Adriano Panatta

Adriano Panatta (born 9 July 1950) is an Italian former professional tennis player. He won the French Open in 1976, becoming the first Italian man in the Open Era to win a major singles title.^[2] Panatta was also the only player ever to defeat Björn Borg at Roland Garros,^[3] doing so twice.

Adriano Panatta

Country (sports)	Italy
Residence	Treviso, Italy
Born	(1950-07-09) 9 July 1950 (age 75) Rome, Italy
Height	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Turned pro	1969 (amateur from 1968)
Retired	1983
Plays	Right-handed (one-handed backhand)
Prize money	$776,187
Singles
Career record	408–245 (62.5%)[1]
Career titles	10
Highest ranking	No. 4 (24 August 1976)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	1R (1969)
French Open	W (1976)
Wimbledon	QF (1979)
US Open	4R (1978)
Other tournaments
Tour Finals	RR (1975)
WCT Finals	QF (1977)
Doubles
Career record	233–152 (60.5%)
Career titles	18
Highest ranking	No. 15 (24 March 1980)
Team competitions
Davis Cup	W (1976)
Medal record Representing  Italy Mediterranean Games 1971 İzmir Doubles

From 2018 to 2021, he was a regular guest of the RAI sport broadcast Quelli che... il Calcio.^[4]

Career

Panatta was born in Rome.^[5] His father was the caretaker of the Tennis Club Parioli, and as a youngster he learned to play the game on the club's clay courts. He became a successful European junior player before turning professional.

In his early career, Panatta won top-level professional titles at Bournemouth in 1973, Florence in 1974, Kitzbühel and Stockholm in 1975.

The pinnacle of his career arrived in 1976, when he won the French Open defeating Harold Solomon in the final 6–1, 6–4, 4–6, 7–6. In the first round he had saved a match point against Czechoslovakian player Pavel Hutka. In the same year he also won the Italian Open, having saved 11 match points in his first round match against the Australian Kim Warwick, and beating Guillermo Vilas in the final (2–6, 7–6, 6–2, 7–6). He finished off 1976 by helping Italy capture its first-ever Davis Cup title, winning two singles and a doubles rubber in the final against Chile. He reached his career-high singles ranking of world No. 4 that year.^[6][7] Panatta remained the highest-ranking Italian tennis player in history until February 2024, when Jannik Sinner became No. 3;^[8] Sinner went on to rank No. 1.^[9]

Panatta is the only player to have defeated Björn Borg at the French Open. He achieved this feat twice – in the fourth round in 1973 (7–6, 2–6, 7–5, 7–6), and in the quarterfinals in 1976 (6–3, 6–3, 2–6, 7–6), where he would go on to win the tournament. He also faced Borg at the semifinal stage of the 1975 tournament; Borg won on this occasion in four sets.^[10]

In 1977, Panatta won the World Championship Tennis in Houston, where he defeated Jimmy Connors and Vitas Gerulaitis. He followed this up with another title in Tokyo in 1978.

Panatta was less successful on fast surfaces, especially on grass. His best performance at Wimbledon was in 1979, when he was beaten in the quarter-finals by Pat DuPré in five sets (3–6, 6–4, 6–7, 6–4, 6–3). In an interview many years later, Panatta remarked that it was the only match in his career he "regretted losing", and that he threw it away by playing a "bit cocky" and repeatedly losing concentration.^[11]

After the 1976 Davis Cup triumph, Panatta helped Italy reach the Davis Cup final on three further occasions – in 1977, 1979 and 1980. The team lost to Australia in 1977, the United States in 1979, and to Czechoslovakia in 1980. Overall, Panatta compiled a 64–36 Davis Cup record (55–17 on clay).^[12]

His final career singles title came in 1980 at Florence. He retired from the professional tour in 1983.

Other sport ventures

After his retirement, Panatta has served as captain of Italy's Davis Cup team,^[13] and as tournament director of the Rome Masters.

Panatta also competed in offshore powerboat racing, most specifically in Class 1 World Powerboat Championship.^[14] His most successful season was in 1990, where he and his co-driver Antonio Gioffredi would have been world champion had the title not been revoked after the tragic accident that claimed the life of reigning champion Stefano Casiraghi, husband of Caroline, Princess of Hanover.^[15]

From 1992 until 2002, Panatta also competed as a rally driver.^[16] In 1992 he took part to a World Rally Championship, the Sanremo Rally, in a Peugeot 309 GTI. Panatta's navigator was Enrico Riccardi. They retired after an accident.^[17]

Private life

Panatta is an atheist.^[18] His younger brother is fellow tennis player Claudio Panatta.

Grand Slam finals

Singles (1 title)

Result	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1976	French Open	Clay	Harold Solomon	6–1, 6–4, 4–6, 7–6

Career finals

Singles: 26 (10–16)

Result	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1.	1971	Senigallia, Italy	Clay	Martin Mulligan	6–3, 7–5, 6–1
Loss	1.	1972	Hamburg, Germany	Clay	Manuel Orantes	3–6, 8–9, 0–6
Loss	2.	1972	Gstaad, Switzerland	Clay	Andrés Gimeno	5–7, 8–9, 4–6
Loss	3.	1973	Valencia, Spain	Clay	Manuel Orantes	4–6, 4–6, 3–6
Loss	4.	1973	Barcelona, Spain	Clay	Ilie Năstase	1–6, 6–3, 1–6, 2–6
Loss	5.	1973	Nice, France	Clay	Manuel Orantes	6–7, 7–5, 6–4, 6–7, 10–12
Loss	6.	1973	Madrid, Spain	Clay	Ilie Năstase	3–6, 6–7, 7–5, 1–6
Loss	7.	1973	Florence, Italy	Clay	Ilie Năstase	3–6, 6–3, 6–0, 6–7, 4–6
Win	2.	1973	Bournemouth, England	Clay	Ilie Năstase	6–8, 7–5, 6–3, 8–6
Win	3.	1974	Florence, Italy	Clay	Paolo Bertolucci	6–3, 6–1[19]
Loss	8.	1974	Båstad, Sweden	Clay	Björn Borg	3–6, 0–6, 7–6, 3–6
Win	4.	1975	Kitzbühel, Austria	Clay	Jan Kodeš	2–6, 6–2, 7–5, 6–4
Loss	9.	1975	Madrid, Spain	Clay	Jan Kodeš	2–6, 6–3, 6–7, 2–6
Loss	10.	1975	Barcelona, Spain	Clay	Björn Borg	6–1, 6–7, 3–6, 2–6
Win	5.	1975	Stockholm, Sweden	Hard (i)	Jimmy Connors	4–6, 6–3, 7–5
Loss	11.	1975	Buenos Aires, Argentina	Clay	Guillermo Vilas	6–2, 2–6, 6–4
Win	6.	1976	Rome, Italy	Clay	Guillermo Vilas	2–6, 7–6, 6–2, 7–6
Win	7.	1976	French Open, Paris	Clay	Harold Solomon	6–1, 6–4, 4–6, 7–6
Loss	12.	1976	Gstaad, Switzerland	Clay	Raúl Ramírez	5–7, 7–6, 1–6, 3–6
Win	8.	1977	Houston WCT, United States	Clay	Vitas Gerulaitis	7–6, 6–7, 6–1
Loss	13.	1978	Rome, Italy	Clay	Björn Borg	6–1, 3–6, 1–6, 6–4, 3–6
Win	9.	1978	Tokyo Outdoor, Japan	Clay	Pat DuPré	6–3, 6–3
Loss	14.	1978	Bologna Indoor, Italy	Carpet (i)	Peter Fleming	2–6, 6–7
Win	10.	1980	Florence, Italy	Clay	Raúl Ramírez	6–2, 2–6, 6–4
Loss	15.	1980	Geneva, Switzerland	Clay	Balázs Taróczy	3–6, 2–6
Loss	16.	1980	Paris Indoor, France	Hard (i)	Brian Gottfried	6–4, 3–6, 1–6, 6–7

Doubles: 28 (18–10)

Result	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1.	1973	Florence	Clay	Paolo Bertolucci	Juan Gisbert Ilie Năstase	6–3, 6–4
Win	2.	1974	Florence, Italy	Clay	Paolo Bertolucci	Róbert Machán Balázs Taróczy	6–3, 3–6, 6–4
Win	3.	1974	Båstad, Sweden	Clay	Paolo Bertolucci	Ove Nils Bengtson Björn Borg	3–6, 6–2, 6–4
Win	4.	1974	São Paulo WCT, Brazil	Carpet (i)	Ion Țiriac	Ove Nils Bengtson Björn Borg	7-5, 3-6, 6-3
Loss	1.	1975	Richmond WCT	Carpet	Paolo Bertolucci	Hans Kary Fred McNair	6–7, 7–5, 6–7
Win	5.	1975	Bologna Indoor, Italy	Carpet (i)	Paolo Bertolucci	Arthur Ashe Tom Okker	6–3, 3–6, 6–3
Loss	2.	1975	Barcelona WCT, Spain	Carpet (i)	Paolo Bertolucci	Arthur Ashe Tom Okker	5–7, 1–6
Win	6.	1975	London WCT, England	Carpet (i)	Paolo Bertolucci	Jürgen Fassbender Hans-Jürgen Pohmann	6–3, 6–4
Win	7.	1975	Kitzbühel, Austria	Clay	Paolo Bertolucci	Patrice Dominguez François Jauffret	6–2, 6–2, 7–6
Win	8.	1975	Buenos Aires, Argentina	Clay	Paolo Bertolucci	Jürgen Fassbender Hans-Jürgen Pohmann	7–6, 6–7, 6–4
Loss	3.	1976	Stockholm, Sweden	Carpet (i)	Tom Okker	Alex Metreveli Ilie Năstase	4–6, 5–7
Loss	4.	1976	Gstaad, Switzerland	Clay	Paolo Bertolucci	Jürgen Fassbender Hans-Jürgen Pohmann	5–7, 3–6, 3–6
Loss	5.	1977	Mexico City WCT, Mexico	Hard	Ilie Năstase	Wojtek Fibak Tom Okker	2–6, 3–6
Win	9.	1977	St. Louis WCT, U.S.	Carpet (i)	Ilie Năstase	Vijay Amritraj Dick Stockton	6–4, 3–6, 7–6
Win	10.	1977	London WCT, England	Carpet (i)	Ilie Năstase	Mark Cox Eddie Dibbs	7–6, 6–7, 6–3
Win	11.	1977	Houston WCT, U.S.	Clay	Ilie Năstase	John Alexander Phil Dent	6–3, 6–4
Loss	6.	1977	Charlotte WCT, U.S.	Clay	Corrado Barazzutti	Tom Okker Ken Rosewall	1–6, 6–3, 6–7
Loss	7.	1977	Masters Doubles WCT, Kansas City	Carpet (i)	Vitas Gerulaitis	Vijay Amritraj Dick Stockton	6–7, 6–7, 6–4, 3–6
Win	12.	1978	Florence, Italy	Clay	Corrado Barazzutti	Mark Edmondson John Marks	6–3, 6–7, 6–3
Loss	8.	1979	Las Vegas, U.S.	Hard	Raúl Ramírez	Marty Riessen Sherwood Stewart	6–4, 4–6, 6–7
Win	13.	1979	Florence, Italy	Clay	Paolo Bertolucci	Ivan Lendl Pavel Složil	6–4, 6–3
Win	14.	1979	Barcelona, Spain	Clay	Paolo Bertolucci	Carlos Kirmayr Cássio Motta	6–4, 6–3
Win	15.	1980	Monte Carlo, Monaco	Clay	Paolo Bertolucci	Vitas Gerulaitis John McEnroe	6–2, 5–7, 6–3
Loss	9.	1980	Florence, Italy	Clay	Paolo Bertolucci	Gene Mayer Raúl Ramírez	1–6, 4–6
Win	16.	1980	Paris Indoor, France	Hard (i)	Paolo Bertolucci	Brian Gottfried Raymond Moore	6–4, 6–4
Win	17.	1981	Nancy, France	Carpet (i)	Ilie Năstase	John Feaver Jiří Hřebec	6–4, 2–6, 6–4
Loss	10.	1981	Florence, Italy	Clay	Paolo Bertolucci	Raúl Ramírez Pavel Složil	3–6, 6–3, 3–6
Win	18.	1982	Florence, Italy	Clay	Paolo Bertolucci	Sammy Giammalva Jr. Tony Giammalva	7–6, 6–1

Singles performance timeline

Key

W

F

SF

QF

#R

RR

Q#

DNQ

A

NH

(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.

Tournament	1969	1970	1971	1972	1973	1974	1975	1976	1977	1978	1979	1980	1981	1982	1983	SR	W–L
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open	1R	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	0 / 1	0–1
French Open	1R	4R	3R	QF	SF	2R	SF	W	QF	2R	3R	1R	2R	2R	A	1 / 14	34–13
Wimbledon	Q1	1R	3R	3R	A	3R	3R	3R	2R	A	QF	3R	A	A	A	0 / 9	17–9
US Open	A	A	A	1R	3R	A	A	2R	3R	4R	1R	A	3R	A	A	0 / 7	10–7
Win–loss	0–2	3–2	4–2	5–3	7–2	2–2	7–2	10–2	7–3	4–2	6–3	2–2	3–2	1–1	0–0	1 / 31	61–30
Other
Italian Open	2R	2R	2R	1R	2R	1R	3R	W	QF	F	QF	2R	QF	1R	1R	1 / 15	27–14
Ranking
Year-end ranking	–	–	–	–	14	34	14	7	23	23	29	34	39	76

See also

• Tennis in Italy