Fabio Fognini

Born: May 24, 1987 in San Remo (Liguria)
Height: 1.78 m
Plays: Right-handed (two-handed backhand)

Centre Court at a Slam, especially losing to one of the elite players in the world, presents a fitting stage to conclude a career. One month ago, this unfolded for Richard Gasquet, who stood no chance against Jannik Sinner in the second round of Roland Garros; at Wimbledon ’25, Fognini played his final match, facing Carlos Alcaraz in the first round. Fognini’s case differs slightly from Gasquet’s – the Frenchman declared beforehand that the event would mark his farewell, whereas Fognini’s decision to retire at age 38 crystallised days after a gruelling 4½-hour defeat to Alcaraz. The premier Italian born in the 1980s astonished the tennis community, pushing the two-time defending champion to the brink despite battling injuries in recent years and losing his status as a regular ATP contender. “I think it is the best way to say goodbye,” admitted Fognini, departing the professional circuit as Italian tennis reaches unprecedented strength. “It wasn’t easy because the last three years of my career I was suffering a lot with injury. But as a competitor, I tried to do my best every time I stepped on court. Winning a Slam for me was impossible. I have to be honest. I’m happy the way I say goodbye to the professional tennis career. I did my best.”
I hadn’t considered him deeply until I witnessed his fourth-round match at Roland Garros ’11 against Albert Montañés on Suzanne Lenglen court (photo). It ranks among the most remarkable matches I’ve ever observed. The Italian fought off five match points in the decider despite being hampered by injury. I was astounded by two aspects:
– Fognini executed perfect shots with daring risk from both flanks despite limited mobility;
– knowing Montañés’ prowess, I recognised he wasn’t a player to squander match points when victory loomed.
For the Spaniard, it was also a rare chance to reach a major quarterfinal, perhaps heightening his tension; nonetheless, my impression was that Fognini clinched that “thriller” largely due to his extraordinary flair for shot-making. He had to withdraw from the quarterfinal, giving a walkover for the first time in his career.
Soon afterwards, I reviewed Fognini’s results and realized this resilience wasn’t coincidental. The player, already an ATP contender years prior, had secured qualifying victories like 17/15 (Simone Bolelli), 10/8 (Lamine Ouahab), or 11/9 (Alberto Martín) in deciding third-set tiebreaks. Indeed, in Paris a year before toppling Montañés, Fognini first drew notice with a gripping match on Philippe Chatrier court against Gaël Monfils. Fognini squandered three match points at 5:4 in the decider amid a dispute with the chair umpire, with play suspended at 9:55 p.m. The next day, the Italian survived one mini-match point at 5-all and another at 6-all to prevail 9-7 in the fifth set.
A temperamental player, occasionally displaying deplorable conduct – hurling racquets, berating those nearby – Fognini became remarkably difficult to overcome when nearing victory. I struggle to name another player born in the 1980s prone to such dramatic swings; he might have lost five games consecutively, then seize six in a row, only to drop four more. Examples of his three-set roller coasters abound. Consider these extremes: Santiago ’11, Fognini led Thomaz Bellucci 4:0 in the third set, then rallied from 4:5 (0/30) to win 1-6, 6-2, 7-6. Two years later against Monfils (again!) in Umag, he led 5:0, 5:3 (40/15) in the third, only to save two match points at 5:6 with audacious play, exiting as the victor with a 6-0, 3-6, 7-6 scoreline. That triumph over Monfils capped the finest stretch of his career, when he claimed two titles (his first at age 26, both on clay in Germany: Stuttgart and Hamburg) and amassed 13 consecutive wins before being overwhelmed in the final by Tommy Robredo. Two years earlier, their Santiago semifinal ended in a heated exchange, with Fognini labelling his rival “Hombre de mierda,” forgoing a handshake. Fognini, much like Hicham Arazi, flourished in the spotlight. When facing a theoretically superior opponent before a lively, impromptu crowd, he unleashed his finest tennis, as the burden wasn’t his to bear. Rafael Nadal knows this well – the “King of Clay” fell to Fognini four times in 18 meetings (thrice on clay!). The last defeat came when Fognini secured the pinnacle title of his career (Monte Carlo ’19). The Italian stunned the eleven-time champion in the semifinal, then overcame Dušan Lajović in an unforeseen final (having narrowly escaped elimination in the first round, trailing *1:4 to Andrey Rublev in the decider, saving five mini-match points). “I was preparing for the match as best I can because he has my ex-coach and I knew it was going to be really tough, a lot of running,” Fognini remarked after the final.
Fognini’s most memorable Grand Slam victory, showcasing his extraordinary talent, occurred at the US Open ’15, where he stunned Nadal in five sets despite losing the first two sets, achieving what seemed impossible for years – Nadal faltering after taking the opening sets. To accomplish this, Fognini played from the baseline with otherworldly precision in the latter stages of the decider, as if in a trance.
I’m uncertain how to explain why Pablo Carreño Busta was Fognini’s toughest adversary aside from David Ferrer (0-11) and Novak Đoković. Fognini lost eight times to the Serb (at the main level, once defeating him in a qualifying round at Rome ’06). Fognini required constant encouragement from his bench during an ATP Cup ’21 tie between Italy and Spain to overcome Carreño, having fallen in their initial seven encounters. Admittedly, the volatile Italian never won a set against Roger Federer (they met only four times), but among players born in the 1980s, he joins a select group with a positive record against Andy Murray – Fognini edged their rivalry 5-4, including their sole match where both were close to victory at the match’s conclusion (Shanghai ’19), an encounter marked by a heated argument between them.

Career record: 426-396 [ 394 events ]
Career titles: 9
Highest ranking: 9
Best GS result:
Roland Garros (quarterfinal 2011)