Adriano Panatta

Adriano Panatta

Country (sports)	Italy
Residence	Florence, Italy
Born	(1950-07-09) 9 July 1950 Rome, Italy
Height	1.83 m (6ft)
Turned pro	1969 (amateur tour from 1968)
Retired	1983
Plays	Right-handed (one-handed backhand)
Prize money	$776,187
Singles
Career record	369–225
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
Career titles	17
Highest ranking	No. 15 (24 March 1980)
Team competitions
Davis Cup	W (1976)

Adriano Panatta (born 9 July 1950) is a former professional tennis player from Italy. He is best remembered for winning the French Open in 1976, and for being the only player to ever defeat Björn Borg at Roland Garros, which he did on two occasions.

Career

Panatta was born in Rome. 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, and at 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) 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.

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 quarterfinals in 1976 (6–3, 6–3, 2–6, 7–6). He also faced Borg at the semifinal stage of the 1975 tournament; Borg won on this occasion in four sets.

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.

Panatta was less successful on fast surfaces. On grass courts, his most notable performance came in reaching the quarterfinals at Wimbledon in 1979. He was beaten at that stage by Pat Du Pré 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 finals

Singles: 1 (1–0)

Win (1)

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

Career finals

Singles: 26 (10–16)

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

Doubles: 28 (17–11)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents in the final	Score in the final
Winner	1.	1973	Florence, Italy	Clay	Paolo Bertolucci	Juan Gisbert Ilie Năstase	6–3, 6–4
Winner	2.	1974	Florence, Italy	Clay	Paolo Bertolucci	Róbert Machán Balázs Taróczy	6–3, 3–6, 6–4
Winner	3.	1974	Båstad, Sweden	Clay	Paolo Bertolucci	Ove Nils Bengtson Björn Borg	3–6, 6–2, 6–4
Runner-up	1.	1975	Richmond WCT, U.S.	Carpet	Paolo Bertolucci	Hans Kary Fred McNair	6–7, 7–5, 6–7
Winner	4.	1975	Bologna WCT, Italy	Carpet	Paolo Bertolucci	Arthur Ashe Tom Okker	6–3, 3–6, 6–3
Runner-up	2.	1975	Barcelona WCT, Spain	Carpet	Paolo Bertolucci	Arthur Ashe Tom Okker	5–7, 1–6
Winner	5.	1975	London WCT, England	Carpet	Paolo Bertolucci	Jürgen Fassbender Hans-Jürgen Pohmann	6–3, 6–4
Winner	6.	1975	Kitzbühel, Austria	Clay	Paolo Bertolucci	Patrice Dominguez François Jauffret	6–2, 6–2, 7–6
Winner	7.	1975	Buenos Aires, Argentina	Clay	Paolo Bertolucci	Jürgen Fassbender Hans-Jürgen Pohmann	7–6, 6–7, 6–4
Runner-up	3.	1976	Stockholm WCT, Sweden	Carpet	Tom Okker	Alex Metreveli Ilie Năstase	4–6, 5–7
Runner-up	4.	1976	Gstaad, Switzerland	Clay	Paolo Bertolucci	Jürgen Fassbender Hans-Jürgen Pohmann	5–7, 3–6, 3–6
Runner-up	5.	1977	Mexico City WCT, Mexico	Hard	Ilie Năstase	Wojtek Fibak Tom Okker	2–6, 3–6
Winner	8.	1977	St. Louis WCT, U.S.	Carpet	Ilie Năstase	Vijay Amritraj Dick Stockton	6–4, 3–6, 7–6
Winner	9.	1977	London WCT, England	Hard (i)	Ilie Năstase	Mark Cox Eddie Dibbs	7–6, 6–7, 6–3
Winner	10.	1977	Houston WCT, U.S.	Hard	Ilie Năstase	John Alexander Phil Dent	6–3, 6–4
Runner-up	6.	1977	Charlotte WCT, U.S.	Carpet	Corrado Barazzutti	Tom Okker Ken Rosewall	1–6, 6–3, 6–7
Runner-up	7.	1977	Masters Doubles WCT, New York	Carpet	Vitas Gerulaitis	Vijay Amritraj Dick Stockton	6–7, 6–7, 6–4, 3–6
Winner	11.	1978	Florence, Italy	Clay	Corrado Barazzutti	Mark Edmondson John Marks	6–3, 6–7, 6–3
Runner-up	8.	1979	Las Vegas, U.S.	Hard	Raúl Ramírez	Marty Riessen Sherwood Stewart	6–4, 4–6, 6–7
Winner	12.	1979	Florence, Italy	Clay	Paolo Bertolucci	Ivan Lendl Pavel Složil	6–4, 6–3
Winner	13.	1979	Barcelona, Spain	Clay	Paolo Bertolucci	Carlos Kirmayr Cássio Motta	6–4, 6–3
Winner	14.	1980	Monte Carlo, Monaco	Clay	Paolo Bertolucci	Vitas Gerulaitis John McEnroe	6–2, 5–7, 6–3
Runner-up	9.	1980	Florence, Italy	Clay	Paolo Bertolucci	Gene Mayer Raúl Ramírez	1–6, 4–6
Winner	15.	1980	Paris Indoor, France	Carpet	Paolo Bertolucci	Brian Gottfried Raymond Moore	6–4, 6–4
Winner	16.	1981	Nancy, France	Hard (i)	Ilie Năstase	John Feaver Jiří Hřebec	6–4, 2–6, 6–4
Runner-up	10.	1981	Florence, Italy	Clay	Paolo Bertolucci	Raúl Ramírez Pavel Složil	3–6, 6–3, 3–6
Winner	17.	1982	Florence, Italy	Clay	Paolo Bertolucci	Sammy Giammalva Jr. Tony Giammalva	7–6, 6–1
Runner-up	11.	1984	Palermo, Italy	Clay	Henrik Sundström	Tomáš Šmíd Blaine Willenborg	7–6, 3–6, 0–6

Singles Performance timeline

External links

• Adriano Panatta at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• Adriano Panatta at the International Tennis Federation
• Adriano Panatta at the Davis Cup