In tennis, 2024 was the year of one nation: Italy.

No other country found as much success in the sport across the past 12 months with Grand Slam success, Olympic triumphs, and rankings milestones all secured by the nation’s players.

Jannik Sinner and Jasmine Paolini were at the forefront of Italy’s 2024 tennis dominance, but they were far from the only Italians to make their mark on the court.

We reflect on one of the most remarkable years in the nation’s tennis history.

Sinner’s season

Sinner played 79 matches in 2024 and lost just six, winning eight titles in a landmark season.

Most notably, he became the first Italian man since 1976 to win a Grand Slam singles title at the Australian Open, and then captured the US Open title in September.

Sinner was the first Italian man to claim the singles crown in New York and the first Italian – male or female – to triumph Down Under.

He also became just the third man in the Open Era – after Jimmy Connors (1974) and Guillermo Vilas (1977) – to win his first two Grand Slam titles in the same season.

And in June, he became the first Italian to ever reach world No 1 on the ATP or WTA singles rankings, having since reigned for 24 weeks at the time of writing.

The world No 1 ended his year with victory at the ATP Finals on home soil in Turin before helping his nation successfully defend the Davis Cup title in Malaga.

Sinner’s year was not without controversy, with the emergence of two failed drug tests – taken in March, first made public in August – marring his success to some extent.

However, with a 92.4% win rate in 2024, it cannot be denied that on court his year was one for the ages.

Paolini packs a punch

Paolini did not win a Grand Slam title, but her rise was undeniably one of the biggest stories of 2024.

After starting the year at 30th in the WTA Rankings, she ends the year as the world No 4 – matching Francesca Schiavone’s record as the joint-highest ranking Italian woman in history.

She became the first Italian woman to reach a Grand Slam singles final in nine years at the French Open, before becoming the nation’s first-ever Wimbledon singles finalist just weeks later.

Paolini also tasted defeat in the women’s doubles final at Roland Garros alongside Sara Errani, but the pair then struck gold together at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

She then proved instrumental in Italy’s triumph at the Billie Jean King Cup Finals last week, making Italy just the fifth nation to win the BJK Cup and Davis Cup in the same year.

With a WTA 1000 title in Dubai also to her name, Paolini’s surge in 2024 was truly remarkable.

Berrettini & Musetti lead further success

Former Wimbledon finalist Matteo Berrettini struggled with injury across the year but played a pivotal role in Italy’s Davis Cup victory.

And the 28-year-old did still find joy elsewhere, winning three ATP titles in Marrakesh, Gstaad, and Kitzbuhel – alongside a runner-up finish in Stuttgart.

It was also a landmark year for Italian No 2 Lorenzo Musetti, who reached his first Grand Slam semi-final at Wimbledon in the summer.

Musetti then became Italy’s first-ever singles medallist at the Olympics by winning bronze in Paris, alongside reaching finals at Queen’s, Umag, and Chengdu.

Elsewhere, Errani’s success was not curtailed to playing alongside Paolini – with she and Andrea Vavassori pairing up to win the US Open mixed doubles title.

Vavassori himself found success over the past 12 months, with he and Bolleli reaching both the Australian and French Open men’s doubles final.

What next?

The exciting thing for Italian tennis – and perhaps the worrying thing for their rivals – is that this rise shows no signs of slowing down.

Sinner is only 23, Musetti is just 22, while an array of talent waits in the wings.

In the men’s game, Flavio Cobolli and Matteo Arnaldi both made significant strides in 2024 and will be among the rising stars to watch in 2025 – with Berrettini also primed to rise again, if he can stay fit.

Furthermore, Paolini has the hallmarks of a player with staying power towards the top of the sport with the likes of Elisabetta Cocciaretto and Lucia Bronzetti increasing their depth in the women’s game.

With the nation’s strength only growing, further success seems a distinct possibility.