The Italy women's national tennis team represents

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

in international

women's tennis Women's tennis is one of the most popular sports for women. It is one of the few sports in which women command fame and popularity that equal those of their male counterparts. Women's Tennis Association is the main organisation which runs femal ...

and is directed by the

Federazione Italiana Tennis The Italian Tennis Federation ( it, Federazione Italiana Tennis, FIT) is the national governing body for the Tennis sport in Italy. History The FIT was born in Florence in 1910 with just 26 affiliated clubs. Davis and Fed Cup ATP Cup United ...

. The team played in the first ever tournament in

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cov ...

, and is one of four teams that has taken part in every single edition since. The Italian national team was initially unsuccessful in world tennis, only winning twenty ties in the first two decades of competition never reaching past the quarterfinals since

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, but in recent times they have become of the most successful teams in the world. They have been a regular member of the ITF rankings World Top Ten since the initiation of the rankings in

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

, and became one of five teams to reach the World No. 1 position in

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, after they managed to reach all but one final from

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

. They have also reached every semifinal since

, and since

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

, have accumulated a 22–9 win–loss ratio.

Francesca Schiavone Francesca Schiavone (; born 23 June 1980) is an Italian former professional tennis player. She turned professional in 1998 and won the 2010 French Open singles title, becoming the first Italian woman to win a Grand Slam event in singles. She wa ...

holds the Italian Fed Cup record for most singles wins and total wins, while

Roberta Vinci Roberta Vinci (; born 18 February 1983) is an Italian professional padel and former tennis player. In doubles tennis, she won five major tournaments and reached the world No. 1 position. She also reached a career-high ranking of world No. 7 in ...

holds the record for most doubles wins and years of participation.

Sandra Cecchini Anna-Maria "Sandra" Cecchini (; born 27 February 1965) is a retired professional tennis player from Italy. Career Cecchini turned professional in 1984. She won 12 singles and 11 doubles titles on the WTA Tour. She had career wins over Chris Ev ...

has participated in the most ties for Italy, however, having played in just two more ties Schiavone and Vinci. Former ATP World No. 7 and Davis Cup captain

Corrado Barazzutti Corrado Barazzutti (born 19 February 1953, in Udine) is a former tennis player from Italy. His career-high singles ranking was World No. 7, achieved in August 1978. After his player career Barazzutti was non-playing captain of the Italy Davis C ...

is the current captain of the Italian Fed Cup team, having held that position since 2002. As of April 2013, the team is the World No. 2 in the ITF rankings, with only

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

holding a higher position.

Current team

History

Italy competed in its first Fed Cup in

, the team consisting of

Lea Pericoli Lea Pericoli (born 22 March 1935) is an Italian former tennis player and later television presenter and journalist from Milan. She reached the last sixteen of the French Open two times and the Wimbledon Championships three times, and is also fam ...

and Silvana Lazzarino. They are one of four nations to have competed in every edition of the tournament. Italy won the Cup in

and

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

Results

1963-1979

1980-1994

1995-2014

Records

Longest winning streak

Finals: 5 (4 titles, 1 runner-up)

Notes

References

External links

* {{Italian national teams Billie Jean King Cup teams

Fed Cup The Billie Jean King Cup (or the BJK Cup) is the premier international team competition in women's tennis, launched as the Federation Cup in 1963 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the International Tennis Federation (ITF). The name was cha ...

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 ...