South Tyrol, 1991
Football and skiing first
At seven his interests were football and skiing, and nobody in his family played tennis. He tried the game only because his best friend had taken it up.
Source: ATP TourThe 21st century
Andreas Seppi
Italy · born Bolzano, 1984 · right-handed · Eastbourne champion 2011
All playersBack to the rankings
3
Grass-court finals: Eastbourne 2011 and 2012, Halle 2015
3
ATP singles titles, the first on grass at Eastbourne
4R
Best Wimbledon result, 2013
66
Consecutive Grand Slam main draws, Wimbledon 2005 to the 2022 Australian Open
18
Career-high ranking, January 2013
Playing career
Andreas Seppi was born in Bolzano in 1984 and grew up in Kaltern, in South Tyrol, speaking German as his first language. Football and skiing came first; he took up tennis only after his best friend tried it. Coached for most of his career by Massimo Sartori, he spent his first professional seasons on the Futures and Challenger circuits before making his name on clay, and reached the semi-finals of the Hamburg Masters in 2008.
He won three ATP titles, on grass at Eastbourne in 2011 and on clay in Belgrade and indoors in Moscow in 2012, the first Italian to win titles on all three surfaces. He reached No. 18 in January 2013, beat Roger Federer at the 2015 Australian Open after ten straight defeats, and finished 15 straight seasons in the top 100. His run of 66 consecutive Grand Slam main draws is the third-longest in history. Shoulder and back problems ended his career in October 2022, aged 38, at the Challenger in Ortisei, in South Tyrol.
On grass
| Eastbourne 2011 | Unseeded; played his semi-final and the final on the same day after rain, and led Janko Tipsarević 7-6, 3-6, 5-3 when the Serb retired hurt in fading light. The first ATP title by an Italian man since 2006 |
|---|---|
| Grass finals lost | Eastbourne 2012: lost to Andy Roddick 6-3, 6-2. Halle 2015: lost to Roger Federer 7-6, 6-4, the biggest final of his career |
| Wimbledon | Fourth round in 2013 as 23rd seed, lost to Juan MartÃn del Potro 6-4, 7-6, 6-3. In 2006 he lost to Andre Agassi at Agassi's last Wimbledon |
| Nottingham 2006 | Semi-finalist on grass, in the same season he reached the semi-finals in Sydney |
Every grass title: 1
Show every title, tournament by tournament
| Eastbourne | ||
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Men's singles | |
Leading grass titles only: the grass majors, tour-level grass events since 1968 and the leading grass championships before 1968. †single source; ‡ sources disagree. Roll of champions
"I would have signed immediately if somebody would have told me, 'You could play until the age of 38'"
Anecdotes
The person behind the player.
Eastbourne, June 2011
A title in the gloom
Rain had wiped out Friday, so both semi-finals and the final were played on the Saturday. Tipsarević asked for play to be stopped for bad light early in the third set and was overruled; Seppi went 4-0 up, rain halted play, and after the restart, in an almost empty stadium, Tipsarević won three games, slipped at 3-4 and hurt his leg, dropped serve and retired. Seppi had his first title after two hours 35 minutes.
Source: Reuters, via Stabroek NewsMelbourne, January 2015
Eleventh time lucky
Unseeded at the Australian Open, he beat the second seed and four-times champion Roger Federer in four sets in the third round, after losing all ten of their previous meetings.
Source: WikipediaBoulder, Colorado
A home in the Rockies
In December 2017 he bought a house in Boulder, Colorado. When he retired, the family planned to return there, and his two children were to go to school there.
Source: ATP TourOrtisei, October 2022
Goodbye in South Tyrol
He chose to finish at the Challenger in Ortisei, in South Tyrol, after shoulder and back problems had worn him down. "There I knew that my body can't do this anymore," he said, adding that it had become "just difficult to keep up with all these young guys".
Source: ATP TourJoin Grass Tennis Club
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Where they won on grass
- Devonshire Park, Eastbourne
- Find a grass court near you
Rivals and partners
- Roger Federer
- Andy Roddick
- Janko Tipsarević
- Juan MartÃn del Potro
- Nick Kyrgios
- Andre Agassi
On Grass Tennis Club
Elsewhere online
Sources
- "Andreas Seppi retirement feature", ATP Tour, 2022
- "Seppi beats Tipsarevic in bizarre final", Reuters, Stabroek News, 2011
- "Tipsarevic a doubt for Wimbledon after Eastbourne final retirement", The National, 2011
- 2013 Wimbledon men's singles, Wikipedia
- Eastbourne International, Wikipedia
- Andreas Seppi, Wikipedia
- GTC roll of grass champions, checked against a second source where one exists
Page updated 4 November 2026. Spotted an error? Send a correction.
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