Flavia Pennetta

Flavia Pennetta (Italian pronunciation: [ˈflaːvja penˈnetta]; born 25 February 1982) is a retired Italian professional tennis player. She became Italy's first top-10 female singles player on 17 August 2009 and the first Italian to be ranked world No. 1 in doubles on 28 February 2011. She is a Grand Slam singles champion, winning the 2015 US Open by defeating Roberta Vinci in the first all-Italian Grand Slam final.

Pennetta won ten other WTA singles titles, including the 2014 Indian Wells Masters, in which she defeated the top two seeds, both of whom were ranked in the top 3. She also was a mainstay in the Fed Cup team competition, helping to win four titles for Italy in 2006, 2009, 2010, and 2013. Her highlights in doubles include winning the 2010 WTA Finals and the 2011 Australian Open with partner Gisela Dulko, and reaching the 2005 and 2014 US Open finals, partnering respectively with Elena Dementieva and Martina Hingis.

After winning the 2015 US Open, Pennetta announced she would retire at the end of the season. She then earned a spot in the WTA Finals for the first time, where she defeated eventual champion Agnieszka Radwańska in the round-robin stage, and retired with a top 10 ranking. Throughout her career she defeated many other Grand Slam champions: Justine Henin, Mary Pierce, Martina Hingis, Amélie Mauresmo, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Victoria Azarenka, Samantha Stosur, Li Na, Petra Kvitová, Maria Sharapova, and Venus Williams in three consecutive meetings.

Pennetta was pronounced a Knight of Order of Merit of the Republic on 24 January 2007 by Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, then President of Italy.