In a new interview, Italian tennis star Flavia Pennetta reflects on her groundbreaking career, culminating in a historic 2015 US Open victory – the first for an Italian woman.The candid conversation, tied to a new Sky Sport docufilm commemorating the tenth anniversary of her win, delves into her early struggles, familial pressures, and the unique bond she shares with fellow tennis player and husband, Fabio Fognini. Pennetta offers a rare glimpse behind the scenes of a career defined by perseverance and a quiet revolution within the sport.
Flavia Pennetta, the first Italian to win the US Open, reflects on her groundbreaking career and personal life: “My father wanted a son, he threw a fit when I was born. Milan gave me a new life.”
Before sealing her triumph at the US Open, before realizing her dream of motherhood with her three children – Federico, Farah, and Flaminia, born from her union with Fabio Fognini – Flavia Pennetta, from Brindisi, born in 1982, was the first Italian tennis player to break into the world’s top 10 since the WTA rankings began. A quiet revolution in women’s tennis achieved when Jannik Sinner was just eight years old and still envisioned a future as a skier. It happened on August 17, 2009: Pennetta from Italy, No. 10. She would even climb to No. 6 in the fall of her Grand Slam victory (2015). But it was being the first to reach uncharted territory that cemented Flavia’s legacy as a pioneer, a legacy celebrated in a new docufilm from Sky Sport on the tenth anniversary of her US Open win. Let’s start there.
Why was breaking into the top 10 so important?
“I broke a barrier for all Italian women: it’s no coincidence that after that, we started to see a wave of success. The message was, ‘If Flavia can do it, so can we.’ It’s a similar effect to what Sinner is having on the men’s game now. But that barrier, on the men’s side, was broken by my husband, Fabio, not Jannik.”
What was she like growing up in Puglia?
“Hyperactive, not very fearful. I had a tough head – I always asked ‘why’ about everything. At six years old, I’d head to school with a huge backpack, hand-in-hand with my friend Alberto. We got into all sorts of trouble.”
Tell us about one of those misdeeds.
“We spent our days in the courtyard of our house in Brindisi, with bikes, a ball, and rackets. We were forbidden to go out – just beyond the courtyard was a steep, busy road. Alberto and I decided to take a risk, racing each other to the garbage can at the bottom of the hill. I launched myself down at full speed, Alberto started too. But a bus came, passed him, and the displacement of air knocked him off his bike. I thought, ‘Oh my god, he’s dead.’ He got up covered in blood. I tried to clean him up, but he was a mess. When we got home, my mom and grandmother gave me a huge scolding. No bike for two months.”
Is it true that her father, Oronzo, wanted a son?
“Very true. Ultrasounds weren’t common then, and the gynecologist, who was the president of the tennis club, reassured my dad: ‘Don’t worry, Oronzo, it’s a boy.’ When I was born, he threw a fit: ‘Oh, what’s possible!’ My grandfather would have liked a son too, but instead, he got two daughters and four granddaughters. But I never felt like I disappointed him. As a little girl, I told my father, ‘Don’t worry, I’ll give you more satisfaction than a boy.’”
Could she have won more than eleven titles?
“I competed in an era of incredible players, just like Fabio did, having to face Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic, the best of all time. It took me time to believe I was on the same level as the generation of Serena Williams – I reached my peak at the end.”
Was there a bit of imposter syndrome?
“I don’t think so. The field of participants in the tournaments was galactic. I never lied to myself – the others were superior. There was an objective difference. I kept asking myself: how can I improve? How can I beat them?”
And then, at the height of it all, her childhood friend Roberta Vinci defeats Serena, the greatest of all, in New York.
“You see the hand of fate? Williams was rattled by the prospect of the Grand Slam and Vinci was able to capitalize. Serena already intimidated you in the locker room, just watching her change. What a personality! She had a disarming serve, her return would punch right through you. Overwhelming physicality. You hit hard? She hit harder. But Ana Ivanovic was the one who drove me crazy – I couldn’t figure out where she was hitting the ball. That still bothers me today…”
Of course, the 2015 US Open feels like a movie.
“Roberta eliminating Serena and me beating Roberta. The coffee together before the final, the hug at the net. Even writing it down, it feels like such a beautiful movie.”
On September 12th, the tenth anniversary of the victory, did she and Vinci have coffee together again?
“Every year, on that date, if we can’t see each other, we talk. She teases me: ‘You won thanks to me!’ It’s a soul connection that will bind us forever. We lived through moments that were not only about sport, but about Italian history.”
But the pride of breaking the top 10 barrier is greater.
“Well, that milestone gives me a particular thrill. The opportunity arose, and I seized it. My childhood dream was to become the best in Italy, not the world. But I didn’t come far off.”
Fabio Fognini is in the final of ‘Dancing with the Stars’ on Raiuno: are you happy that the public is discovering him?
“I’m delighted! The judges expected him to be grumpy and sulky, as he sometimes is on the court. But he’s empathetic, joyful, generous – the real Fabio. And to think my husband was anti-dance: zero rhythm, hopeless. He entered Milly’s show completely relaxed, as if he were going on vacation: the first dance went badly, he sulked, and the spark of competition ignited. From the second night, he put in the effort. Now he’s lean, toned: look at me, he says, my abs are back!”
How did she realize that there was more than friendship between her and Fognini?
“We were in Barcelona during the winter preparation in 2013. Shortly after, there would be trouble in Australia. What changed? The way we looked at each other. At the time, I was suffering from his outbursts, from the animosity directed at him. We spent hours talking: I’m five years older, he trusted me. From Fabio’s attention, I realized that my own feelings about spending time together had changed.”
Fast forward. You’re married, have three children, and live in Milan.
“It’s already our third year in Milan. At first, I suffered from the gray sky, I cried: I made a mistake! Now I’m doing well, I see the kids happy, I’ve created my own routine and my own circle. I don’t go out much, I don’t frequent the jet set. But the city offers a thousand opportunities and, professionally, it has given me a new life: Sky Sport, events, appearances, the Olympic torch at the Olympics. I’m a torchbearer at the Italian Games: a great recognition. Milan, in short, has given me value again.”
The strength of announcing her retirement at the peak of her career, raising the US Open trophy, remains unparalleled. At almost 39, Novak Djokovic, the greatest of all time, is grappling with how to end his adventure in tennis…
“I believe Novak is still convinced he can beat Sinner and Alcaraz and, therefore, win his 25th Grand Slam. That would be an absolute record.”
Do you still have dreams, Flavia?
“Saying it out loud scares me a little: no. If I could have written the script for my life, I would have wanted it exactly like this.”
