Italian tennis is soaring right now.
Jannik Sinner ended 2024 as world No.1 after a magnificent individual season that saw him scoop eight titles, including the ATP Finals on home soil in front of rapturous fans in Turin.
He then helped guide Italy to its second straight Davis Cup title, less than a week after Italy’s women won the Billie Jean King Cup title. In the past 30 years, just two other nations have claimed the Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup titles in one year.
3 - Italy are the third Nation to win both Davis and Fed/BJK Cup the same season in the last 30 years after Czech Republic (2012) and Russia (2021). Hegemony.#DavisCup | @DavisCup @federtennis pic.twitter.com/5pF7MgEx2G
— OptaAce (@OptaAce) November 24, 2024
Jasmine Paolini anchored Italy’s women’s team during a season she ended inside the top five.
Alongside Sara Errani, Paolini won the Paris 2024 Olympic women’s doubles title, delivering Italy its first Olympic tennis gold medal. At that same Olympic Games, Lorenzo Musetti earned bronze in the men’s singles event.
Wherever you looked, Italian players were thriving on the big stage in 2024, and Italian fans responded, packing out stadiums and tuning into broadcasts by the millions.
Will such success continue in 2025 at the United Cup?
Italy headlines Group D in Sydney, and faces France and Switzerland in the group stage.
The team is boosted by the presence of Paolini, who serves as a dual top-10 threat in both singles and doubles.
TICKETS: Cheer on Team Italy in Sydney at United Cup 2025
Paolini captivated fans at Ken Rosewall Arena at United Cup 2024. Against comeback queen Angelique Kerber, she overcame crippling cramps and conjured point-ending winners to triumph in an incredible contest.
Her form spiked from there. Paolini reached the fourth round at Australian Open 2024 – at the time her best Slam result – then won the biggest title of her career at the WTA 1000 event in Dubai. Next it was back-to-back major finals at Roland Garros and Wimbledon, another second-week Grand Slam run in New York, her WTA Finals debut, and a peak ranking of world No.4.
And that was just in singles.
“I'm trying to really enjoy, to understand also where I am because it's important to recognise where I am,” said Paolini, who was ranked outside the top 30 at AO 2024.
“If somebody told me at the beginning of the year you're going to play WTA Finals singles and doubles, that would be crazy.”
In addition to Paolini’s 42-21 record in singles, she also built a 36-15 record in doubles – all but two of those matches coming in partnership with Errani.
Errani joins Paolini in Team Italy at United Cup 2025, as do rising talents Flavio Cobolli and Matteo Gigante and doubles specialists Andrea Vavassori and Angelica Moratelli.
It’s a six-player squad representing everything that’s great about Italian tennis right now – players both emerging and established, who thrive in both singles and doubles.
Errani, the oldest of the group at age 37, is enjoying an astonishing resurgence more than a decade after she was a top-five singles player and the world’s best doubles team alongside Roberta Vinci.
“Is no words. Is more than a dream. It's unbelievable year,” Errani said. “I mean, I couldn't expect this. I'm enjoying a lot.
“Of course when you win, you enjoy a lot. When you lose, not too much. But you have to stay there, to keep there even in the tough moment, and I think that I did that also.
“I'm proud of myself to be there.”
Errani’s comments came after she combined with Vavassori to win the US Open mixed doubles title – yet another high-point in a brilliant year for Italy.
Errani and Paolini were one of the best doubles duos on the planet in 2024, capturing WTA 1000 titles in Rome and Beijing, and reaching the Roland Garros final before returning to Paris and winning the gold medal.
Vavassori, meanwhile, combined with Simone Bolelli to reach the Australian Open and Roland Garros finals, before winning ATP 500 titles in Halle and Beijing – results that helped him peaked at doubles world No.6 and qualify for the ATP Finals.
Cobolli, who was ranked 100th in singles at the time of AO 2024, cracked the top 30 nine months later. The 22-year-old thrived on tour, notching six ATP quarterfinals – he went on to reach the final in Washington DC – and beating four top-20 opponents, including Tommy Paul and Felix Auger-Aliassime.
All members of Team Italy are trending up, and they have no shortage of inspiration when they witness what their compatriots are achieving.
It bodes well for when they descend on Sydney for United Cup 2025.
