Flavia Pennetta

Flavia Pennetta was born February 25, 1982 in Brindisi, Apulia and is an Italian professional tennis player. She became Italy's first top-10 female singles player on 17 August 2009 and also the first Italian tennis player to be ranked no. 1 in doubles on 28 February 2011.

Pennetta has won ten career WTA singles titles, including the 2014 Indian Wells Premier Mandatory, during which she defeated the top two seeds, both of whom were ranked in the top 3. She has also been a mainstay in the Fed Cup team competition, helping to win all four of Italy's titles (2006, 2009–10, 2013).

Pennetta has defeated multiple Grand Slam singles champions, such as Justine Henin, Mary Pierce, Martina Hingis, Amélie Mauresmo, Venus Williams, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Victoria Azarenka, Samantha Stosur, Li Na, and Maria Sharapova. Pennetta is also one of only seven women to beat Venus Williams three consecutive times. In doubles, Pennetta won her first Grand Slam title at the 2011 Australian Open with partner Gisela Dulko, and also reached the 2005 and 2014 US Open finals partnered with Elena Dementieva and Martina Hingis, respectively. She reached the US Open semifinals in 2013, the first Grand Slam singles semifinals appearance of her career at the age of 31 and whilst ranked no. 83 in the world.

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