Italy Davis Cup team facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

Quick facts for kids Italy

Captain	Filippo Volandri
ITF ranking	1 (27 November 2023)

First year	1922
Years played	84
Ties played (W–L)	242 (159–83)
Years in World Group	24 (19–23)
Davis Cup titles	2 (1976, 2023)
Runners-up	6 (1960, 1961, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1998)

Most total wins	Nicola Pietrangeli (120–44)
Most singles wins	Nicola Pietrangeli (78–32)
Most doubles wins	Nicola Pietrangeli (42–12)
Best doubles team	Orlando Sirola, Nicola Pietrangeli (34–8)
Most ties played	Nicola Pietrangeli (66)
Most years played	Nicola Pietrangeli (18)

Nicola Pietrangeli, Paolo Bertolucci, Adriano Panatta and Corrado Barazzutti with the trophy in 1976

Nicola Pietrangeli, who led the team to its first Davis Cup win in 1976

The Italy men's national tennis team plays for Italy in the Davis Cup, a big international tennis competition. The Italian Tennis Federation manages the team. Italy is currently the champion, having won the Davis Cup in 2023. They have won the title twice in total, with their first victory in 1976. The team has also been the runner-up six times (in 1960, 1961, 1977, 1979, 1980, and 1998). Nicola Pietrangeli is a legendary player for Italy. He holds many team records, including playing in the most Davis Cup matches and winning the most games overall.

Team History in the Davis Cup
Recent Matches
- 2010s
- 2020s
Meet the Current Team
Team Captains
Team Records
- Players with Most Matches and Wins
Team Performance Over the Years
Overall Team Record
Winning Teams
See also

Team History in the Davis Cup

Starting Out: Before World War II

Italy first joined the Davis Cup in 1922. Before World War II, the team often reached the quarterfinals in the European Zone. They even made it to the Inter-zonal final twice, in 1928 and 1930. The Inter-zonal final was the last match before the Challenge Round, where the winner would play against the defending champions. Both times, Italy lost to the United States with a score of 4–1. Uberto De Morpurgo was the captain for both matches and was the only Italian player to win a singles game.

Strong Years: After World War II to 1962

After World War II, Italy returned to the tournament in 1948. The team was very strong during this time. They reached the Inter-zonal finals four times (in 1949, 1952, 1955, and 1958). Finally, in 1960, they reached the Challenge Round for the first time. However, they couldn't beat the strong Australian team, which included famous players like Rod Laver and Neale Fraser. Italy lost 4–1 in Sydney. Nicola Pietrangeli scored Italy's only point.

The next year, Italy made it to the Challenge Round Final again after beating the United States 4–1 in Rome. Pietrangeli won both his singles matches and his doubles match. But Italy lost again in the final, this time 5–0 to Australia in Melbourne. The Australian team once again had Laver and Fraser, plus Roy Emerson. Italy's team still featured Pietrangeli and Orlando Sirola. In 1962, Italy lost to Sweden in the European Final.

First Davis Cup Title and More Finals

After a quieter period from 1963 to 1972, Italy started to perform better. In 1973, they reached a European Final. Two years later, in 1976, Italy won its first-ever Davis Cup title! They beat Chile 4–1 in Santiago. Italy took an early lead when Corrado Barazzutti and Adriano Panatta won their singles matches. The next day, Panatta and Paolo Bertolucci won their doubles match, securing the 3–0 lead and the championship. In the next four years, Italy reached the Davis Cup final three more times but lost all of them.

The World Group Era (1981–2000)

When the World Group format started in 1981, Italy managed to stay in the top 16 teams for twenty years. During this time, they reached the quarterfinals or better in twelve of those years. This included two semifinal losses and one final loss. In 1981, they lost to Great Britain and had to play a relegation match against South Korea. They won 4–1, staying in the World Group for 1982.

In 1986 and 1987, Italy lost to Sweden, leading to another relegation playoff against South Korea in Seoul. Italy won again, 3–2, avoiding being moved down to a lower group. Italy finally beat Sweden in 1990, but then lost to Austria in the quarterfinals. In 2000, Italy lost to Belgium in a playoff match, which meant they were relegated from the World Group for the first time.

Coming Back to the World Group

After being relegated in 2000, Italy played in the Europe/Africa Zone Group I. They didn't return to the World Group until 2011, when they beat Chile 4–1. Between 2013 and 2018, Italy reached the quarterfinals four times and the semifinals once. Since the competition changed its structure in 2019, Italy has made it to the semifinals in 2022 and 2023.

Overall, Italy has played in at least 15 semifinals. They have won seven and lost eight. Four of their losses were "whitewash" defeats (losing 5–0). Their biggest semifinal wins were 4–1 victories.

Recent Matches

Here are some of Italy's recent matches since 1981, when the current World Group format began.

2010s

Year	Competition	Date	Location	Opponent	Score	Result
2010	Europe/Africa Zone Group I, 1st Round	5–7 March	Castellaneta (ITA)	Belarus	5–0	Win
	Europe/Africa Zone Group I, 2nd Round	7–9 May	Zoetermeer (NED)	Netherlands	4–1	Win
	World Group play-offs	17–19 September	Lidköping (SWE)	Sweden	2–3	Loss
2011	Europe/Africa Zone Group I, 2nd Round	8–10 July	Arzachena (ITA)	Slovenia	5–0	Win
2011	World Group play-offs	16–18 September	Santiago (CHI)	Chile	4–1	Win
2012	World Group, 1st Round	10–12 February	Ostrava (CZE)	Czech Republic	4–1	Loss
2012	World Group play-offs	14–16 September	Napoli (ITA)	Chile	4–1	Win
2013	World Group, 1st Round	1–3 February	Turin (ITA)	Croatia	5–0	Win
2013	World Group, quarterfinals	5–7 April	Vancouver (CAN)	Canada	3–2	Loss
2014	World Group, 1st Round	31 January – 2 February	Mar del Plata (ARG)	Argentina	3–1	Win
	World Group, quarterfinals	4–6 April	Napoli (ITA)	Great Britain	3–2	Win
	World Group, semifinals	12–14 September	Geneva (SWI)	Switzerland	2–3	Loss
2015	World Group, 1st Round	6–8 March	Astana (KAZ)	Kazakhstan	2–3	Loss
2015	World Group play-offs	18–20 September	Irkutsk (RUS)	Russia	4–1	Win
2016	World Group, 1st Round	4–6 March	Pesaro (ITA)	Switzerland	5–0	Win
2016	World Group, quarterfinals	15–17 July	Pesaro (ITA)	Argentina	1–3	Loss
2017	World Group, 1st Round	3–5 February	Buenos Aires (ARG)	Argentina	3–2	Win
2017	World Group, quarterfinals	7–9 April	Charleroi (BEL)	Belgium	2–3	Loss
2018	World Group, 1st Round	2–4 February	Morioka (JPN)	Japan	3–1	Win
2018	World Group, quarterfinals	6–8 April	Genoa (ITA)	France	1–3	Loss
2019	Qualifying round	2–4 February	Kolkata (IND)	India	3–1	Win
	Finals, Round-robin	18 November	Madrid (ESP)	Canada	1–2	Loss
	Finals, Round-robin	20 November	Madrid (ESP)	United States	1–2	Loss

2020s

Year	Competition	Date	Location	Opponent	Score	Result
2020–21	Qualifying round	6–7 March	Cagliari (ITA)	South Korea	4–0	Win
	Finals, Round-robin	26 November	Turin (ITA)	United States	2–1	Win
	Finals, Round-robin	27 November	Turin (ITA)	Colombia	2–1	Win
	Finals, quarterfinals	29 November	Turin (ITA)	Croatia	1–2	Loss
2022	Qualifying round	4–5 March	Bratislava (SVK)	Slovakia	3–2	Win
	Finals, Round-robin	14 September	Bologna (ITA)	Croatia	3–0	Win
	Finals, Round-robin	16 September	Bologna (ITA)	Argentina	2–1	Win
	Finals, Round-robin	18 September	Bologna (ITA)	Sweden	2–1	Win
	Finals, quarterfinals	24 November	Málaga (ESP)	United States	2–1	Win
	Finals, semifinals	26 November	Málaga (ESP)	Canada	1–2	Loss
2023	Finals, Round-robin	13 september	Bologna (ITA)	Canada	0–3	Loss
	Finals, Round-robin	15 September	Bologna (ITA)	Chile	3–0	Win
	Finals, Round-robin	17 September	Bologna (ITA)	Sweden	2–1	Win
	Finals, quarterfinals	23 November	Málaga (ESP)	Netherlands	2–1	Win
	Finals, semifinals	25 November	Málaga (ESP)	Serbia	2–1	Win
	Finals, final	26 November	Málaga (ESP)	Australia	2–0	Champions
2024	Finals, Round-robin	11 September	Bologna (ITA)	Brazil	2–1	Win
	Finals, Round-robin	13 September	Bologna (ITA)	Belgium	2–1	Win
	Finals, Round-robin	15 September	Bologna (ITA)	Netherlands	2–1	Win
	Finals, quarterfinals	21 November	Málaga (ESP)	Argentina	2–1	Win
	Finals, semifinals	23 November	Málaga (ESP)	Australia	2–0	Win
	Finals, final	24 November	Málaga (ESP)	Netherlands

Meet the Current Team

Squad representing Italy in the 2024 Davis Cup Finals, Knockout stage
Player	Born	ATP ranking		Debut	Ties	Win-loss
Player	Born	Singles	Doubles	Debut	Ties	Singles	Doubles	Total
Sinner, JannikJannik Sinner	(2001-08-16) 16 August 2001 (age 23)	1	338	2021	10	10–1	3–3	13–4
Musetti, LorenzoLorenzo Musetti	(2002-03-03) 3 March 2002 (age 23)	17	180	2021	10	2–5	1–2	3–7
Berrettini, MatteoMatteo Berrettini	(1996-04-12) 12 April 1996 (age 29)	35	-	2019	11	7–2	2–2	9–4
Vavassori, AndreaAndrea Vavassori	(1995-05-05) 5 May 1995 (age 30)	256	9	2024	3	0–0	1–2	1–2
Bolelli, SimoneSimone Bolelli	(1985-10-08) 8 October 1985 (age 39)	-	11	2007	34	7–9	17–13	24–22

Team Captains

Italy's Davis Cup team started in 1922, but they got their first captain in 1928. This was Baron Uberto De Morpurgo, who also played on the team.

From the 1950s, the team captain became a "non-playing captain." This person acts more like a coach for the team.

List of Italy Davis Cup captains
Name	Tenure	Total	Finals				Best result
Name	Tenure	Total	W	Years	F	Years	S	Years
Uberto de Morpurgo	1928–?
Vasco Valerio [it]	1965–1968	4					QF	1968
Orlando Sirola	1969–1971	3					3R	1969
Giordano Maioli	1972	1					3R	1972
Fausto Gardini	1973–1975	3					SF	1974
Nicola Pietrangeli	1976–1977	3	1	1976	1	1977	n/a
Bitti Bergamo [it]	1978–1979	2			1	1979¹	n/a
Vittorio Crotta	1979–1983	4			2	1979¹, 1980	n/a
Adriano Panatta	1984–1997	14					SF	1996, 1997
Paolo Bertolucci	1998–2000	3			1	1998	n/a
Corrado Barazzutti	2001–2020	20					SF	2014
Filippo Volandri	2021–	3	1	2023			n/a

Team Records

Here are some interesting records for the Italian Davis Cup team and its players.

Record		Details
Youngest player	17 years, 327 days	Diego Nargiso played against Israel in 1988
Oldest player	38 years, 342 days	Simone Bolelli played against Netherlands in 2024
Longest match	4 hours, 29 minutes	Federico Luzzi beat Ville Liukko (Finland) in 2001
Longest team match	13 hours, 45 minutes	Italy beat Poland in 2004
Longest tie-break	30 points (16–14)	Paolo Lorenzi beat Marco Chiudinelli (Switzerland) in 2016
Most games in a set	38 (20–18)	Alex Olmedo (USA) beat Orlando Sirola in 1958

Players with Most Matches and Wins

Most matches played
Rank	Player	Ties
1	Pietrangeli, NicolaNicola Pietrangeli	66
2	Sirola, OrlandoOrlando Sirola	46
3	Panatta, AdrianoAdriano Panatta	38
4	de Stefani, GiorgioGiorgio de Stefani	34
4	Bolelli, SimoneSimone Bolelli	34
6	Barazzutti, CorradoCorrado Barazzutti	32
6	Bertolucci, PaoloPaolo Bertolucci	32
8	Fognini, FabioFabio Fognini	30
9	De Morpurgo, UbertoUberto De Morpurgo	28
10	Cucelli, GiovanniGiovanni Cucelli	27
10	Seppi, AndreasAndreas Seppi	27

Most games won
Rank	Player	Wins
1	Pietrangeli, NicolaNicola Pietrangeli	120
2	Panatta, AdrianoAdriano Panatta	64
3	Sirola, OrlandoOrlando Sirola	57
4	De Morpurgo, UbertoUberto De Morpurgo	55
5	de Stefani, GiorgioGiorgio de Stefani	44
6	Barazzutti, CorradoCorrado Barazzutti	41
7	Cucelli, GiovanniGiovanni Cucelli	38
8	Fognini, FabioFabio Fognini	35
9	Bertolucci, PaoloPaolo Bertolucci	30
10	Gardini, FaustoFausto Gardini	29

Highest win percentage
Rank	Player	W-L	W%
1	Starace, PotitoPotito Starace	21–6	77.8%
2	Gardini, FaustoFausto Gardini	29–9	76.3%
3	Bertolucci, PaoloPaolo Bertolucci	30–10	75%
4	Pietrangeli, NicolaNicola Pietrangeli	120–44	73.2%
5	Merlo, GiuseppeGiuseppe Merlo	25–10	71.4%
6	De Morpurgo, UbertoUberto De Morpurgo	55–24	69.6%
7	Cucelli, GiovanniGiovanni Cucelli	38–17	69.1%
8	de Stefani, GiorgioGiorgio de Stefani	44–22	66.7%
9	Barazzutti, CorradoCorrado Barazzutti	41–21	66.1%
10	del Bello, MarcelloMarcello del Bello	28–15	65.1%

Team Performance Over the Years

The Italian team has played in 91 Davis Cup tournaments since 1922.

**Key**
W	F	SF	QF	#R	RR	Z#	PO	A	NH	P

(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (A) absent; (Z#) Davis Cup Zonal Group (with number indication) or (PO) play-off; (P) postponed or continued into following year; (NH) not held.
To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated at the conclusion of a tournament or when the team's participation has ended.

Part	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38	39	40
1921–1940	Challenge Round era
17	A	2R	2R	2R	2R	2R	3R	SF	3R	SF	3R	QF	3R	3R	2R	A	3R	3R	3R	NH
1941–1960	Challenge Round era
Part	41	42	43	44	45	46	47	48	49	50	51	52	53	54	55	56	57	58	59	60
13	NH	NH	NH	NH	NH	A	A	4R	SF	4R	4R	SF	4R	3R	SF	QF	5R	SF	QF	F
1961–1980	Challenge Round era											Zonal
Part	61	62	63	64	65	66	67	68	69	70	71	72	73	74	75	76	77	78	79	80
20	F	QF	1R	3R	3R	3R	3R	QF	3R	1R	2R	3R	QF	SF	2R	W	F	2R	F	F
1981–2000	World Group
Part	81	82	83	84	85	86	87	88	89	90	91	92	93	94	95	96	97	98	99	00
20	1R	QF	QF	QF	1R	QF	1R	QF	1R	QF	1R	QF	QF	1R	QF	SF	SF	F	1R	1R
2001–2020	World Group																		DCF
Part	01	02	03	04	05	06	07	08	09	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
20	PO	Z2	Z2	Z3	PO	PO	PO	Z2	PO	PO	PO	1R	QF	SF	1R	QF	QF	QF	RR	P
2021–2040	Davis Cup Finals
Part	21	22	23
3	QF	SF	W

Overall Team Record

Since their first match in 1922, Italy has played against 48 different countries. They have a winning record against 36 of these nations.

As of July 9, 2024, Italy has won every match against 19 nations. Their best record is against Poland, with a 100% win rate over 9 matches. Italy has not won a single match against three nations. Their toughest opponent has been Canada, against whom they have not won in four matches.

Winning Teams

1976 Champions

Adriano Panatta
Corrado Barazzutti
Paolo Bertolucci
Tonino Zugarelli
Captain: Nicola Pietrangeli

2023 Champions

Sinner, JannikJannik Sinner
Musetti, LorenzoLorenzo Musetti
Arnaldi, MatteoMatteo Arnaldi
Sonego, LorenzoLorenzo Sonego
Bolelli, SimoneSimone Bolelli
Captain: Filippo Volandri