Adriano Panatta

Adriano Panatta (born July 9 1950) is a former professional tennis player from Italy. He is best remembered for winning the French Open in 1976. He is widely considered to be one of Italy's greatest ever tennis players, and some fans consider him to be among the best clay court players in tennis history.

Career

Panatta was born in Rome. His father was the caretaker of the Tennis Club Parioli (a prestigious tennis club in the city), 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, and at Kitzbühel and Stockholm in 1975.

1976 was the pinnacle of Panatta's career. He won the French Open that year after having saved a match point in the first round against the Czechoslovakian Pavel Hutka. In the final, he defeated Harold Solomon 6–1, 6–4, 4–6, 7–6. He also won that year's Italian Open (having saved 11 match points in his first round tie against the Australian Kim Warwick). 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.

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 quarter-finals in 1976 (6–3, 6–3, 2–6, 7–6).

In 1977, Panatta won the WCT tournament in Houston, where he managed to defeat Jimmy Connors and Vitas Gerulaitis. He followed this up with another title in Tokyo in 1978.

Despite his power and perfect technique, Panatta was never at his best on fast surfaces. On grass courts, his only notable performance came in reaching the quarter-finals at Wimbledon in 1979. He was beaten at that stage by Pat Dupre in 5 sets (3–6, 6–4, 6–7, 6–4, 6–3).

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).

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

Since retiring as a player, Panatta has gone on to serve as Captain of Italy's Davis Cup team and as Tournament Director of the Rome Masters. He is also a professional powerboat racer.

Grand Slam singles finals

Wins (1)

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
1976	French Open	Harold Solomon	6–1, 6–4, 4–6, 7–6

Singles titles (9)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	1973	Bournemouth, England	Clay	Ilie Nastase	6–8, 7–5, 6–3
2.	1974	Florence, Italy	Clay	Paolo Bertolucci	6–3, 6–1
3.	1975	Kitzbuhel, Austria	Clay	Jan Kodes	2–6, 6–2, 7–5, 6–4
4.	1975	Stockholm, Sweden	Hard (i)	Jimmy Connors	6–4, 6–3
5.	1976	Rome, Italy	Clay	Guillermo Vilas	2–6, 7–6, 6–2, 7–6
6.	1976	French Open, Paris	Clay	Harold Solomon	6–1, 6–4, 4–6, 7–6
7.	1977	Houston WCT, U.S.	Hard	Vitas Gerulaitis	7–6, 6–7, 6–1
8.	1978	Tokyo Outdoor, Japan	Clay	Pat Du Pré	6–3, 6–3
9.	1980	Florence, Italy	Clay	Raul Ramirez	6–2, 2–6, 6–4

External links

• Official ATP profile
• Davis Cup record