Italian Women Tennis Players-Italy’s FINEST

Tennis and Italy

Tennis is one of the sports that Italians love. Some of the great talents are the Italian women tennis players. You’d be surprised to know how many are top-ranked Italian athletes! In this article, we will look at some of the top Italian female tennis players of all time.

The Top 7 Female Italian Tennis Players

1. Francesca Schiavone

Francesca Schiavone was born in Milan on 23rd June 1980 and is one of the famous Italian tennis players with outstanding achievements. Her tennis career began in 1998. Some of her accomplishments include emerging as the winner in the French Open in 2010. This was a highlight in her career. At that point, she became the first woman from Italy to win a singles Grand Slam event.

In 2011, she emerged the runner-up in the French Open. In the same year (2011), she was fourth worldwide when it came to tennis.  In total, she has won eight WTA singles titles, which include Roland Garros. To add to her achievements, she played a significant role in ensuring Italy won the Fed Cup in 2006, 2009, and 2010. 

She also played in a Grand Slam tournament against Svetlana Kuznetsova, where she defeated her 6-4, 1-6, 16-14 in the fourth round of the Australian Open Women’s singles in 2011. It lasted four hours and forty-four minutes!

In the US Open in 2018, Francesca Schiavone announced her retirement from tennis. Instead, she began coaching Petra Martic in April 2021.

2. Flavia Pennetta

Pennetta is ranked the 3rd most famous Italian tennis player. She was born on 25th February 1982. Amongst her achievements are; becoming the first Italian to be ranked No.1 in doubles in 2011. In 2009, she was also among the top ten female singles players.

During the 2011 Australian Open Women’s doubles, she won the title together with Gisela Dulko. In 2015, she won the US Open singles title against her childhood friend, Roberta Vinci. In addition to her achievements, she won the 2010 WTA Finals and finished runner-up in the 2005 and 2014 US Opens. She partnered with Elena Dementieva and Martina Hingis.

In the 2015 US Opens, she won and announced her retirement. Her last tournament was at the WTA Finals singles debut, where she defeated Agnieszka Radwanska. On 24th January 2007, the then president of Italy pronounced Pennetta the Knight of Order of Merit.

3. Sara Errani

Sara Errani was born on 29th April 1987. She is an Italian women’s tennis player who has excellent accolades. She was once a top-five player in singles and No.1 in doubles in the world. Thus far, she has won nine WTA singles titles and 27 double titles. 

In 2013, she was ranked 5th in the world in doubles. It was in 2012 that she was in the first position in the doubles. 2013 and 2014 saw her top in doubles for 87 consecutive weeks.

In 2012 at the Australian Open, she reached the quarterfinals in singles and became a finalist in the doubles. Together with her partner, Roberta Vinci, they won the doubles titles at the 2012 and 2013 US Open Tournaments. They also won the Australian Open in 2014.

After winning the Wimbledon Women’s Doubles title, they became the fifth pair in tennis history to complete a career in Grand Slam. But, unfortunately, Errani failed a drug test and was banned from playing for ten months.

4. Camila Giorgi

Italian tennis player Giorgi was born on 30th December 1991. On 22nd October 2018, she was ranked number 26 in singles. Currently, she is in the first position in Italy. In 2009, Giorgi won her first ITF title, then made her first appearance in Grand Slam and main-draw in 2011 at the Wimbledon Championships.

Camilla Giorgi won her first title At the Rosmalen Open. Her biggest win was in 2021 at the National Bank Open in Montreal. She won against the former world’s No.1, Karolina Pliskova. Giorgi has powerful groundstrokes. Most of her wins happened at the Indian Wells Open, Eastbourne International, and the US Open. She defeated great tennis players like Caroline Wozniacki, Maria Sharapova, and Victoria Azarenka.

5. Roberta Vinci

Roberta Vinci was born on 18th February 1983. She has won in five major tournaments in doubles. Also, Vinci managed to reach the first position worldwide in doubles. Her star shone when she reached the singles semifinals in the US Open of 2015, where she defeated Serena Williams in three sets. 

Unfortunately, she lost to her childhood friend, Pennetta, in the first all-Italian major final.

Vinci has 35 WTA Tour titles, 10 of which are in singles and 25 in doubles. The titles include the 2012 US Open, 2012 French Open, the 2013 and 2014 Australian Open Tournaments, and the 2014 Wimbledon Open. Her partner was Errani, with whom she completed a career at Grand Slam.

At the US Open in 2012, Vinci defeated Agnieszka Radwanska in the fourth round. In 2013, she beat Camila Giorgi in the fourth round but lost to Pennetta. In 2018, she retired, saying that she was happy with what she had accomplished.

6. Maria Elena Cameron

Maria Elena Cameron was born on 21st March 1982. She began her tennis career in 1997 and has participated in various tournaments to win multiple titles. On the WTF Tour, she won three doubles titles. 

She has ten singles titles and nine doubles titles on the ITF Tour. In July 2001, she had her first WTA Tour singles in Casablanca, and she emerged the runner-up. In the Cincinnati Open in 2006, she won her biggest doubles title, where she was partnering with Gisela Dulko.

At one instance, she had to withdraw from the 2006 Tashkent Open doubles final after sustaining an injury. She retired in 2015.

7. Karin Knapp

Karin Knapp was born on 28th June 1987. She began professional tennis in 2002 and has won two singles titles on the WTA Tour, six singles titles, and six doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. In August 2015, she was at position 33 in the world in the singles ranking. She was at position 49 in the doubles in September 2015.

Knapp also played a significant role as a member of the Italy Fed Cup Team. She helped the team win in 2013, and in 2006, she emerged the winner at the ITF Tour in Monteroni. In September 2004, July 2006, September 2010, April 2011, and February 2012, she appeared as the winner in doubles in the ITF Tour. Due to a chronic knee injury, she decided to retire at 30 years of age.

Conclusion

From the discussion above, you can tell that the Italian women tennis players have played a big part in the sport. Women’s tennis has grown tremendously, especially in the 21st century, with the above women contributing to its success.