Filippo Volandri
Filippo Volandri is an Italian professional male tennis player. Volandri is a right-handed player who reached a career-high singles ranking of world no. 25 in July 2007. He turned pro in 1997 and has earned almost $4,000,000 in prize money. Volandri won the second title of his career in September 2006, beating Nicolás Lapentti in the final of the Sicily International in Palermo.
Rome Masters success & French open success
At the Rome Masters in 2007 Volandri, having entered as a wild card, recorded the biggest win of his career by beating the then world no. 1 Roger Federer in straight sets 6–2, 6–4. Volandri celebrated by doing a lap of honour around centre court, high-fiving spectators in the front rows.Afterwards, Volandri hailed the victory as not only for himself, but for Italy, telling something of both the regard in which Federer, who holds the record for the longest spell as the world's top-ranked male player, is held and the relative under-achievement of Italy in men's tennis at the time. For his part Federer offered few excuses for his out-of-character display.
Hopes that this might be the start of Italy's re-emergence among the top nations of professional men's tennis were heightened when Volandri went on to beat world no. 12 Tomáš Berdych in the quarterfinal. The win meant that Volandri became the first Italian to reach the event's semifinals since 1978. His run stopped in the semifinals, however, as he lost to Fernando González. In the French Open he was the 29th seed and he made it to the fourth round moving him to 27th in the world, before losing in straight sets to Tommy Robredo.
Later career
Volandri has struggled greatly after the dropped match-fixing allegations, his only major success since 2007 is making it to the final of the 2012 Brasil Open where he beat then world 38 Thomaz Bellucci in the final he lost to then world 11 and top seed Nicolás Almagro in 3 sets. However, since then he has mainly competed on the ATP Challenger Tour, whilst since he reached the fourth round in the 2007 French Open he has not progressed past the 1st round of a grand slam.On 23 June 2015, Volandri completed 300 wins at the ATP Challenger Tour tournaments by defeating Oriol Roca Batalla at the Aspria Tennis Cup in Milan. He became only the fourth player ever who obtained this achievement.
Controversy
Volandri had earlier come under suspicion for betting and match fixing, and his name featured prominently in a list compiled by the ATP of matches under suspicion for corruption.In January 2009, Volandri received a three-month ban from the ATP for a doping offence after testing positive for salbutamol during the Indian Wells tournament. Volandri had a medical exemption from the International Tennis Federation to use salbutamol, an asthma medication, but the ITF deemed that his use of the drug was beyond therapeutic needs. His suspension was to last until 14 April 2009 and required him to forfeit all prize money and ranking points earned from the date of the failed test until the beginning of his suspension.
In March 2009, the Court of Arbitration for Sport overruled the ATP decision and ruled that Volandri should be reinstated and his forfeited ranking points and earnings returned to him. Volandri stated that he intended to sue the ATP over the incident.
ATP career finals
Singles: 9 (2 titles, 7 runner-ups)
Result | W–L | Date | Tournament | Tier | Surface | Opponent | Score |
Loss | 0–1 | 2003 Croatia Open – Singles| | Croatia Open, Croatia | International | Clay | Carlos Moyá | 4–6, 6–3, 5–7 |
Win | 1–1 | St. Pölten International, Austria | International | Clay | Xavier Malisse | 6–1, 6–4 | |
Loss | 1–2 | Croatia Open, Croatia | International | Clay | Guillermo Cañas | 5–7, 3–6 | |
Loss | 1–3 | Campionati Internazionali di Sicilia, Italy | International | Clay | Tomáš Berdych | 3–6, 3–6 | |
Loss | 1–4 | Campionati Internazionali di Sicilia, Italy | International | Clay | Igor Andreev | 6–0, 1–6, 3–6 | |
Loss | 1–5 | 2006 ATP Buenos Aires – Singles| | Argentina Open, Argentina | International | Clay | Carlos Moyà | 6–7, 4–6 |
Loss | 1–6 | 2006 BCR Open Romania| | Romanian Open, Romania | International | Clay | Jürgen Melzer | 1–6, 5–7 |
Win | 2–6 | 2006 Campionati Internazionali di Sicilia – Singles| | Campionati Internazionali di Sicilia, Italy | International | Clay | Nicolás Lapentti | 5–7, 6–1, 6–3 |
Loss | 2–7 | 2012 Brasil Open – Singles| | Brasil Open, Brazil | International | Clay | Nicolás Almagro | 3–6, 6–4, 4–6 |
Doubles: 1 (1 runner-up)
Result | W–L | Date | Tournament | Tier | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
Loss | 0–1 | 2006 Abierto Mexicano Telcel – Men's Doubles| | Mexican Open, Mexico | International | Clay | Potito Starace | František Čermák Leoš Friedl | 5–7, 2–6 |
ATP Challengers
Outcome | No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Opponent | Score |
Runner-up | 1. | 7 August 2000 | Prague, Czech Republic | Clay | Albert Montañés | 1–6, 1–6 |
Winner | 1. | 18 September 2000 | Biella, Italy | Clay | Hernán Gumy | 6–3, 6–2 |
Runner-up | 2. | 29 April 2002 | Rome, Italy | Clay | Martín Vassallo Argüello | 4–6, 0–6 |
Runner-up | 3. | 12 August 2002 | Graz, Austria | Hard | Olivier Mutis | 3–6, 2–6 |
Winner | 2. | 17 March 2003 | Cagliari, Italy | Clay | Rafael Nadal | 2–6, 6–2, 6–1 |
Winner | 3. | 9 June 2003 | Biella, Italy | Clay | José Acasuso | 2–6, 7–6, 6–4 |
Winner | 4. | 2 August 2004 | Trani, Italy | Clay | Francesco Aldi | 6–1, 6–3 |
Winner | 5. | 21 July 2008 | San Marino | Clay | Potito Starace | 5–7, 6–4, 6–1 |
Winner | 6. | 28 July 2008 | Cordenons, Italy | Clay | Óscar Hernández | 6–3, 7–5 |
Runner-up | 4. | 17 August 2009 | Trani, Italy | Clay | Daniel Köllerer | 3–6, 5–7 |
Winner | 7. | 12 April 2010 | Rome, Italy | Clay | Lamine Ouahab | 6–4, 7–5 |
Winner | 8. | 31 May 2010 | Rome, Italy | Clay | Reda El Amrani | 6–3, 6–2 |
Runner-up | 5. | 2 August 2010 | San Marino | Clay | Robin Haase | 2–6, 6–7 |
Runner-up | 6. | 9 August 2010 | Trani, Italy | Clay | Jesse Huta Galung | 6–7, 4–6 |
Runner-up | 7. | 28 March 2011 | Barletta, Italy | Clay | Aljaž Bedene | 5–7, 3–6 |
Runner-up | 8. | 18 April 2011 | Napoli, Italy | Clay | Thomas Schoorel | 2–6, 6–7 |
Winner | 9. | 18 July 2011 | Orbetello, Italy | Clay | Matteo Viola | 4–6, 6–3, 6–2 |
Runner-up | 9. | 18 September 2011 | Todi, Italy | Clay | Carlos Berlocq | 3–6, 1–6 |
Runner-up | 10. | 17 March 2012 | Rabat, Morocco | Clay | Martin Kližan | 2–6, 3–6 |
Runner-up | 11. | 12 May 2013 | Rome, Italy | Clay | Aljaž Bedene | 4–6, 2–6 |
Winner | 10. | 23 June 2013 | Milan, Italy | Clay | Andrej Martin | 6–3, 6–2 |
Winner | 11. | 28 July 2013 | Orbetello, Italy | Clay | Pere Riba | 6–4, 7–6 |
Runner-up | 12. | 11 August 2013 | City of San Marino, San Marino | Clay | Marco Cecchinato | 3–6, 4–6 |
Runner-up | 13. | 8 September 2013 | Genoa, Italy | Clay | Dustin Brown | 6–7, 3–6 |
Winner | 12. | 17 November 2013 | São Paulo, Brazil | Clay | Alejandro González | 4–6, 6–4, 6–2 |
Runner-up | 14. | 14 September 2014 | Biella, Italy | Clay | Matteo Viola | 5–7, 1–6 |
Singles performance timeline
''Current as far as the 2016 Internazionali BNL d'Italia.1 Was played on hardcourt from 2002–2008.
2 Held as Hamburg Masters until 2008 and Shanghai Masters from 2009.
Doubles performance timeline
''Current as far as the 2012 US Open.Top 10 wins
- Volandri has a 8–23 record against players who were, at the time the match was played, ranked in the top 10.
Season | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | Total |
Wins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 |