Randy Walker
@TennisPublisher
While Jannik Sinner will undoubtedly be seen as the ultimate hero of Italy’s Davis Cup title in 2023, you must certainly look at the contribution of the Italian No. 2 player Matteo Arnaldi and how the Italian Tennis Federation’s commitment to hosting developmental Challenger-level events helped create this great national triumph.
Sinner is a natural talent, a once in a generational type prodigy, who was touted for the top 10 since his early teenage years. However, Arnaldi’s development into the player who would critically put Italy up 1-0 in the Davis Cup Final after his tight three-set win over Alexei Popyrin of Australia was more of a slow-burn, aided by competitive opportunities within his nation’s own border. One of the strategies of the Italian Tennis Federation is to create as many competitive tournament opportunities as possible within their country to not promote the sport, but to make it as easy as possible for Italian players to compete, improve their game, earn prize money and earn ranking points to help their nation to international tennis glory. The extensive opportunities accorded to Arnaldi, starting at age 18, helped mold him into an experienced top 50 player who, alongside Sinner, would give Italy a 2-0 win over Australia to win the Davis Cup Final for only the second time ever.
Arnaldi is 22 years old (the same age as Sinner) and is ranked No. 44. He began his pro career in 2019 and earned his ATP singles point at the $25,000 Futures event in the Italian city of Vercelli and would play seven events in his native country as he got his feet wet in pro competition.
Since the 2020 season was a bit of a wash due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which disrupted most of the tennis season. In 2021, Arnaldi was able to play 10 events in Italy which guided him to a ranking of No. 364 at age 20 as he started the 2022 season at the $45,000 Challenger in Forli, Italy. It would be the first of 18 – YES EIGHTEEN – Challengers that Arnaldi would play in Italy during the year where he began his transition from the Challenger Tour to the ATP Tour.
Arnaldi played nine challengers in Italy before he played, as a wild card entry, in the Rome Masters in May, where he lost in the first round to former U.S. Open champion Marin Cilic. The very next week, there was another Italian competitive opportunity at the Francavilla Al Mare Challenger just a two-hour drive from Rome. It was here where Arnaldi won his first-ever Challenger crown, which moved him to No. 238 in the world and allowing him to be able to qualify for the qualifying rounds at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open later in the year. This was the foot hold Arnaldi needed to start to get some traction to play at the Grand Slam and ATP level. He played his 18th and final ATP Challenger in his native Italy to end the year at the Bergamo Challenger and ended the year ranked No. 134, which helped him also qualify for the “NextGen” Finals, which was played, appropriately enough, in Milan, Italy! In 2023, Arnaldi, buoyed by his experiences and point-gathering opportunities, became a full-time ATP Tour level player, as he ranking climbed into the top 50, highlighted by a fourth-round run to the U.S. Open in August.
It is interesting to note that in 2023, Italy hosted 23 ATP Challengers in all. By comparison, the United States, which has 33 times the geographic size as Italy and has 280 million more people, hosted one fewer ATP Challenger with 22.
