No fanfare, no final tour — just one last brawl on the sport’s grandest stage.
He didn’t lift the trophy. He didn’t even make it out of the first round. Yet on the first day of Wimbledon 2025, Fabio Fognini, 38 years old, ranked 138th in the world, played what might go down as one of the most unforgettable exits tennis has seen in a while.
Five sets. Four hours and thirty-five minutes. And across the net, none other than Carlos Alcaraz, back-to-back Wimbledon champ and top seed. Fognini didn’t win — the score read 7-5, 6-7(5), 7-5, 2-6, 6-1 in favor of the Spaniard — but he knew what it meant. In tears, behind the curtain of the locker room, he decided that was it.
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Then end for Fognini: “It’s time to be honest with myself.”
He said those words the following day, standing in front of the press at the All England Club. “This is the best way to say goodbye,” he added, visibly emotional but not broken. Fognini knew the past few years had chipped away at his form and ranking. The injuries, the time off, the frustration of fighting a body that no longer answered the call — it had all built up.
And yet, against a player half his age and twice his pace, Fognini turned back the clock for one final showdown. He hit backhands that curved like poetry and forehands that slapped the grass like thunder. After that, he had no interest in another Challenger event or dragging himself through another rehab cycle. “I still love this game,” he said. “But after that match, I don’t want to look back.”
A career that was always a little different
Fognini was never built for predictability. He wasn’t Djokovic’s clinical consistency. He wasn’t Nadal’s warrior resolve. He wasn’t Federer’s ballet. What he was — was human. Brilliant. Frustrating. Impossible to ignore. In a sport of automaton forehands and robotic point-building, Fognini played with feeling. Some days it worked wonders. Other days it cost him dearly.
Still, his résumé stands proud:
- 9 ATP singles titles, including the Monte-Carlo Masters in 2019 — the first Italian man to win a Masters 1000 title
- Australian Open 2015 doubles champion with Simone Bolelli — the first all-Italian duo to win a Grand Slam in the Open Era
- Peaked at World No. 9 in singles in July 2019
- Quarterfinalist at Roland-Garros in 2011
That Monte-Carlo title? He beat Nadal on clay on the way to it. Only a handful of men can say that out loud.
“I’ve been in this sport for 20 years. I don’t know anything else.”
It’s always the moments after the match that sting most. “I was dead after two sets,” Fognini admitted. “But the rhythm, the atmosphere, the crowd — they carried me.” The crowd, in return, gave back as much as he gave. Center Court roared with every drop shot, every sliding return, every fist-pump that hinted this wasn’t a player from the future — this was one from the past, giving his last breath to the game.
“Losing that way felt like a win,” he confessed. “The way Carlos said goodbye to the crowd, the way I left that court, the way I hugged my family… That was more than any trophy.”
No farewell tour. No victory lap. Just goodbye.
Fognini said his plan had been to hang up the racquet next year in Monte-Carlo, the tournament he cherishes most. “But life doesn’t always go by script,” he said. He decided instead to retire here, now, without another point to play.
He won’t play another tournament. That’s it.
And as odd as it may seem, there’s a lesson there. Sometimes the best way to leave is while you’re still burning. Not after you’ve faded, not after you’ve slipped away unnoticed. Fognini went out throwing punches — elegant, unpredictable, full-hearted ones.
An Italian original, a tennis one-off
What made Fabio different wasn’t just his tennis. It was the mood swings, the chaos, the unpredictability. It was yelling at himself mid-match. It was winning while looking like he was losing, and losing in a way only he could.
He wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea. That’s fine. This wasn’t a man trying to be liked. This was a man trying to feel something on a tennis court.
And after 20 years, the feeling never left.
Sources:
- Wimbledon Official Media Center
- ATP Tour archives
- Post-match press conference with Fabio Fognini
- Tennis Channel interview segments from July 8–9, 2025
