The surprise of the year: Marco Cecchinato
Marco Cecchinato pulled off a major surprise last June when he beat Novak Djokovic in the quarter final at Roland Garros to reach his first Grand Slam semifinal ranked 72nd in the world. He lost to Dominic Thiem in the semifinal, but he climbed to world number 27. The 25-year-old player from Palermo lifted his maiden ATP title in Budapest as a lucky loser after losing in the qualifying tournament and won his second tournament in Umag last July. He reached his first Round of 16 in a Masters 1000 tournament in Shanghai, where he lost to Djokovic in the third round after wins over Gilles Simon and Hyeon Chung. The Sicilian player ended the year with a career-ranking of world number 20.
It was a successful season for Italian men’s tennis. Two Italian players (Fabio Fognini and Marco Cecchinato) have ended the season in the top 20 of the ATP Rankings for the first time since 1979, when Adriano Panatta and Corrado Barazzutti were ranked respectively world number 16 and 19.
Fabio Fognini has also enjoyed the best season of his career and equalled his career-high of world number 13 after winning three tournaments in Sao Paulo, Bastad and Los Cabos (where he beat Juan Martin Del Potro). He also reached the final in Chengdu and the semifinals in Sydney, Rio De Janeiro, Geneva, Beijing and Stockholm.
The team of the year: Croatia
The Croatian team won the Davis Cup for the second time in history. 13 years after their first triumph in 2005, when a team featuring Ivan Ljubicic and Mario Ancic beat Slovakia. The Croatian team beat France 3-1 at the Pierre Mauroy in Lille winning all singles matches without losing a set. Marin Cilic and Borna Coric never dropped their serve. The Davis Cup triumph was a re-match for Croatia who lost against Argentina in the final played two years ago in Zagreb. Marin Cilic and Borna Coric ended the season in the world’s top 12. Cilic won the Queen’s tournament and reached the Australian Open final. Coric reached the Shanghai final and won the Halle final. The doubles team features two strong specialists Mate Pavic and Ivan Dodig. Pavic won his first doubles Grand Slam title at the Australian Open and finished the season with his Austrian partner Oliver Marach as the world number 1 doubles team in the world.
“This is one of the best teams we have ever had. It’s like a dream team. After seven years on the bench it’s an honour for me to be here. My singles players did not lose a set, they did not lose serve in three matches, which is an unbelievable achievement and shows the quality we produced”, said Croatian captain Zeljko Krajan.
