Fabio Fognini

Fabio Fognini

Country	Italy
Residence	Arma di Taggia, Italy
Born	24 May 1987 (1987-05-24) Sanremo, Italy
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight	74 kg (160 lb)
Turned pro	2004
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Career prize money	US$1,741,506
Singles
Career record	82–107 (42.26%)
Career titles	0
Highest ranking	No. 32 (June 20, 2011)
Current ranking	No. 48 (January 30, 2012)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open	2R (2009)
French Open	QF (2011)
Wimbledon	3R (2010)
US Open	2R (2011)
Doubles
Career record	44–46 (43.66%)
Career titles	1
Highest ranking	33 (10 October 2011)
Current ranking	33 (17 October 2011)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	2R (2008, 2009, 2010)
French Open	2R (2009, 2011)
Wimbledon	1R (2009, 2010)
US Open	SF (2011)
Last updated on: 14 September 2011.

Fabio Fognini (born 24 May 1987 in Sanremo, Italy) is a professional tennis player.He is the current Italian No. 1. He achieved his career high rank of No. 32 in the world on 20 June 2011 as a result of his success at the 2011French Open. His favourite surface is the red clay of Paris.

Early life

Fognini was born to Fulvio, a businessman, and Silvana and has a younger sister called Fulvia. He began playing tennis when he was four years old and is also a fan of football and motorbike racing. Fognini speaks Italian, English, Spanish and French.

Career

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 #1 and another at Italy #9. In 2005, he also finished runner-up at Italy #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 Carlos Moyá, the eventual champion.

2007

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 Juan Mónaco, who at the time was ranked No. 35 while Fognini was No. 191. After Fognini had won the first two sets, Mónaco made a comeback such that the final score was 6–3, 6–2, 1–6, 2–6, 4–6. 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 top 20 player Andy Murray in straight sets, 6–2, 6–2. Fognini was halted by world No. 1 Roger Federer in the third round, losing 1–6, 1–6.

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 6–7, 6–4, 11–13. He finished the year ranked in the top 100 for the first time at No. 94.

2010

Fognini's biggest win to date was the victory over 13th seed Gaël Monfils at the 2010 French Open by coming from two sets to love down to win 2–6, 4–6, 7–5, 6–4, 9–7 in a match that spanned two days and notably having played at night time during the primary day of play. 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, winning 7–6, 6–2, 6–7, 6–4 without dropping serve the entire match.

2011

Thus far, 2011 can be counted as Fognini's breakthrough year. He reached the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam event for the first time at the 2011 French Open. He defeated Denis Istomin 6–4, 6–2, 6–2 in the first round and qualifier Stéphane Robert 6–2, 6–1, 6–0 in the second. In the third round, Fognini beat Guillermo García-López, the thirtieth seed 4–6, 6–3, 6–3, 6–1 to advance to his first Grand Slam fourth round.

On 29 May 2011, Fognini made the quarterfinals of the 2011 French Open in dramatic fashion as he beat Spaniard Albert Montañés in a match lasting 4 hours and 22 minutes. Locked at two sets each, Montañés served for the match at 5–3 in the fifth set, but Fognini broke back and clawed his way to 6–7 on serve. At 15–30, while two points away from defeat, he suffered muscle strain issues in his leg and took a medical timeout. After returning to the court, and visibly still in pain, the Italian went for broke with sheer power on his shots. The gamble paid dividends as he preceded to save 5 match points on his serve, twice at 7–8 (30–40 and 40–AD) and three times at 8–9 (15–40, 30–40 and 40–AD), notably saving his last match point with a risky drop shot that clipped the net. Barely being able to walk at the end, Fognini eventually prevailed and clinched the epic match 11–9 in the fifth set. The final score was 4–6, 6–4, 3–6, 6–3, 11–9. 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 ... [e]ven 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 major since 1998. His achievement will see his ranking rise to between No. 30 and No. 35 in the world.

Together with Simone Bolelli, they reached the semifinals in the 2011 US Open.

Equipment

Fognini currently uses a Babolat Pure Drive Racquet strung with Babolat RPM Blast strings. His grip is Babolat Vs Original and he is endorsed by Adidas for his apparel and shoes.

Style of play

Fognini is known for his counterpunching style, with clean, penetrating ground strokes. Fognini has deft touch, and utilises this with drop shots and volleys. His ability to turn defence into attack suits clay court tennis, and this is reflected by the fact that his best wins have come on this surface.

Fognini is also renowned for his streaky temperament. He has been known to lose his cool on occasion, yet on others, he has shown that he is capable of maintaining a strikingly balanced disposition when facing adversity.

ATP Career Finals

Doubles: 3 (1–2)

Winner – Legend Grand Slam tournaments (0–0) ATP World Tour Finals (0–0) ATP World Tour Masters 1000 (0–0) ATP World Tour 500 Series (0–1) ATP World Tour 250 Series (1–1)

Titles by Surface Hard (0–0) Clay (1–2) Grass (0–0) Carpet (0–0)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents in the final	Score in the final	Ref.
Runner-up	1.	14 July 2008	Umag, Croatia	Clay	Carlos Berlocq	Michal Mertiňák Petr Pála	6–2, 3–6, [5–10]
Runner-up	2.	27 February 2010	Acapulco, Mexico	Clay	Potito Starace	Łukasz Kubot Oliver Marach	0–6, 0–6
Winner	1.	30 July 2011	Umag, Croatia	Clay	Simone Bolelli	Marin Čilić Lovro Zovko	6–3, 5–7, [10–7]

Singles Performance Timeline

Tournament	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	SR	W–L	Win %
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open	A	A	Q1	1R	2R	1R	1R	1R	0 / 5	1–5	16.67
French Open	A	A	1R	A	1R	3R	QF		0 / 4	6–3	66.67
Wimbledon	A	A	A	1R	2R	3R	A		0 / 3	3–3	50
US Open	A	A	Q3	1R	1R	1R	2R		0 / 4	1–4	20
Win–Loss	0–0	0–0	0–1	0–3	2–4	4–4	5–2	0–1	0 / 16	11–15	42.31
Davis Cup
Davis Cup Singles	A	A	A	Z1	PO	1R	PO		0 / 4	6–2	75
ATP World Tour Masters 1000
Indian Wells Masters	A	A	Q2	2R	1R	2R	1R		0 / 4	2–4	33.33
Miami Masters	A	A	A	A	Q1	1R	1R		0 / 2	0–2	0.00
Monte Carlo Masters	A	A	Q1	A	3R	1R	2R		0 / 3	3–3	50.00
Rome Masters	A	1R	Q2	A	2R	1R	1R		0 / 4	1–4	20.00
Madrid Masters	A	A	A	1R	2R	1R	Q1		0 / 3	1–3	25.00
Canada Masters	A	A	3R	A	A	2R	1R		0 / 3	3–3	50.00
Cincinnati Masters	A	A	A	A	A	Q2	2R		0 / 1	1–1	50.00
Shanghai Masters	NM1000				2R	A	1R		0 / 2	1–2	33.33
Paris Masters	A	A	A	A	A	2R	1R		0 / 2	1–2	33.33
Win–Loss	0–0	0–1	2–1	1–2	5–5	3–7	2–8	0–0	0 / 24	13–24	35.14
Career statistics
Tournaments Played	1	5	7	17	26	25	28	2	111
Titles–Runner-ups	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0 / 111	0–0	–
Hard Win–Loss	0–0	0–0	3–3	4–7	2–8	4–10	6–14	0–2	0 / 43	19–43	30.65
Grass Win–Loss	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–2	1–3	3–2	0–0	0–0	0 / 7	4–7	36.36
Carpet Win–Loss	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–1	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0 / 1	0–1	0
Clay Win–Loss	0–1	2–5	2–4	13–8	17–15	9–14	19–13	0–0	0 / 60	61–60	50.41
Overall Win–Loss	0–1	2–5	5–7	17–18	20–26	16–26	25–27	0–2	0 / 111	84–112	42.86
Year End Ranking	305	257	95	88	54	55	48		$2,008,649

External links

• Fabio Fognini at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• Fognini Recent Match Results
• Fognini World Ranking History
• Fognini official website
• Bio – file interview with Fabio Fognini