Filippo Volandri
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Filippo Volandri (born 5 September 1981; ) is a former Italian professional male
tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...
player. Volandri is a right-handed player who reached a career-high singles ranking of world no. 25 in July 2007. He turned professional in 1997 and has earned almost $4,000,000 in prize money.


Earlier career


2006: Second title

Volandri won the second title of his career in September 2006, beating
Nicolás Lapentti Nicolás Alexander Lapentti Gómez (; born 13 August 1976) is a former professional tennis player from Ecuador. His brothers, Giovanni Lapentti, Giovanni and Leonardo, uncle Andrés Gómez, Andrés, and cousins Roberto Quiroz, Roberto and Emil ...
in the final of the Sicily International in
Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...
.


2007: Rome Masters & French open success

At the
Rome Masters The Italian Open ( it, Internazionali d'Italia; literally: ''Italy's Internationals''), originally called the Italian International Championships, is a tennis tournament held in Rome, Italy. It is one of the most important clay tennis tournament ...
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 Roger Federer (; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players#Weeks at No. 1, world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 310 weeks, in ...
in straight sets 6–2, 6–4."Federer beaten by wild card"
''Reuters'', 10 May 2007.
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, speaking 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 Tomáš Berdych (; born 17 September 1985) is a Czech former professional tennis player. His most notable achievement was reaching the final of the 2010 Wimbledon Championships, causing consecutive upsets by defeating top seed and six-time champ ...
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 Fernando Francisco González Ciuffardi (; born 29 July 1980) is a Chilean former professional tennis player. During his career he made it to at least the quarterfinals of all four Grand Slam tournaments. He played his only major final at the ...
. At the 2007 French Open he was the 29th seed and made it to the fourth round, rising to No. 27 in the world in the rankings, before losing in straight sets to
Tommy Robredo Tomás Robredo Garcés, known as Tommy Robredo (, ; born 1 May 1982), is a Spanish former professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking was world No. 5, which he reached in August 2006 as a result of winning the Hamburg Masters ea ...
.


Later career

Volandri struggled greatly after the dropped match-fixing allegations, his only major success since 2007 was making it to the final of the
2012 Brasil Open The 2012 Brasil Open was a tennis tournament played on indoor clay courts. It was the 12th edition of the event known as the Brasil Open, and was part of the ATP World Tour 250 series of the 2012 ATP World Tour. It took place from February 13 th ...
after he beat then world No. 38
Thomaz Bellucci Thomaz Cocchiarali Bellucci (born 30 December 1987, in Tietê) is a Brazilian professional tennis player. He achieved a career-high singles ranking of World No. 21 in July 2010. Bellucci used a string of ATP Challenger Tour victories early i ...
in the semifinal. He lost to then world No. 11 and top seed
Nicolás Almagro Nicolás Almagro Sánchez (; born 21 August 1985 in Murcia, Spain) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. He reached the quarterfinals of the French Open in 2008, 2010 and 2012 (losing each time to Rafael Nadal, the eventual ch ...
in 3 sets. However, since then he mainly competed on the
ATP Challenger Tour The ATP Challenger Tour, known until the end of 2008 as the ATP Challenger Series, is a series of international men's professional tennis tournaments. The Challenger Tour events are the second-highest tier of tennis competition, behind the ATP T ...
, whilst since he reached the fourth round in the 2007 French Open he did not progress past the first round of a Grand Slam. On 23 June 2015, Volandri completed 300 wins at the
ATP Challenger Tour The ATP Challenger Tour, known until the end of 2008 as the ATP Challenger Series, is a series of international men's professional tennis tournaments. The Challenger Tour events are the second-highest tier of tennis competition, behind the ATP T ...
tournaments by defeating
Oriol Roca Batalla Oriol Roca Batalla (, ; born 30 April 1993) is a professional Spanish tennis player. Roca Batalla has a career high ATP singles ranking of World No. 193 achieved on 3 August 2015. He also has a career high ATP doubles ranking of World No. 175 a ...
at the
Aspria Tennis Cup The Aspria Tennis Cup (formerly Zenith Tennis Cup) is a professional tennis tournament played on outdoor red clay courts. It is currently part of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Challenger Tour. It is held annually at the Harbour C ...
in
Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
. He became only the fourth player ever who obtained this achievement.


Controversy

Volandri had earlier come under suspicion for betting and
match fixing In organized sports, match fixing is the act of playing or officiating a match with the intention of achieving a pre-determined result, violating the rules of the game and often the law. There are many reasons why match fixing might take place, ...
, 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 Salbutamol, also known as albuterol and sold under the brand name Ventolin among others, is a medication that opens up the medium and large airways in the lungs. It is a short-acting β2 adrenergic receptor agonist which works by causing rel ...
during the Indian Wells tournament. Volandri had a medical exemption from the
International Tennis Federation The International Tennis Federation (ITF) is the governing body of world tennis, wheelchair tennis, and beach tennis. It was founded in 1913 as the International Lawn Tennis Federation by twelve national tennis associations. As of 2016, there a ...
to use salbutamol, an
asthma Asthma is a long-term inflammatory disease of the airways of the lungs. It is characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and easily triggered bronchospasms. Symptoms include episodes of wheezing, cou ...
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 The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS; french: Tribunal arbitral du sport, ''TAS'') is an international body established in 1984 to settle disputes related to sport through arbitration. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland and its co ...
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.Volandri's Drug Ban Lifted
''ESPN'', 31 March 2009.


ATP career finals


Singles: 9 (2 titles, 7 runner-ups)


Doubles: 1 (1 runner-up)


ATP Challengers


Performance timelines


Singles

1 Was played on hardcourt from 2002–2008.
2 Held as
Hamburg Masters The Hamburg European Open (formerly ''German Open Tennis Championships'') is an annual tennis tournament for professional players held in Hamburg, Germany and part of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Tour. Before 2021, it was a mal ...
until 2008 and Shanghai Masters from 2009.


Doubles

''Current as far as the 2012 US Open (tennis).


Top 10 wins

* Volandri has an 8–23 (.258) record against players who were, at the time the match was played, ranked in the top 10.


References


External links

* * *
Official website

Volandri world ranking history
{{DEFAULTSORT:Volandri, Filippo 1981 births Living people Doping cases in tennis Italian male tennis players Olympic tennis players of Italy Tennis players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Italian sportspeople in doping cases