Italy Davis Cup team

Italy
Captain	Filippo Volandri
ITF ranking	7 (20 September 2022)
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, team captain for the country's first Davis Cup championship in 1976.

The Italy men's national tennis team represents Italy in Davis Cup tennis competition and is governed by the Italian Tennis Federation. Italy are the reigning champions, claiming the Davis Cup in 2023. They are two-time champions overall, also winning in 1976, and finishing as runners-up six times (1960, 1961, 1977, 1979, 1980, and 1998).

Nicola Pietrangeli is one of Italy's most decorated players, featuring in all major records for the team. He holds the record for most Davis Cup ties, most overall wins, most singles wins, most doubles wins (both individually and as part of a team), and most years played. ^[1]

History

Early years pre-World War II

Italy competed in its first Davis Cup in the 1922 International Lawn Tennis Challenge. Prior to World War II, Italy generally made it to the quarterfinals of the European Zone and featured in the Inter-zonal final twice – once in 1928 and once in 1930. The Inter-zonal final was the final match of competition before the Challenge Round match, where the winner would earn the right to challenge the defending champion. On both occasions, Italy lost to the United States by a scoreline of 4–1. Uberto De Morpurgo was the Davis Cup captain for both matches and was the only player to register a win in his two single rubbers.

Post World War II – 1962

Two years after the resumption of the tournament which was put on hold due to World War II, Italy made its first reappearance in 1948. Italy was very strong over this period, appearing in four Inter-zonal finals in 1949, 1952, 1955 and 1958 before finally securing its maiden Challenge Round tie in 1960. Unfortunately, Italy were unable to overcome a strong Australian team featuring Rod Laver and Neale Fraser, losing 4–1 at White City in Sydney. Italian legend, Nicola Pietrangeli managed to win Italy's only point when he defeated Fraser in a dead-rubber match on the final day. The following year, Italy were again able to reach the Challenge Round Final after defeating the United States 4–1 in the Final in Rome. Pietrangeli won both his singles matches and his doubles match. However, Italy would again fall at the final hurdle. On this occasion, Italy lost 5–0 to Australia at Kooyong Stadium in Melbourne. The Australian side would again feature Laver (in singles and doubles) and Fraser (in doubles only), and were joined by Roy Emerson who played two singles matches. The Italian side once again featured Pietrangeli and also Orlando Sirola across all five matches. In 1962, Italy lost in the European Final to Sweden 1–4.

Limited success to first Davis Cup title

Following a somewhat lean period from 1963 to 1972, which included only one European Final in 1968, Italy returned to form in the competition with mixed success. In 1973 they made a European Final before going one step further the following year, losing 4–1 to South Africa in 1974 in the Inter-zonal Semifinals. Two years later, Italy claimed its maiden Davis Cup title when they defeated Chile 4–1 at Estadio Nacional in Santiago. Italy took an early lead on Day 1, after Corrado Barazzutti and Adriano Panatta both won their singles matches. Then Italy took an unassailable 3–0 lead the following day, when Panatta teamed up with Paolo Bertolucci in the doubles, and after finding themselves one-set-to-love down, won the next three sets to win the rubber in four sets. Over the next four years, Italy would reach the Davis Cup final three times, losing all three ties.

World Group era (1981–2000)

Since the World Group format begun in 1981, Italy were able to maintain their top 16 status for twenty years. Italy finished as quarterfinalists or better in twelve of those twenty years, including two semifinal loses and one final loss. In the 2000 Davis Cup, Italy lost 4–1 away to Spain setting them up for World Group Playoff clash against Belgium. Playing at home in Rome, Italy lost the tie 4–1, meaning they would be relegated for the first time in the World Group era.

Relegation and return to World Group

After Italy's World Group playoff loss, they were relegated to Europe/Africa Zone Group I for the 2001 edition of the tournament. Italy would not return to the World Group until they defeated Chile 4–1 away in the 2011 Davis Cup World Group play-offs. Between 2013 and 2018, Italy were defeated in the Quarterfinals on four occasions and once in the Semifinals. Since the restructuring of the competition in 2019, Italy has made it into the Semifinals in 2022 and in 2023.

Overall performance

Italy has played no less than 15 semifinals. Italy has recorded eight defeats and seven wins. Of those eight losses, Italy has suffered four whitewash defeats – losing 5–0 to Australia in 1949 and 1955 and the United States in 1952 and 1958. Of the seven semifinals won, the greatest margin was a 4–1 victory, achieved on four occasions. These wins occurred in 1961 and 1998 against the United States, in 1977 against France and in 1979 against Czechoslovakia. ^[2]

Recent performances

Here is the list of all match-ups since 1981, when the competition started being held in the current World Group format.

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
	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
	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
	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
	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
	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
	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
	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 [3]	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, finals	26 November	Málaga (ESP)	Australia	2–0	Champions

Current squad

Further information: List of Italy Davis Cup team representatives

Squad representing Italy in the 2023 Davis Cup Finals, Knockout stage

Player	Born	ATP ranking		Debut	Ties	Win-loss
		Singles	Doubles			Singles	Doubles	Total
Jannik Sinner	(2001-08-16) 16 August 2001 (age 22)	4	500	2021	7	9–1	2–3	11–4
Lorenzo Musetti	(2002-03-03) 3 March 2002 (age 21)	27	280	2021	9	2–4	1–2	3–6
Lorenzo Sonego	(1995-05-11) 11 May 1995 (age 28)	47	243	2021	10	6–3	3–0	9–3
Matteo Arnaldi	(2001-02-22) 22 February 2001 (age 22)	44	570	2023	4	3–1	0–1	3–2
Simone Bolelli	(1985-10-08) 8 October 1985 (age 38)	n.r.	55	2007	31	7–9	16–11	23–20

Captains

Although Italy had started its adventure in the Davis Cup back in 1922, it was only in 1928 that the team had its first captain and it was Baron Uberto De Morpurgo, who was also a player on that occasion.

Beginning in the 1950s, the team captain's position became a kind of coach called the non-playing captain. ^[4]

List of Italy Davis Cup captains

Name	Tenure	Total	Finals				Best result [lower-alpha 1]
			W	Years	F	Years	S	Years
Uberto de Morpurgo	1928–? [5]
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 [6]	2			1	19791	n/a
Vittorio Crotta	1979–1983	4			2	19791, 1980	n/a
Adriano Panatta	1984–1997 [7]	14					SF	1996, 1997
Paolo Bertolucci	1998–2000	3			1	1998	n/a
Corrado Barazzutti	2001–2020	20					SF	2014
Filippo Volandri	2021– [8]	3	1	2023			n/a

Notes

¹ Crotta replaced Bergamo as captain after the Semifinals during the 1979 campaign.

1. Best result if failed to qualify for Davis Cup Final

Individual and team records

As of 15 October 2022 ^[1]

Record		Details	Report
Youngest player	17 years, 327 days	Diego Nargiso versus Israel in 1988 World Group, first round	[9]
Oldest player	38 years, 279 days	Nicola Pietrangeli versus Romania in 1972 Europe Zone A, semifinals	[10]
Longest rubber duration	4 hours, 29 minutes	Federico Luzzi defeated Ville Liukko (FIN) in 2001 Europe/Africa Zone Group I, quarterfinals	[11]
Longest tie duration	13 hours, 45 minutes	Italy defeated Poland in 2004 Europe/Africa Zone Group II, Final	[12]
Longest tie-break	30 points (16–14)	Paolo Lorenzi defeated Marco Chiudinelli (SUI) in 2016 World Group, first round	[13]
Longest final set	28 games (15–13)	Nestor / Pospisil (CAN) defeated Bracciali / Fognini in 2013 World Group, quarterfinals	[14]
Most games in a set	38 (20–18)	Alex Olmedo (USA) defeated Orlando Sirola in 1958 Inter-zonal Final	[15]
Most games in a rubber	79	Barry MacKay (USA) defeated Nicola Pietrangeli in 1960 Inter-zonal Final	[16]
Most games in a tie	281	Italy defeated United States in 1960 Inter-zonal Final	[16]
Most decisive victory (best of 5 rubbers)	15 sets (15–0)	Italy defeated Monaco in 1968 Europe Zone A, quarterfinals	[17]
Most decisive victory (best of 3 rubbers)	4 sets (6–2)	Italy defeated Croatia in 2022 Davis Cup Finals, Group A	[18]
Longest winning run	9 ties	1976 Europe Zone B, preliminary round Quarterfinal – 1977 Inter-zonal Semifinal (from 30 April 1976 until 16 September 1977)	[19] [20]

Most ties and wins

As of 23 November 2023

Most ties played Rank Player Ties 1 Nicola Pietrangeli 66 2 Orlando Sirola 46 3 Adriano Panatta 38 4 Giorgio de Stefani 34 5 Corrado Barazzutti 32 5 Paolo Bertolucci 32 7 Simone Bolelli 31 8 Fabio Fognini 30 9 Uberto De Morpurgo 28 10 Giovanni Cucelli 27 10 Andreas Seppi 27

Most rubbers won Rank Player Wins 1 Nicola Pietrangeli 120 2 Adriano Panatta 64 3 Orlando Sirola 57 4 Uberto De Morpurgo 55 5 Giorgio de Stefani 44 6 Corrado Barazzutti 41 7 Giovanni Cucelli 38 8 Fabio Fognini 35 9 Paolo Bertolucci 30 10 Fausto Gardini 29

Highest win percentage [lower-alpha 1] Rank Player W-L W% 1 Potito Starace 21–6 77.8% 2 Fausto Gardini 29–9 76.3% 3 Paolo Bertolucci 30–10 75% 4 Nicola Pietrangeli 120–44 73.2% 5 Giuseppe Merlo 25–10 71.4% 6 Uberto De Morpurgo 55–24 69.6% 7 Giovanni Cucelli 38–17 69.1% 8 Giorgio de Stefani 44–22 66.7% 9 Corrado Barazzutti 41–21 66.1% 10 Marcello del Bello 28–15 65.1%

Performance timeline

The Italian team has participated in 91 editions of the Davis Cup since 1922. ^[21]

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.

1921–1940	Challenge Round era
Part	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38	39	40
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

Results

Key to eras and positions result

• Challenge Round era (until 1971): The previous Davis Cup Champion would have a bye to and host the Challenge Round Final. Thus the losing team in the Final (or Inter-zonal final) was the third-placed team. For the purposes of this table, the third placed team is grouped as semifinalists and the Zonal finalists (fourth and fifth placed teams) are grouped as quarterfinalists.
• 1972–1980: The previous Davis Cup Champion now had to compete in all rounds. There were four zones consisting of America, Eastern, Europe A and Europe B, with the competition culminating in a four team knockout between zonal winners. The zonal finalists were the equivalent of Davis Cup quarterfinalists.
• Since 1981: World Group (1981–2018), Davis Cup Finals (from 2019) consisting of 16 or 18 teams.
• Abbreviations: POW = Winner of World Group Playoff (1981–2018); POL = Lost in World Group Playoff (1981–2018); GS = Did not advance past the Group Stage of the Davis Cup Finals (from 2019); DNQ = Did not qualify for World Group Playoff

Results table

Result	Total	Challenge Round era (until 1971)		Post-Challenge Round era
				1972–1980		Since 1981
		#	Years	#	Years	#	Years
Champions	2	0	—	1	1976	1	2023
Runners-Up	6	2	1960, 1960	3	1977, 1979, 1980	1	1998
Semifinalists	11	6	1928, 1930, 1949, 1952, 1955, 1958	1	1974	4	1996, 1997, 2014, 2022
Quarterfinalists	20	5	1932, 1956, 1959, 1962, 1968	1	1973	14	1982, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1995, 2013, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020–21
Other results
Not in Top 5 [lower-alpha 2] or Zonal Final; [lower-alpha 3] Lost in First Round [lower-alpha 4] Group Stage [lower-alpha 5]	41	28	1922, 1923, 1924, 1925, 1926, 1927, 1929, 1931, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1948, 1950, 1951, 1953, 1954, 1957, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1969, 1970, 1971	2	1975, 1978	11	POW (9): 1981, 1985, 1987, 1989, 1991, 1994, 1999, 2012, 2015 POL (1): 2000 GS (1): 2019
Not in World Group or Davis Cup Finals	11	—		—		11	POW (1): 2011 POL (6): 2001, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010 DNQ (4): 2001, 2003, 2004, 2008

Notes

1. Minimum 20 rubbers played
2. Challenge Round era (1905–1971) only
3. 1972–1980
4. World Group (1981–2018) only
5. Davis Cup Finals (from 2019) only

See also

• List of Italy Davis Cup team representatives
• Tennis in Italy
• Italy Fed Cup team

References

1. "Team Stats ITA". daviscup.com. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
2. "L'ITALIA E LE SEMIFINALI DI DAVIS. UNA LUNGA STORIA" (in Italian). tennis.it. 12 April 2014. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
3. "2020 Davis Cup Finals to be postponed until 2021". Daviscup.com. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
4. "Uberto De Morpurgo" (in Italian). federtennis.it. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
5. "L'ITALIA IN COPPA DAVIS" (in Italian). federtennis.it. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
6. "La maledetta finale del 1979" (in Italian). ubitennis.com. 5 November 2010. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
7. "Adriano Panatta". sportspundit.com. Retrieved 7 February 2021. He served as Captain of the Davis Cup team after his retirement...
8. "La maledetta finale del 1979" (in Italian). ubitennis.com. 24 January 2021. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
9. "1988 World Group First Round, Italy v Israel". daviscup.com. Retrieved 13 October 2022.
10. "1972 Europe Zone A Semifinal, Romania v Italy". daviscup.com. Retrieved 13 October 2022.
11. "2001 Europe/Africa Zone Group I Quarterfinals, Finland v Italy". daviscup.com. Retrieved 13 October 2022.
12. "2004 Europe/Africa Zone Group II Final, Italy v Poland". daviscup.com. Retrieved 13 October 2022.
13. "2016 World Group First Round, Italy v Switzerland". daviscup.com. Retrieved 13 October 2022.
14. "2013 World Group Quarterfinals, Canada v Italy". daviscup.com. Retrieved 13 October 2022.
15. "1958 Inter-zonal Final, United States v Italy". daviscup.com. Retrieved 13 October 2022.
16. "1960 Inter-zonal Final, Italy v United States". daviscup.com. Retrieved 13 October 2022.
17. "1968 Europe Zone A Quarterfinal, Italy v Monaco". daviscup.com. Retrieved 13 October 2022.
18. "2022 Finals Group A, Italy v Croatia". daviscup.com. Retrieved 13 October 2022.
19. "1976 Europe Zone B Preliminary Round Quarterfinal, Italy v Poland". daviscup.com. Retrieved 13 October 2022.
20. "1977 Inter-zonal Semifinal, Italy v France". daviscup.com. Retrieved 13 October 2022.
21. "Italy – Profile". daviscup.com. Retrieved 10 February 2021. Year played = 90

External links

• Team page on DavisCup.com, the official website of the Davis Cup