Italian pizza and pasta have always been great. The rise of tennis in Italy, however, is a fairly recent trend.
Just a few decades ago, the country had only four players in the men’s top 100. Even 10 years ago, it was only five. However, since the turn of the 2020s, the nation has steadily been transforming itself into a tennis powerhouse.
As of October 2025, there are nine Italians in the ATP Tour top 100. With a whole host of up-and-coming youngsters outside of the top 100 as well, there’s no signs of Italian tennis slowing down anytime soon. Here’s a look at the 10 best Italian tennis players right now.
1. Jannik Sinner (No 2 in the world)
Sinner is the best Italian player right now. But not only that – he’s widely considered the best-ever Italian to swing a racket, even though he’s still not even halfway through his career yet. The reasons are simple. He’s the first world No 1 from his country. He has the most titles out of all players from Italy (21) and he has the most Grand Slam trophies as well (4).
Have we mentioned that he’s only 24 years old? Yes, at 24 Sinner is by far the best Italian tennis player and while some might call into question how Italian he is, he certainly loves to win under that famous flag of theirs. A future Hall of Famer, Sinner remains poised to finish his career as one of the legends of the sport and certainly the best Italian to have ever done it.
Highlights also include leading his country to two Davis Cup trophies while being named as the best player on the winning team having secured crucial points in all the ties.
2. Lorenzo Musetti (No 8)
Musetti showed up on the ATP Tour as a promising youngster with beautiful hair and an ever better game. Possessing the rather rare one-handed backhand, Musetti looked how most fans imagined an Italian tennis player to look: very beautiful on the court with a superb all-round game that is well suited for a range of surfaces.
Initially pegged as a clay court specialist – which was justified as he nearly bested Novak Djokovic at Roland Garros twice – Musetti slowly but surely has developed his game. In 2024, he had his Grand Slam breakthrough, running deep to make the Wimbledon semi-finals. He’s currently ranked in the top 10, with a career-high of No 6 in the world – the third-highest ranking attained by an Italian man.
Expect him to add more to a resume that boasts only two trophies so far. Many more are to come for the 23-year-old.
3. Flavio Cobolli (No 22)
Cobolli (image on top) was once a promising football player but injuries forced him to abandon his dreams of playing football. Luckily he turned to tennis and it proved to be a massive success. Much like most Italians, he came through as a player who was mostly known for a strong clay game.
Eventually, the aggressiveness and attacking style of Cobolli’s play made him a dangerous foe on other surfaces as well. He has had a breakout year in 2025, making the Wimbledon quarter-finals as well as winning two ATP titles (both on clay) which allowed him to soar as high as No 17 in the world.
While Cobolli has dropped off slightly in recent months to injuries, the 23-year-old is another promising young Italian player who has a bright future ahead of him.
4. Luciano Darderi (No. 26)
Darderi is another 23-year-old talented Italian who has been making waves in recent times. He has an interesting backstory though – born and raised Argentinian born, though thanks to his Italian ancestry was able to relocate to Italy at 12 where he had better means to support his tennis dream.
No surprise that this Argentine-born player grew up on clay and considers it his best surface which his results back up. He’s won all four of his ATP trophies on the surface including three in 2025 alone.
Darderi doesn’t shy away from other surfaces though. While he’s not as good as on clay, he’s slowly improving and will become a threat on them sooner rather than later. What is notable about Darderi is that he hasn’t lost a final yet, winning all four he’s contested on the ATP Tour so far.
5. Lorenzo Sonego (No 47 )
One of the longer-tenured Italian players on the ATP Tour is Sonego. At 30 years old, he’s no longer a promising youngster anymore, but is still playing at a decent level. A highly aggressive baseline with a powerful serve, Sonego at his best could go toe-to-toe with some of the best like Novak Djokovic whom he nearly bested in Rome one year.
This veteran has been on Tour since 2013 and peaked at No 21 in October of 2024. He rarely leaves the top 100 thanks to his consistent level. Interestingly, he’s close friends with fellow Italian Matteo Berrettini.
Also, he’s won trophies on all three major surfaces including both indoor and outdoor hard courts. He won in Antalya on grass in 2019, Cagliari on clay in 2021, Metz on indoor hard courts in 2022 and Winston-Salem on outdoor hard courts in 2024.
6. Matteo Berrettini (No. 61)
Berrettini was for a while the torchbearer for Italian tennis. While Sinner was busy grinding out wins and improving slowly, Berrettini established himself as a top-10 regular who challenged for Grand Slams. In fact, he made a Grand Slam final in 2021 at Wimbledon, where he played some of his best career tennis but wasn’t able to overcome Djokovic.
Recent times have been dominated by various injuries for Berrettini which is why his ranking tanked. However, he’s still a player who has plenty of great tennis left in him. Widely considered the most popular tennis player in his country, Berrettini peaked at No 6 in 2022 and has won a total of 10 trophies to date.
He’s also known as a very attractive tennis player whose private life has been the constant chatter of many media outlets, something which he’s expressed annoyance about. Overall, he’s the second-best tennis player from Italy in the modern era – though, he’s likely to be overtaken by some of the emerging stars from his country.
7. Mattia Belucci (No 71)
Mattia Belucci is not a name many tennis fans will recognize immediately unless they’ve been following the Challenger Tour very closely. That’s where he’s made most of his money so far in his career. Belucci is one of those players that hasn’t had a meteoric rise to the top level of tennis but rather a slow grind on the lower levels.
Still, his persistence and hard work paid off as Belucci was able to break through into the top 100 in 2024. He’s done even better in 2025 earning his first top-10 win in Rotterdam over Daniil Medvedev and becoming a top 100 regular.
He peaked at No 63 and isn’t ranked much worse right now with certainly plenty of opportunity to improve even further. Belucci hasn’t won a single trophy yet, though there is likelihood that he eventually will as he’s only 24. One curiosity about him is that he vastly prefers faster courts and isn’t very good on clay, which is somewhat atypical for an Italian tennis player.
8. Matteo Arnaldi (No 74)
Matteo Arnaldi is another young Italian that broke out in the last couple of years. However, unlike some of his contemporaries, his career has been going downward for a while. Arnaldi came through as a Challenger player, winning three Challenger trophies in 2023 which allowed him to improve his ranking and play on the ATP Tour.
Initially he found a lot of success with his aggressive hard-hitting style, even making the fourth round of the US Open in 2023. He followed that up with a fourth round at the French Open in 2024. Since then, things have fallen off.
He has only a 20-23 record this year with a lot of early exits. This has given his ranking a hit, after a peak of No 30 in the world. The 24-year-old has no titles to his name yet, but has won the Davis Cup in 2023.
9. Luca Nardi (No 83)
Luca Nardi became world famous when he bested Novak Djokovic at the Indian Wells Masters last year. While only 22, Nardi showed promise early with his strong hard court game behind a powerful serve and super clean baseline game.
As with most young players he’s struggled with consistency. Right now, his ranking isn’t close to his peak of No 65 which he had earlier this year. However, there is plenty of time for him to turn it around.
On his resume Nardi has seven Challenger trophies but no ATP titles. Overall, he’s a promising youngster.
10. Federico Cina (No 226)
Sneaking into 10th place on our list of the best Italian tennis players is Federico Cina. He’s not the 10th highest by rank, but in terms of potential, we’re high on Cina..
Cina is a tennis prodigy of sorts who has a very bright future ahead of him. At only 18 he’s shown a lot of promise working his way up to the top 200. Cina comes from a tennis family as his father is a prominent coach who used to coach the famous and fabulous Roberta Vinci.
He grew up around the sport and showed massive promise early on. Cina is by far the biggest talent to emerge out of Italy since Sinner, and he’s likely headed to stardom. He’s won matches at the ATP Tour already such as in Miami where he bested Francisco Comesana.
The 18-year-old also made two Challenger finals this year even though both ended in a loss. Overall, Cina is a name to keep an eye on. He’s only 18; by the time he turns 19 in March 2026, he may well be close to or even in the top 100.
Honorable Mentions
Italy has a very bright tennis future because there are many talented youngsters who are emerging.
They have eight tennis players who earned a substantial amount of points this year that are under 20 years old and are vying for a spot at the Jeddah Next Gen Finals. Remember the names Lorenzo Carboni, Federico Bondioli, Carlo Alberto Caniato and Filippo Romano – soon these players will be joining the legion of Italian players that are already occupying spots in the top 100.
These were the best players from Italy you need to know about, the biggest tennis force in the world. It’s no surprise the country has won the Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup four times combined in the last two years.
