The tennis world has been buzzing about Italian tennis of late. With #NextGenATP players Jannik Sinner and Lorenzo Musetti blossoming into stars, the future of the sport in their country looks bright. But this week at the ATP Cup, Matteo Berrettini and Fabio Fognini have shown that Italy is not just poised to shine in the future; the country is already making its mark.

The Italians will meet Team Russia in Sunday’s championship match. They are not surprised about it, either. “Surprised? No,” Fognini said. “I'm honest.” Berrettini and Fognini have not surged out of nowhere. They both broke into the Top 10 in the FedEx ATP Rankings in 2019, becoming the third (Fognini) and fourth (Berrettini) Italians to achieve the feat since the inception of the Rankings in 1973.