Filippo Volandri

• Date of birth:  September 5, 1981
• Birthplace:  Livorno, Italy
• Residence: Livorno, Italy
• Height: 182cm (6ft 0in)
• Weight:  73kg (161lb)
• Plays:  Right-handed; one-handed backhand
• Turned Pro: 1997

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Filippo Volandri (born on September 5, 1981 in Livorno, Italy) is a professional male tennis player. Volandri, a right-handed player, stands 6'0" tall, and reached a career-high ranking of 28 on May 16, 2005.

     He turned pro in 1997, and as of January 2006, had earned over $1,300,000 in prize money. In September 2006, he lost the final of the Bucharest ATP tournament against Jürgen Melzer (6-1, 7-5). Volandri won the second title of his career in September 2006, beating Nicolas Lapentti in the final of the Sicily International in Palermo.

Rome Masters success

At the Rome Masters in 2007 Volandri, having entered as a wild card, recorded the biggest win of his career by dispatching world number one 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 furthest-forward rows.

Afterwards Volandri hailed the victory as not only for himself but for Italy, telling something of the regard in which Federer, who holds the record for the longest spell as the world's top-ranked male player, is held. The result was all the more felt due to Italy's relative under-achievement on the men's tennis scene in recent times. For his part Federer offered few excuses for the 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 highly-tipped world number 12 Tomas Berdych, 6-2 6-3, in the quarter final. The win meant Volandri would be the first Italian to contest the event's semi-finals since 1978.

His run stopped in the semifinals, however, as he lost to Fernando Gonzalez 6-1 6-2, renewed with energy and form. Volandri was never allowed to reproduce the sort of form that had carried him through to the last four, as Gonzalez displayed why many considered him the only realistic threat to Rafael Nadal on clay (prior to his first-round exit at the French Open).

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