The Fabulous One looks out from his enigmatic photo on the ATP Tour website with a slightly raised eyebrow and a Mona Lisa half-smile. It’s the perfect image for a guy, who like a jalapeno-laced martini, is somehow simultaneously fiery and irresistibly cool.
On Tuesday in the Hamburg European Open, Fabio Fognini won a typically taut, fraught first-round match over Aljaz Bedene, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (5). And while the flamboyant Italian has earned a reputation for the sheer style of his performance art, this one underlined the undeniable substance. It was the 400th tour-level match win of his career.
Coming up in juniors, did he ever imagine this possibility?
“Well, no, no,” he said afterward. “I’m 35 and, looking back, I have to say this is a great milestone achievement for me. For sure, I am happy.”
Fognini, that swashbuckling pirate of the high seas, is only the 14th active player to win 400 matches in his career and the first Italian man in the Open Era with 400 tour-level wins. Adriano Panatta is next with 392 wins, followed by Andreas Seppi with 386 wins, second-most among active Italians.
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Fognini celebrates his 400th win in Hamburg. Photo Credit: Hamburg European Open/Alexander Scheuber
There is currently some breathtaking young talent coming out of Italy. Matteo Berrettini, a Wimbledon finalist a year ago, has already been to the Top 10. Jannik Sinner — at the impressionable age of 20 — is there right now. Lorenzo Musetti, also 20, and Lorenzo Sonego are formidable talents as well. Based on this year’s points, remarkably, eight of the 17 top-ranked players aged under 21 are from Italy. It seems more than a coincidence that the Pepperstone ATP Race To Turin ends in Fognini’s homeland.
They all owe a debt to the example carved out by Fognini.
Three years ago in Monte Carlo, at the age of 32, Fognini defeated Rafael Nadal on his way to the title. He became the first Italian ATP Masters 1000 champion ever and, eventually, the oldest male player to crack the Top 10 for the first time. He was also the first Italian man among the Top 10 since Corrado Barazzutti.
Fognini has always gotten up for the big matches. He’s beaten Nadal, a 22-time Grand Slam champion, no fewer than three times. At Rome in 2017, he upset World No. 1 Andy Murray. He was a quarter-finalist at Roland Garros in 2011 and reached the fourth round in majors – including four at the Australian Open – seven times. He’s also won nine…
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