Fabio Fognini

Fabio Fognini (Italian pronunciation: [ˈfaːbjo foɲˈɲiːni]; born 24 May 1987) is an Italian former professional tennis 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. He also reached the quarterfinals of the 2011 French Open. Together with Simone Bolelli, Fognini won the 2015 Australian Open doubles championship, becoming the first all-Italian men's pair to win a Grand Slam title in the Open Era.

Early life

Fognini was born to Silvana and Fulvio, a businessman, and has a younger sister. He began playing tennis when he was four years old and is also a fan of football, supporting Inter Milan and Genoa CFC. He also enjoys motorbike racing and is a fan of Valentino Rossi. 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 and French Open.

2004–2006

Fognini began his professional career by playing a variety of 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 tournament at Palermo. During 2006, Fognini had moderate success at Challengers and, after qualifying, made his debut on the ATP World Tour at Buenos Aires. He was defeated in the first round by former World No. 1 Carlos Moyá, the eventual champion.

2007: Top 100

In 2007, Fognini made some real progress on the ATP Tour, 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 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 in the first round, before taking out the 13th seed Andy Murray in straight sets. Fognini was halted by World No. 1 Roger Federer in the third round.

On the ATP Challengers circuit, Fognini made the finals in Santiago, Sanremo, and Fürth, losing in three-set battles each time. Partnering Frederico Gil, he also lost in the doubles final of the Fürth 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.

During the South American clay swing, he reached the quarterfinals of Viña del Mar (defeating second seed clay-court specialist Juan Ignacio Chela in the first round) and the semi-finals of Costa Do Sauipe.

After missing the 2008 French Open due to injury problems, Fognini reached the semi-finals of both Warsaw and Umag (beating former World No. 1 and French Open champion Carlos Moyá), whilst also winning the Turin and Genova 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 (after losing the first set 1–6) and 14th seed Marin Čilić (for the loss of only two games). Fognini then played a typically topsy-turvy match with World No. 4 Andy Murray, 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 in the final.

2010: 50 wins

A remarkable win during this season was against the 13th seed Gaël Monfils at the 2010 French Open 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, the 8th seed, in the first round of Wimbledon without dropping serve the entire match.

2011: Major quarterfinal

In 2011 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 in the first round and qualifier Stéphane Robert in the second. In the third round, Fognini beat Guillermo García López, 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 Albert Montañés in a match lasting 4 hours and 22 minutes. 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 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 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, 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 in April 2012, ousting fifth seed Marcos Baghdatis and sixth seed Andreas Seppi along the way. He finished runner-up to top seed Gilles Simon.

At the 2012 French Open, he was once again the subject of much drama, saving two match points while battling past the seeded Viktor Troicki in five sets to advance to the third round for the third successive year. He subsequently lost to World No. 5 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in a match with considerable shot-making flair and variety. In the Croatia Open, Fabio lost to defending champion Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine in the second round.

Fognini began his grass season by reaching the quarterfinals of Eastbourne, defeating fourth seed Bernard Tomic along the way, and falling to eventual tournament winner Andy Roddick in a tight three-set match. At Wimbledon, he defeated experienced grass-courter Michaël Llodra in the first round and again lost to the eventual tournament winner, Roger Federer, in the second round. In the London 2012 Olympics, Fognini was drawn against Novak Djokovic 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.

Starting the North American summer outdoor hard-court season by qualifying for both the Toronto and Cincinnati Masters, 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 in a trademark five-setter, coming back from two sets down. The second round was a routine straight-sets win over Guillermo García López. Fognini's run again ended at the hands of crowd favourite Andy Roddick 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, finishing runner-up to Martin Kližan.

2013: ATP titles and top 20 ranking

Fognini was defeated by Roberto 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, losing to top seed David Ferrer 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, defeating Stanislas Wawrinka 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, after defeating Aljaž Bedene for the second time in three weeks to reach the second round of the Indian Wells Masters. 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, 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, and lost to Ferrer again in the third round.