognini began his grass season by reaching the quarterfinals of
Eastbourne
Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. It is also a non-metropolitan district, local government district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, bor ...
, defeating fourth seed
Bernard Tomic
Bernard Tomic (; , ; born 21 October 1992) is an Australian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 17 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). Tomic has won four singles titles on the ATP To ...
along the way, and falling to eventual tournament winner
Andy Roddick
Andrew Stephen Roddick (born August 30, 1982) is an American former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 13 weeks, including as the year-end No. 1 in ...
in a tight three-set match. At
Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* W ...
, he defeated experienced grass-courter
Michaël Llodra
Michaël Llodra (; born 18 May 1980) is a French former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the world No. 3 in men's doubles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), winning 26 career doubles titles, including three majors and ...
in the first round and again lost to the eventual tournament winner,
Roger Federer
Roger Federer ( , ; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 3 ...
, in the second round. In the
London 2012 Olympics
The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
, Fognini was drawn against
Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Новак Ђоковић, Novak Đoković, separator=" / ", ; born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players#Weeks at N ...
in the first round. He valiantly took the first set after being down 3–5 and saving three set points, before finally succumbing in three sets.
["Djokovic defeats Fognini after a rain delay"](_blank)
, ''ubitennis.com'', 30 July 2012.
Starting the North American summer outdoor hard-court season by qualifying for both the
Toronto
Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
and
Cincinnati Masters
The Cincinnati Open (also known as the Cincinnati Masters) is an annual professional tennis event held in Cincinnati, United States. Due to previous sponsorship, it has also been known as: the Thriftway ATP Championships, the Great American I ...
, Fognini went on to reach the third round of the
US Open, a career-best performance. In the first round, he ousted
Édouard Roger-Vasselin
Édouard Roger-Vasselin (; born 28 November 1983) is a French professional tennis player who specializes in doubles.
He won two Grand Slam titles in doubles at the 2014 French Open, partnering Julien Benneteau, and mixed doubles at the 2024 ...
in a trademark five-setter, coming back from two sets down. The second round was a routine straight-sets win over
Guillermo García López
Guillermo García López (, born 4 June 1983) is a Spanish tennis coach and a former professional player. He won five singles titles and achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 23 in February 2011.
As of 2021, he collected thirte ...
. Fognini's run again ended at the hands of crowd favourite
Andy Roddick
Andrew Stephen Roddick (born August 30, 1982) is an American former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 13 weeks, including as the year-end No. 1 in ...
in a dramatic match (in which he notably out-aced the American) in four sets. Roddick had announced after his first-round win that he was retiring upon conclusion of the tournament, adding to the drama.
The start of the indoor hard-court season saw Fognini reach his second final of the year at
St. Petersburg
Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...
, finishing runner-up to
Martin Kližan
Martin Kližan (; born 11 July 1989) is a Slovak professional tennis player. He has a career-high singles ATP rankings, ranking of world No. 24, achieved on 27 April 2015, and No. 73 in doubles, achieved on 4 May 2015. He won the 2006 French Ope ...
.
2013: ATP titles and top 20 ranking
Fognini was defeated by
Roberto Bautista Agut
Roberto Bautista Agut (; born 14 April 1988) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He has been ATP rankings, ranked as high as world No. 9 by the Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP in singles, achieved on 4 November 2019. Bautista Agut ...
in five sets in the first round of the
2013 Australian Open. He and Bolelli embarked on another deep Grand Slam run in the doubles, reaching the semi-finals, where they lost to the World No. 1 pair,
Bob and Mike Bryan.
He reached his first singles quarterfinal of the season at
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...
, losing to top seed
David Ferrer
David Ferrer Ern (; ; born 2 April 1982) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 3 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) in July 2013. Ferrer won 27 ATP Tour singles titles, including a ...
in straight sets (whilst winning the doubles alongside Bolelli). The next week, Fognini achieved a career-best performance at
ATP 500 events with a semi-finals showing in
Acapulco
Acapulco de Juárez (), commonly called Acapulco ( , ; ), is a city and Port of Acapulco, major seaport in the Political divisions of Mexico, state of Guerrero on the Pacific Coast of Mexico, south of Mexico City. Located on a deep, semicirc ...
, defeating
Stanislas Wawrinka
Stanislas "Stan" Wawrinka (; born 28 March 1985) is a Swiss professional tennis player. He has been ranked world No. 3 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), first achieved on 27 January 2014. Wawrinka has won 16 ATP T ...
along the way and again losing to Ferrer (but this time taking a set). Just over a week later, Fognini set up a clash with World No. 1
Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Новак Ђоковић, Novak Đoković, separator=" / ", ; born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players#Weeks at N ...
, after defeating
Aljaž Bedene
Aljaž Bedene (born 18 July 1989) is a Slovenian former professional tennis player. He was ranked as high as No. 43 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he achieved in February 2018. He reached four singles finals ...
for the second time in three weeks to reach the second round of the
Indian Wells Masters
The BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells is an annual professional tennis tournament held in Indian Wells, California, United States. It is played on outdoor hardcourts at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, and is held in March. The tournament is pa ...
. After being bagelled in the first, Fognini wildly celebrated upon winning his first game in the second, heroically taking the set from 2–4 down. He subsequently lost the third. In
Miami
Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...
, Fognini was seeded at a
Masters event for the first time in his career, earning a bye to the second round. He defeated
Michaël Llodra
Michaël Llodra (; born 18 May 1980) is a French former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the world No. 3 in men's doubles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), winning 26 career doubles titles, including three majors and ...
, and lost to Ferrer again in the third round.
The start of the European clay season saw Fognini gain another top 20 victory, defeating fellow Italian Andreas Seppi in the first round of the
Monte Carlo Masters
The Monte-Carlo Masters (also known as the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters for sponsorship reasons) is an annual tennis tournament for male professional players held in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France, which borders on Monaco. It is played on clay cour ...
in a typically tumultuous affair with an almost complete lack of momentum.
["Fognini takes out Seppi in comeback win"](_blank)
''Tennistalk'', 15 April 2013. He carried on his rich vein of form to straight-set both
Albert Ramos
Albert may refer to:
Companies
* Albert Computers, Inc., a computer manufacturer in the 1980s
* Albert Czech Republic, a supermarket chain in the Czech Republic
* Albert Heijn, a supermarket chain in the Netherlands
* Albert Market, a street mark ...
and No. 4 seed
Tomáš Berdych
Tomáš Berdych (; born 17 September 1985) is a Czech former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 4 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), achieved in May 2015. Berdych won 13 ATP Tour singles titles, i ...
(his second victory over the Czech in Monte Carlo) to reach his first career quarterfinal in a Masters event.
["Fognini stuns Berdych, Tsonga eases through"](_blank)
''Eurosport'', 18 April 2013. Here, Fognini played another amazing match to beat
Richard Gasquet
Richard Gabriel Cyr Gasquet (; born 18 June 1986) is a French former professional tennis player. He was ranked as high as world No. 7 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP, attained in July 2007. Gasquet won 16 singles ...
, his second consecutive top-10 victory, in straight sets to reach the semi-finals of a Masters for the first time, projecting his ranking to a new career-high of World No. 24.
["Nadal survives and will face Tsonga Djokovic to play Fognini"](_blank)
, ''Ubitennis'', 21 April 2013. In the semi-finals, he failed to gain any real rhythm, losing to World No. 1 Djokovic. In
Madrid
Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...
, Fognini was involved in another highly unorthodox match, losing in a final set tiebreak to
Mikhail Youzhny
Mikhail Mikhailovich Youzhny (born 25 June 1982), nicknamed "Misha" and "Colonel" by his fans, is a Russian former professional tennis player who was ranked inside the top 10 and was the Russian No. 1. He achieved a top-10 ranking by the Associ ...
in the first round. He served for the match in the third set and three match points. Fognini then lost nine consecutive points, only to save two match points himself. In the tiebreak, he went up a minibreak, lost five consecutive points, won four consecutively then lost. At the
French Open
The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...
, he lost in the third round to eventual champion
Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal Parera (born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for ...
.
Fognini began his grass-court season at the
2013 Aegon International held at Eastbourne, where he was seeded eighth. He defeated
Grega Žemlja
Grega Žemlja (born 29 September 1986) is a retired Slovenian tennis player. He has won five singles titles and one doubles title on the ATP Challenger Tour. In 2012, he reached the third round of the US Open, the first Slovenian male player eve ...
and
Martin Kližan
Martin Kližan (; born 11 July 1989) is a Slovak professional tennis player. He has a career-high singles ATP rankings, ranking of world No. 24, achieved on 27 April 2015, and No. 73 in doubles, achieved on 4 May 2015. He won the 2006 French Ope ...
, both from a set down, before falling to
Ivan Dodig
Ivan Dodig (; born 2 January 1985) is a Croatian professional tennis player who specializes in doubles. He reached his career-high doubles ranking of World No. 2 in September 2023.
He is a seven-time Grand Slam champion, having won men's double ...
in the quarterfinals. At
Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* W ...
, Fognini lost in the first round to
Jürgen Melzer
Jürgen Melzer (born 22 May 1981) is an Austrian tennis coach and former professional tennis player. Melzer reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 8 in April 2011, and a doubles ranking of world No. 6 in September 2010. He has a youn ...
, after leading by a set and a break.
At the
2013 MercedesCup in Stuttgart, Fognini reached his third career final, defeating top seed and home favourite
Tommy Haas
Thomas Mario Haas (; born 3 April 1978) is a German–American former professional tennis player. He competed on the ATP Tour from 1996 to 2017, and was ranked world No. 2 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) in May ...
en route. He won his maiden title, by beating second seed,
Philipp Kohlschreiber
Philipp Eberhard Hermann Kohlschreiber (; born 16 October 1983) is a German former professional tennis player. The right-hander won eight singles and seven doubles titles on the ATP World Tour and made the quarterfinals at the 2012 Wimbledon Cha ...
, in three sets. The following week, after an outstanding performance at
2013 International German Open, Fognini improved his winning streak to 10 consecutive wins, entering the ATP top 20 for the first time (also regaining the Italian No. 1 spot). He defeated
Albert Ramos
Albert may refer to:
Companies
* Albert Computers, Inc., a computer manufacturer in the 1980s
* Albert Czech Republic, a supermarket chain in the Czech Republic
* Albert Heijn, a supermarket chain in the Netherlands
* Albert Market, a street mark ...
,
Marcel Granollers
Marcel Granollers Pujol (; ; born 12 April 1986) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He reached a career-high doubles ranking of world No. 1 on 6 May 2024, becoming the second Spanish man to achieve the feat (after Emilio Sánchez Vicari ...
and hometown hero
Tommy Haas
Thomas Mario Haas (; born 3 April 1978) is a German–American former professional tennis player. He competed on the ATP Tour from 1996 to 2017, and was ranked world No. 2 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) in May ...
for the second time in two weeks to reach the semi-finals. Here, Fognini beat
Nicolás Almagro
Nicolás Almagro Sánchez (; born 21 August 1985 in Murcia, Spain) is a Spanish former professional tennis player of Latin American descent. He reached the quarterfinals of the French Open in 2008 French Open – Men's singles, 2008, 201 ...
in straight sets to reach a consecutive ATP World Tour final, the first one in an ATP 500 tournament. He won the title by beating qualifier
Federico Delbonis
Federico Delbonis (; born 5 October 1990) is an Argentine former professional tennis player. He achieved a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 33 on 9 May 2016. He also reached a career-high doubles ranking of No. 110 on 22 July 2019.
...
in three sets, recovering from 1–4 down in the second set and saving three match points in the second set tiebreak. He reached his third tour final in as many weeks at
Umag
Umag (; ; ) is a coastal town in Istria, Croatia.
Its patron saint is Peregrine (martyr), St. Peregrine.
Geography
It is the westernmost town of Croatia, and it includes Bašanija, the westernmost point of Croatia.
Demographics
According to the ...
, defeating
Thiemo de Bakker
Thiemo Carsten Jannick de Bakker (; born 19 September 1988) is a Dutch tennis coach and a former professional player. He has an ATP career-high ranking in singles of World No. 40 achieved on 19 July 2010.
Career
Considered a top prospect of hi ...
,
Martin Kližan
Martin Kližan (; born 11 July 1989) is a Slovak professional tennis player. He has a career-high singles ATP rankings, ranking of world No. 24, achieved on 27 April 2015, and No. 73 in doubles, achieved on 4 May 2015. He won the 2006 French Ope ...
and
Gaël Monfils
Gaël Sébastien Monfils (; born 1 September 1986) is a French professional tennis player. He has been ATP rankings, ranked as high as world No. 6 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), achieved in November 2016. Mon ...
en route. The latter saw Fognini serving for the match having won the first five games, then losing six straight games, and then winning in a tiebreak. His 13-match winning streak was ended in the final by
Tommy Robredo
Tomás Robredo Garcés (, ; born 1 May 1982) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking was world No. 5, which he reached in August 2006 as a result of winning the 2006 Hamburg Masters – Singles, Hamburg M ...
, whilst his ranking rose to a new career-high of World No. 16.
Seeded No. 14 in
Cincinnati
Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...
, Fognini was down a set and four games to
Radek Štěpánek
Radek Štěpánek (; born 27 November 1978) is a Czech former professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking was world No. 8 and best doubles ranking was world No. 4. Štěpánek's biggest achievements are reaching two Masters 1000 ...
. He proceeded to mount a comeback to four-all, and serving to stay in the match, he served two double faults, received a point penalty for ball abuse and then casually committed consecutive foot faults to get broken to love and lose the match.
["Video: Fabio Fognini bows out gracelessly at Western & Southern Open"](_blank)
''SI.com'', 13 August 2013.
At the Asian hardcourt leg, Fognini reached the quarterfinals of
Beijing
Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...
, defeating resurgent veterans
Tommy Robredo
Tomás Robredo Garcés (, ; born 1 May 1982) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking was world No. 5, which he reached in August 2006 as a result of winning the 2006 Hamburg Masters – Singles, Hamburg M ...
and
Lleyton Hewitt
Lleyton Glynn Hewitt (born 24 February 1981) is an Australian former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) fo ...
(the latter for the loss of only 2 games). In the quarters, he was dominating World No. 2
Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal Parera (born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for ...
by a set and three love, before eventually losing in three sets. In the following weeks, he again defeated Robredo en route to the third round of the
Shanghai Masters and reached the quarterfinals of
Vienna
Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
and
Valencia
Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...
.
2014: Third ATP title
At the
Australian Open
The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...
, Fognini was seeded 15th. He reached a career-best performance of the fourth round, defeating
Alex Bogomolov Jr.,
Jarkko Nieminen
Jarkko Kalervo Nieminen (born 23 July 1981) is a Finnish former professional tennis player. His highest ranking of world No. 13, achieved in July 2006, is a Finnish record. He has won two ATP singles titles and five doubles titles in his caree ...
and
Sam Querrey
Samuel Austin Querrey ( ; born October 7, 1987) is an American professional pickleball player and former tennis player. He reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 11 achieved on February 26, 2018, and won ten ATP singles titles. Known ...
, before falling to three-time defending champion
Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Новак Ђоковић, Novak Đoković, separator=" / ", ; born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players#Weeks at N ...
.
As the top seed at the
Chile Open in Viña del Mar, he reached his first singles final of the season (and fourth consecutive in clay tournaments) defeating
Aljaž Bedene
Aljaž Bedene (born 18 July 1989) is a Slovenian former professional tennis player. He was ranked as high as No. 43 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he achieved in February 2018. He reached four singles finals ...
,
Jérémy Chardy
Jérémy Chardy (; born 12 February 1987) is a French tennis coach and a former professional player. He has won one ATP Tour singles title, in Stuttgart in 2009. His best major performance in singles was reaching the quarterfinals of the 2013 ...
and 3rd seed
Nicolás Almagro
Nicolás Almagro Sánchez (; born 21 August 1985 in Murcia, Spain) is a Spanish former professional tennis player of Latin American descent. He reached the quarterfinals of the French Open in 2008 French Open – Men's singles, 2008, 201 ...
en route. The latter was a classically unorthodox affair, with Fognini leading 5–2 in the final set, squandering two match points, only to eventually win in a tiebreak. He defeated
Leonardo Mayer
Leonardo Martín Mayer (, ; born May 15, 1987) is a tennis coach and a former professional player from Argentina. Mayer achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 21 in June 2015 and world No. 48 in doubles in January 2019.
Career
...
in the final, converting his fifth match point for his third career title. He then won the quarterfinal Davis Cup rubber for Italy against Great-Britain, defeating Andy Murray on clay in straight sets. This took Fabio's record on clay to 19–1 since the
French Open
The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...
and resulted in yet another leap in the rankings, to a new career-high of World No. 14.
Fognini was fined a then record $27,500 (£21,600) at Wimbledon for a series of offences during a first-round match.
2015: Australian Open Doubles win
Fognini started his 2015 season at the
Hopman Cup
The Hopman Cup is an international tennis tournament that plays mixed teams (one male and one female) on a country-by-country basis. It was first held in Perth, Western Australia each year from 1989 to 2019, played on indoor hardcourt, before b ...
, partnering
Flavia Pennetta
Flavia Pennetta (; 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 List of WTA number 1 ranked doubles tennis pla ...
. Italy failed to reach the final, finishing at the bottom of their group. The following week, he played at the
Apia International Sydney as the top seed, but was unlucky to draw
defending champion Juan Martín del Potro
Juan Martín del Potro (; born 23 September 1988) is an Argentine former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 3 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), in August 2018. Del Potro won 22 ATP Tour-level sing ...
, who was returning from an eleven-month injury lay-off, in his first match. He lost in three sets. Fognini won his first Grand Slam at the
2015 Australian Open doubles alongside
Simone Bolelli
Simone Bolelli (; born 8 October 1985) is an Italian professional tennis player. He has a career-high ATP ranking in doubles of World No. 6 achieved on 13 January 2025 and in singles of No. 36 achieved on 23 February 2009. Bolelli is a Grand S ...
, with a straight-sets win over
Pierre-Hugues Herbert
Pierre-Hugues Herbert (; born 18 March 1991) is a French professional tennis player. In doubles, he has completed the Grand Slam (tennis)#Career Grand Slam, Career Grand Slam with titles at the 2015 US Open – Men's doubles, 2015 US Open, the 20 ...
and
Nicolas Mahut
Nicolas Pierre Armand Mahut (; born 21 January 1982) is a French professional tennis player who is a former world No. 1 in doubles.
He is a five-time Grand Slam champion in doubles, having completed the career Grand Slam with victories at th ...
in the final. He beat Rafael Nadal in the Semi-finals of the Rio Open before losing in the final to David Ferrer. In April, he beat Rafael Nadal again in the third round of the Barcelona Open, but he again lost in the next round to Pablo Andújar. In May, after defeating
Steve Johnson and
Grigor Dimitrov
Grigor Dimitrov Dimitrov (, ; born 16 May 1991) is a Bulgarian professional tennis player. He has been ATP rankings, ranked as high as world No. 3 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP, making him the highest-ranked Bulgari ...
, he lost to
Tomáš Berdych
Tomáš Berdych (; born 17 September 1985) is a Czech former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 4 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), achieved in May 2015. Berdych won 13 ATP Tour singles titles, i ...
in the third round of the
Rome Masters
The Italian Open () is an annual professional tennis tournament held in Rome, Italy. It is played on clay courts at the Foro Italico, and is held during the second week of May. The tournament is part of the ATP 1000 events on the ATP Tour and ...
. At the
German Open in Hamburg, Fognini reached the final, but was beaten 5–7, 5–7 by Rafael Nadal, in a match that lasted 2 hours and 34 minutes and saw 12 breaks of serve in the 24 games played. At the
US Open, Fognini beat
Steve Johnson and
Pablo Cuevas
Pablo Gabriel Cuevas Urroz (; born January 1, 1986) is a Uruguayan tennis coach and a former professional player. Cuevas won the 2008 French Open – Men's doubles, 2008 French Open men's doubles title with Luis Horna, and was especially noted t ...
to advance to the third round where he caused a major upset, beating Rafael Nadal in five sets, coming from two sets and a break of serve down in both the third and fourth sets. In that match, Nadal won the first two sets, and previously had been 151–0 in Grand Slam matches that he led two sets to none. Earning 70 winners, Fognini ended up beating Nadal in five sets. He subsequently lost his fourth round match against
Feliciano López
Feliciano López Díaz-Guerra (; born 20 September 1981) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. He achieved his career-high singles ATP rankings, ranking of world No. 12 in March 2015 and doubles ranking of world No. 9 in November 2016. ...
.
2016: Fourth title and Rio Olympics
Fognini won his fourth ATP title at July's
2016 Croatia Open at
Umag
Umag (; ; ) is a coastal town in Istria, Croatia.
Its patron saint is Peregrine (martyr), St. Peregrine.
Geography
It is the westernmost town of Croatia, and it includes Bašanija, the westernmost point of Croatia.
Demographics
According to the ...
. He also reached the third round of the 2016 Rio Olympics where he pushed the then world no. 2 and defending Olympic champion, Andy Murray, to three sets.
2017: Fifth title, tournament suspension
Fognini went to the semi-finals of Miami before losing in straight sets to
Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal Parera (born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for ...
. He rounded off strong finishes in the clay-court season including a defeat of world No. 1,
Andy Murray
Sir Andrew Barron Murray (born 15 May 1987) is a British former professional tennis player and coach. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professio ...
. At Wimbledon, Fognini reached the third round, where he faced Murray again. This time Murray won in four sets, despite Fognini leading 5–1 in the fourth set. Fognini also captured the trophy in Gstaad over German qualifier
Yannick Hanfmann.
At the US Open, after a first round loss to
Stefano Travaglia
Stefano Travaglia (born 18 December 1991 in Ascoli Piceno) is an Italian tennis player.
He has a career-high ATP singles ranking of No. 60, which he reached on 8 February 2021. He also has a career-high ATP doubles ranking of No. 224 achieved on ...
, Fognini was immediately suspended from the tournament for unsportsmanlike conduct, specifically three violations including using misogynistic language towards the female umpire. This caused him to default his third round doubles match with partner
Simone Bolelli
Simone Bolelli (; born 8 October 1985) is an Italian professional tennis player. He has a career-high ATP ranking in doubles of World No. 6 achieved on 13 January 2025 and in singles of No. 36 achieved on 23 February 2009. Bolelli is a Grand S ...
. On 11 October, the Grand Slam board provisionally suspended Fognini for two majors and fined him US$96,000 for a "Major Offence of Aggravated Behaviour." The fine will be halved and the ban of two majors will be lifted if good behavior is maintained through 2019.
At the
St. Petersburg Open, Fognini reached the final by defeating top seed
Roberto Bautista Agut
Roberto Bautista Agut (; born 14 April 1988) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He has been ATP rankings, ranked as high as world No. 9 by the Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP in singles, achieved on 4 November 2019. Bautista Agut ...
in the semi-final. He lost in the final to
Damir Džumhur
Damir Džumhur ( ; born 20 May 1992) is a Bosnian professional tennis player. His career-best singles ATP ranking of World No. 23, achieved on 2 July 2018, makes him the highest-ranked tennis player from Bosnia and Herzegovina. He is currently Bos ...
in three sets.
2018: Eight ATP tour title
Fognini started his 2018 season at the
Sydney International
The Sydney International (formerly known as the Championship of New South Wales and New South Wales Open, with various title sponsors), formerly sponsored as the Apia International Sydney from 2012 to 2017, was a professional tennis tournament ...
, where he reached the semi-finals and was defeated by the eventual champion,
Daniil Medvedev
Daniil Sergeyevich Medvedev ( rus, Даниил Сергеевич Медведев, p=dənʲɪˈil sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ mʲɪdˈvʲedʲɪf; born 11 February 1996) is a Russian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as the List of ...
in three sets despite being up a set and a break.
At the 2018
Australian Open
The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...
, he reached the fourth round, losing to
Tomáš Berdych
Tomáš Berdych (; born 17 September 1985) is a Czech former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 4 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), achieved in May 2015. Berdych won 13 ATP Tour singles titles, i ...
in straight sets.
During the South American Clay Court swing, Fognini played
Argentina Open, losing the first round to
Leonardo Mayer
Leonardo Martín Mayer (, ; born May 15, 1987) is a tennis coach and a former professional player from Argentina. Mayer achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 21 in June 2015 and world No. 48 in doubles in January 2019.
Career
...
. He then won three 3-setters in
Rio Open
The Rio Open, also known as the ''Rio Open presented by Claro'' for sponsorship reasons, is a tennis event on the ATP Tour and former WTA International Tournaments event. The tournament is played on outdoor clay courts at the Jockey Club Brasile ...
before crashing out to
Fernando Verdasco
Fernando Verdasco Carmona (; born 15 November 1983) is a Spaniards, Spanish tennis coach and a former professional player. He was ranked world No. 7 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP, achieved in April 2009, and w ...
in the semi-finals. At the
Brasil Open in São Paulo, Fognini beat Domingues, Garcia-Lopez, and Cuevas to reach the final. He then came from one set down to beat
Nicolas Jarry and win his first title in 2018. Due to his strong performance in South America, Fognini rose to No. 19 in the ATP ranking, his best in more than three years.
In
Rome
Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
, after defeating 6th seed
Dominic Thiem
Dominic Thiem (; born 3 September 1993) is an Austrian former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 3 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he first achieved in March 2020. Thiem won 17 ATP Tour-level s ...
, Fognini won the first set against 7-time champion
Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal Parera (born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for ...
before losing in three sets. He was defeated in the fourth round of the
French Open
The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...
by 3rd seed
Marin Čilić
Marin Čilić (; born 28 September 1988) is a Croatian professional tennis player. He has been ranked world No. 3 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), achieved on 28 January 2018. Čilić has won 21 ATP Tour-level si ...
in 5 sets.
Fognini won his second title of the year at the
Swedish Open
The Swedish Open is a professional tennis tournament held in Båstad, Sweden. It is played
on outdoor clay courts in July.
The men's event (sponsored by Skistar) is an ATP Tour 250 tournament on the ATP Tour.
The women's event (sponsored by ...
in
Båstad
Båstad () is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and the seat of Båstad Municipality, Scania County, Sweden, with approximately 5,000 permanent residents. It is however one of Sweden's most typical summer resorts. The population is presumably mor ...
. The following week, as the top seed at the
Swiss Open, Fognini exited the tournament early. He then traveled to Mexico to compete in the
Los Cabos Open. Despite having little preparation on hard courts leading into the tournament, Fognini managed to win the title after defeating world number 4
Juan Martín del Potro
Juan Martín del Potro (; born 23 September 1988) is an Argentine former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 3 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), in August 2018. Del Potro won 22 ATP Tour-level sing ...
in the final. Fognini's unique hairstyle he wore throughout the tournament garnered attention with some labeling it a "lucky charm".
During the autumn, the Italian reached the final of the
Chengdu Open
The Chengdu Open is a men's ATP Tour 250 series tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was a new tournament added to the 2016 ATP World Tour and replaces the ATP Malaysian Open (tennis), ATP Malaysian Open event held in Kuala Lumpur. It take ...
where he held four championship points against world number 123
Bernard Tomic
Bernard Tomic (; , ; born 21 October 1992) is an Australian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 17 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). Tomic has won four singles titles on the ATP To ...
. Fognini was however unable to convert and lost the final in a third set tiebreaker. In his next tournament he reached the semi-finals of
Beijing
Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...
, but was forced to withdraw due to an ankle injury. He subsequently withdrew from the Shanghai Masters due to the same injury.
After the most decorated season of his career in terms of titles won, Fognini ended the year at his then career high ranking of No.13.
2019: Monte-Carlo champion, world No. 9
Fognini entered the
Monte Carlo Masters
The Monte-Carlo Masters (also known as the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters for sponsorship reasons) is an annual tennis tournament for male professional players held in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France, which borders on Monaco. It is played on clay cour ...
on a five-match losing streak. His poor form led him to contemplate surgery for recurring ankle and elbow injuries. The Italian was quoted saying during an interview with Gazzetta dello Sport "I am not confident and I am sad about the lack of results". In the first round, Fognini saved five break points down a set and one break against
Andrey Rublev
Andrey Andreyevich Rublev (; born 20 October 1997) is a Russian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 5 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he first achieved in September 2021 ...
before recovering to win the match. In his next three matches Fognini defeated world number 3
Alexander Zverev
Alexander "Sascha" Zverev (; born 20 April 1997) is a German professional tennis player and the current world No. 3. He has won 24 ATP Tour titles in singles and two in doubles, and has been runner-up at three Grand Slam (tennis)#Tournaments, ma ...
, world number 13
Borna Ćorić
Borna Ćorić (; born 14 November 1996) is a Croatian professional tennis player. On 5 November 2018, he reached his best singles ranking of world No. 12. In 2022, Ćorić became the lowest-ranked champion in ATP Tour Masters 1000, Masters 1000 h ...
(once again, after being down a set and a break), and world No. 2 and three-time defending champion
Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal Parera (born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for ...
to reach his maiden
Masters 1000
The ATP 1000 events, also known as ATP Masters 1000 tournaments, are an annual series of nine tennis tournaments featuring the top-ranked players on the ATP Tour since its inception in 1990. The ATP 1000 tournaments, sitting below the Grand ...
final. By defeating Nadal, Fognini became only the fourth player to defeat the Spaniard three times on a clay court, following his victories in
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...
and
Barcelona
Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...
in 2015. He defeated
Dušan Lajović
Dušan Lajović ( sr-Cyrl, Душан Лајовић; born 30 June 1990) is a Serbian professional tennis player. On 29 April 2019, he reached his career-high singles ranking of world No. 23. On 21 September 2020, he peaked at No. 82 in the doubl ...
in the final in straight sets, winning the biggest title of his career and becoming the first Italian to win a Masters 1000 title.
Fognini extended his winning streak to seven matches at the
Madrid Masters before losing to
Dominic Thiem
Dominic Thiem (; born 3 September 1993) is an Austrian former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 3 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he first achieved in March 2020. Thiem won 17 ATP Tour-level s ...
in the third round. At the
French Open
The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...
, Fognini reached the fourth round where he lost to Zverev in four sets. Following the tournament, Fognini entered into the world's top 10 for singles for the first time in his career. He became the oldest player to break into the top-10 since the establishment of ATP rankings in 1973.
Following his third-round defeat at
Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* W ...
, to
Tennys Sandgren
Tennys Loren Sandgren II ( ; born July 22, 1991) is an American former professional tennis player. He has achieved a career-high ATP singles ATP rankings, ranking of No. 41 on January 14, 2019. He played two years of college tennis at the Univer ...
, Fognini was fined $3,000 (£2,396) after he said, during an on-court outburst, that Wimbledon should be bombed.
2020–2021: Two Australian Open fourth rounds
Fognini reached the fourth round at the
Australian Open
The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...
, beating
Reilly Opelka
Reilly Opelka (born 28 August 1997) is an American professional tennis player. At , he is tied (with Ivo Karlović) for the tallest-ever Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP-ranked player, and can produce serves that measure over . He has be ...
after coming back from 2 sets to love down,
Jordan Thompson, again in 5 sets, and
Guido Pella
Guido Pella (; born 17 May 1990) is an Argentine former professional tennis player. In August 2019, Pella reached his career best world No. 20 in singles. In July 2019, he peaked at No. 55 in doubles.
Personal life
His father, Carlos, taught hi ...
. He lost in the fourth round to
Tennys Sandgren
Tennys Loren Sandgren II ( ; born July 22, 1991) is an American former professional tennis player. He has achieved a career-high ATP singles ATP rankings, ranking of No. 41 on January 14, 2019. He played two years of college tennis at the Univer ...
.
In November 2020, Fognini teamed up with new coach Alberto Mancini.
Fognini reached the fourth round of the
2021 Australian Open
The 2021 Australian Open was a Grand Slam tennis tournament that took place at Melbourne Park, on 8–21 February 2021. It was the 109th edition of the Australian Open, the 53rd in the Open Era, and the first Major tournament of the year. It w ...
for the fourth time, this time beating
Pierre-Hugues Herbert
Pierre-Hugues Herbert (; born 18 March 1991) is a French professional tennis player. In doubles, he has completed the Grand Slam (tennis)#Career Grand Slam, Career Grand Slam with titles at the 2015 US Open – Men's doubles, 2015 US Open, the 20 ...
in straight sets,
Salvatore Caruso
Salvatore Caruso (; born 15 December 1992) is an Italian former professional tennis player. He has a career high ATP singles ranking of No. 76 achieved on 16 November 2020. He also has a career high ATP doubles ranking of No. 166 achieved on 18 ...
in a narrow fifth set tiebreak, and home favourite and 21st seed
Alex de Minaur
Alex de Minaur Román (born 17 February 1999) is an Australian professional tennis player. He achieved a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP singles ranking of No. 6 on 15 July 2024 and a doubles ranking of No. 58 on 12 October ...
. He lost to
Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal Parera (born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for ...
in straight sets. The Caruso match was notable for an argument the pair had in which Fognini accused Caruso of being lucky.
Fognini failed to defend his title in
Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo ( ; ; or colloquially ; , ; ) is an official administrative area of Monaco, specifically the Ward (country subdivision), ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is located. Informally, the name also refers to ...
, but still reached the quarterfinals, beating
Miomir Kecmanović
Miomir Kecmanović ( sr-Cyrl, Миомир Кецмановић, ; born 31 August 1999) is a Serbian professional tennis player. Kecmanović reached his best singles ranking of world No. 27 on 16 January 2023 and he peaked at world No. 127 on 24 ...
,
Jordan Thompson and
Filip Krajinović
Filip Krajinović (, ; born 27 February 1992) is a Serbian former professional tennis player. He achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 26 on 23 April 2018. before losing to
Casper Ruud
Casper Ruud (; born 22 December 1998) is a Norwegian professional tennis player. He has been ATP rankings, ranked as high as world No. 2 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), achieved in September 2022, making him t ...
in straight sets.
At the
2021 Barcelona Open, Fognini was defaulted during his second round match against
Bernabé Zapata Miralles
Bernabé Zapata Miralles (born 12 January 1997) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He has been ranked by the ATP as high as world No. 37 in singles, achieved in May 2023. He also has a career-high doubles ranking of world No. 404, attain ...
for verbal abuse towards a line judge after being called for a foot fault.
At the
2021 French Open
The 2021 French Open was a Grand Slam (tennis), major level tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was held at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, from 30 May to 13 June 2021, comprising singles, doubles and mixed doubles pla ...
, Fognini reached the third round for the ninth time, where he was beaten in straight sets by
Federico Delbonis
Federico Delbonis (; born 5 October 1990) is an Argentine former professional tennis player. He achieved a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 33 on 9 May 2016. He also reached a career-high doubles ranking of No. 110 on 22 July 2019.
...
. At the
2021 Wimbledon Championships
The 2021 Wimbledon Championships was a Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam tennis tournament that took place at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom, the first since 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. N ...
he also reached the third round where he lost to 5th seed
Andrey Rublev
Andrey Andreyevich Rublev (; born 20 October 1997) is a Russian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 5 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he first achieved in September 2021 ...
.
2022: Record 400th singles career win, ATP 500 doubles title
In
Indian Wells he recorded his 392 win making him the player with most wins of any Italian male player.
At the
2022 French Open
The 2022 French Open was a Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was held at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, from 22 May to 5 June 2022, comprising singles, doubles and mixed doubles play. J ...
he defeated
Alexei Popyrin
Alexei Popyrin (born 5 August 1999) is an Australian professional tennis player. He has a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP singles ranking of world No. 21 achieved on 9 June 2025. He also has a career-high ATP doubles rankin ...
which put him one win away from his 400th career win. At the
2022 Hamburg European Open he reached the second round defeating
Aljaž Bedene
Aljaž Bedene (born 18 July 1989) is a Slovenian former professional tennis player. He was ranked as high as No. 43 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he achieved in February 2018. He reached four singles finals ...
to earn his 400th career win. He became only the 14th active player to win 400 matches and the first Italian man in the
Open Era
The racket sport traditionally named lawn tennis, invented in Edgbaston, Warwickshire, England, now commonly known simply as tennis, is the direct descendant of what is now denoted real tennis or royal tennis, which continues to be played today a ...
with 400 tour-level wins followed by
Adriano Panatta
Adriano Panatta (born 9 July 1950) is an Italian former professional tennis player. He won the French Open in 1976 French Open – Men's singles, 1976, becoming the first Italian man in the Open Era to win a Grand Slam (tennis)#Tournaments, major ...
with 391 wins, and by
Andreas Seppi
Andreas Seppi (born 21 February 1984) is an Italian former professional tennis player. He reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 18 on 28 January 2013. He became the first Italian to win a title on all three surfaces.
Personal lif ...
with 386 wins, who was the second-most among active Italians.
2023–2025: Loss of form, first semifinal in a year, back to Top 100

He fell out of the top 100 after withdrawing from the
2023 Monte-Carlo Masters
The 2023 Monte-Carlo Masters (also known as the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters for sponsorship reasons) was a tennis tournament for male professionals, played on Clay court, outdoor clay courts. It was the 116th edition of the annual Monte Carlo Master ...
where he was awarded a wildcard.
He received a wildcard for his home Masters in
Rome
Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
, where he defeated
Andy Murray
Sir Andrew Barron Murray (born 15 May 1987) is a British former professional tennis player and coach. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professio ...
and upset 30th seed
Miomir Kecmanović
Miomir Kecmanović ( sr-Cyrl, Миомир Кецмановић, ; born 31 August 1999) is a Serbian professional tennis player. Kecmanović reached his best singles ranking of world No. 27 on 16 January 2023 and he peaked at world No. 127 on 24 ...
to record his first two wins on clay at a Masters level for the season.
In the
2023 US Open qualifying competition, he lost in the first round to
Jakub Mensik.
He also received a wildcard for the
Shanghai Masters.
In November 2023, he reached his first ATP semifinal of the season, and first since April 2022 in
Metz
Metz ( , , , then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle (river), Moselle and the Seille (Moselle), Seille rivers. Metz is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Moselle (department), Moselle Departments ...
also as a wildcard defeating previous year’s runner-up
Alexander Bublik
Alexander Stanislavovich Bublik (; born 17 June 1997) is a Russian-born Kazakhstani professional tennis player. He has a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP singles ranking of world No. 17, achieved on 6 May 2024 and a doubles ...
after saving two match points in a match with two tiebreaks, and defending champion and compatriot
Lorenzo Sonego
Lorenzo Sonego (; born 11 May 1995) is an Italian professional tennis player. Sonego has won four singles titles on the ATP Tour, and two doubles titles. He has a career high Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP singles ATP rankings, ranking o ...
.
He won the
Valencia Challenger over
Roberto Bautista Agut
Roberto Bautista Agut (; born 14 April 1988) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He has been ATP rankings, ranked as high as world No. 9 by the Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP in singles, achieved on 4 November 2019. Bautista Agut ...
, a final in which two former top 10 players met for the first time since Guillermo Canas beat Nicolas Lapentti in Montevideo in 2006.
He received a wildcard for the
2024 BNP Paribas Open and defeated
Bernabe Zapata Miralles in the first round.
In the beginning of the 2024 clay court season he qualified at the
2024 Grand Prix Hassan II and defeated
Hugo Gaston and top seed
Laslo Djere
Laslo Djere; Serbian Latin: ''Laslo Đere''; (born 2 June 1995) is a Serbian professional tennis player. On 10 June 2019, Djere reached his career-high singles ranking of world No. 27. On 22 March 2021, he reached his career-high at world No. ...
to reach the quarterfinals.
Fognini competed in the
2024 Wimbledon Championships
The 2024 Wimbledon Championships was a Grand Slam (tennis), major tennis tournament that took place at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, England, comprising singles, doubles and mixed doubles play. Junior, wheelch ...
, where he beat No. 8 seed
Casper Ruud
Casper Ruud (; born 22 December 1998) is a Norwegian professional tennis player. He has been ATP rankings, ranked as high as world No. 2 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), achieved in September 2022, making him t ...
, on his way to the third round, where he lost to
Roberto Bautista Agut
Roberto Bautista Agut (; born 14 April 1988) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He has been ATP rankings, ranked as high as world No. 9 by the Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP in singles, achieved on 4 November 2019. Bautista Agut ...
in five sets.
Fognini finished the season inside the top 100, at world No. 91 in the singles
ATP rankings
The PIF ATP Rankings (previously known as the Pepperstone ATP Rankings) are the merit-based method used by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for determining the qualification for entry as well as the seeding of players in all single ...
on 9 December 2024.
On 7 May 2025, Fognini announced that his 18th appearance at the
2025 Italian Open, as a wildcard, will be his final in his career.
Davis Cup
Fognini guided Italy into the quarterfinals of the
2013 Davis Cup World Group, defeating
Ivan Dodig
Ivan Dodig (; born 2 January 1985) is a Croatian professional tennis player who specializes in doubles. He reached his career-high doubles ranking of World No. 2 in September 2023.
He is a seven-time Grand Slam champion, having won men's double ...
in the fifth and decisive rubber against
Croatia
Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...
. It was the first time Italy had reached that stage since 1998.
["Fognini ends 15-year drought for Italy"](_blank)
''Davis Cup'' official site, 3 February 2013. He also guided Italy past
Argentina
Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...
to the quarterfinals
the following year, winning both singles rubbers against
Juan Mónaco
Juan Mónaco (; born 29 March 1984), nicknamed "Pico", is an Argentine former professional tennis player. He won nine singles titles, reached the semifinals of the 2010 Shanghai Rolex Masters – Singles, 2010 Shanghai Masters and the 2012 Sony ...
and
Carlos Berlocq
Carlos Alberto Berlocq (; born February 3, 1983) is an Argentine former professional tennis player and coach nicknamed ''Charly'', ''Panther'' and ''Warlocq''. Berlocq's career-high singles ranking was World No. 37, achieved in March 2012. His ...
, and the doubles rubber (partnering
Simone Bolelli
Simone Bolelli (; born 8 October 1985) is an Italian professional tennis player. He has a career-high ATP ranking in doubles of World No. 6 achieved on 13 January 2025 and in singles of No. 36 achieved on 23 February 2009. Bolelli is a Grand S ...
). In the quarterfinals in
Naples
Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...
against Great Britain, Fognini equalled the tie at 2–2 after defeating
reigning Wimbledon champion Andy Murray
Sir Andrew Barron Murray (born 15 May 1987) is a British former professional tennis player and coach. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professio ...
in a straight sets win (after defeating
James Ward two days previously), proving vital to Italy making the semi-finals with an eventual 3–2 victory. This was only the second time Murray had lost a singles rubber in the Davis Cup (after his first appearance ever in 2005).
["Davis Cup: Fabio Fognini beats Andy Murray to force decider"](_blank)
''BBC Sport'', 6 April 2014. In the semi-final against Switzerland he lost both his singles rubbers to
Roger Federer
Roger Federer ( , ; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 3 ...
and
Stanislas Wawrinka
Stanislas "Stan" Wawrinka (; born 28 March 1985) is a Swiss professional tennis player. He has been ranked world No. 3 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), first achieved on 27 January 2014. Wawrinka has won 16 ATP T ...
.
Equipment and fashion
Fognini currently uses the Babolat Pure Drive Racquet strung with Babolat RPM Blast strings. His grip is Babolat Vs Original.
In November 2016, he moved from Adidas apparel to Hydrogen, Italian leading luxury sportswear firm. in January 2017, Fognini signed a 3-years shoe supply agreement with ASICS In 2018, Fognini and his wife
Flavia Pennetta
Flavia Pennetta (; 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 List of WTA number 1 ranked doubles tennis pla ...
signed to become ambassadors of the
Emporio Armani collection. From January 2019 onwards he wore the bold designs of Emporio Armani EA7 sportswear on-court.
Style of play
A clay-court specialist, Fognini is known for his streaky temperament and remarkable penchant for swearing, as well as his flair, speed, and movement on court.
He has been known to lose his cool on occasion. He famously lost his cool and blew a 3–0 lead in the final set against Andy Murray at the
2016 Olympics
The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...
. He was thrown out of the 2017 U.S. Open over obscene remarks made to a female umpire. Fognini has also drawn criticism for shouting at his opponents at key times when they are about to make a crucial shot and his behaviour in general which is often petulant. He holds the record for committing the most foot faults whilst still winning a match: a grand total of 12, including double-faulting due to consecutive foot faults.
["Beware the Wounded Tennis Player"](_blank)
''The Daily Fix'', 29 May 2011. Fognini's serve is relatively underpowered and hardly a trademark weapon, but he puts emphasis on precision and placement, while also having the ability to hit above 130 mph on occasion. Known for his baseline play and big groundstrokes despite his average stature, one of his signature shots is his off-forehand, which he uses to great effect. His tactics usually consist of a serve out wide, drawing a weak return, setting Fognini up to hit a clean winner off the forehand side. He also uses the backhand down the line frequently, often in key moments.
Personal life
Since 2014, Fognini has been in a relationship with Italian tennis compatriot
Flavia Pennetta
Flavia Pennetta (; 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 List of WTA number 1 ranked doubles tennis pla ...
, from Brindisi, a retired player who won the
2015 US Open singles title. The couple were engaged in 2015 and married in
Ostuni
Ostuni (; ) is a city and ''comune'', located about 8 km from the coast, in the province of Brindisi, region of Apulia, Italy. The town has a population of about 32,000 during the winter, but can swell to 200,000 inhabitants during summer, ...
on 16 June 2016. Their son was born in 2017.
Their second child, a daughter, was born in 2019.
In 2021 Pennetta gave birth to their second daughter, in
Barcelona
Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...
, Spain.
In October 2020, Fognini tested positive for
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic.
The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...
and recovered.
He is a fan of
Inter Milan
Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football ...
football club and
Genoa C.F.C.
Genoa Cricket and Football Club () is an Italian professional Association football, football club based in Genoa, Liguria. The team competes in the Serie A, the top division of the Italian football league system.
Established in 1893, Genoa is ...
Due to his surname, he has been called "Fogna" (sewer in Italian) since childhood.
Career statistics
Grand Slam performance timelines
Singles
''Current through the
2025 Australian Open
The 2025 Australian Open was a Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam level tennis tournament held at Melbourne Park from 12 to 26 January 2025. It was the 113th edition of the Australian Open, the 57th in the Open Era, and the first Grand Slam (tenn ...
.''
Doubles
Grand Slam finals
Doubles
ATP Masters 1000 finals
Singles
Doubles
See also
*
Fabio Fognini career statistics
*
Italian players best ranking
*
Tennis in Italy
Notes
References
External links
*
*
*
*
*
*
Official website
Bio – file interview with Fabio Fognini
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fognini, Fabio
1987 births
Living people
Sportspeople from Sanremo
Italian male tennis players
Hopman Cup competitors
Tennis players at the 2012 Summer Olympics
Tennis players at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Olympic tennis players for Italy
Grand Slam (tennis) champions in men's doubles
Australian Open (tennis) champions
Tennis players at the 2020 Summer Olympics
21st-century Italian sportsmen