Barazzutti honored with Award of Excellence
November 2, 2013
NEWPORT, R.I. — At today’s Fed Cup by BNP Paribas World Group Final, the International Tennis Hall of Fame and the International Tennis Federation (ITF) honored longtime Italian Fed Cup Captain Corrado Barazzutti with the 2013 Fed Cup Award of Excellence. The award was presented by ITF President Francesco Ricci Bitti and Jane Brown Grimes, president emerita of the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Italian tennis great Lea Pericoli, a dedicated Italian Fed Cup team member in the 1960s and 1970s and a past recipient of the Award of Excellence, participated in the presentation as well. The presentation took place just prior to the start of the final between Italy and Russia at the Tennis Club Cagliari in Sardinia, Italy.
“The Fed Cup Award of Excellence is an honor for an individual who embraces and shares the ideals and spirit of Fed Cup competition, and in his many years of service as Italian Fed Cup Captain, Corrado Barazzutti has always done that. He has instilled teamwork, sportsmanship, and commitment in the team and, under his leadership, the Italian team has achieved great success in Fed Cup competition. In appreciation for his dedication and contributions to the sport of tennis and especially to Fed Cup, we are proud to present Captain Barazzutti with the Fed Cup Award of Excellence,” said ITF President Francesco Ricci Bitti.
Each year since 2001, the ITF and the Hall of Fame have presented the Fed Cup Award of Excellence to a person who represents the ideals and spirit of the Fed Cup competition.
As the Italian Fed Cup Captain since 2002, Barazzutti has led the team through 29 ties, compiling an impressive record of 21-8. Under his leadership, Barrazzutti brought the Italians to the finals for the first time in history in 2006, when they won their first Fed Cup championship title. He has guided the Italian team to championship title three times, (2010, 2009, 2006), and they were finalists in 2007. This season, the team defeated the USA in the First Round and the defending champions, the Czech Republic, in the semifinals to earn a spot in the Fed Cup by BNP Paribas World Group Final.
Barazzutti currently serves as Italian Davis Cup captain as well, and during his playing days, he was a stalwart of the Italian Davis Cup team. He competed in 32 ties between 1972 and 1984, and compiled an overall record of 41-21. He was an integral member of the championship team in 1976, when Italy defeated Chile, and was a member of three Italian teams that advanced to the final – 1980, 1979, and 1977. On the ATP World Tour, Barazzutti achieved a career high ranking of world No. 7 and won 5 titles. He was a semifinalist in both the US Open (1977) and the French Open (1978).
Past recipients of the Fed Cup Award of Excellence have been Jana Novotna of the Czech Republic in 2012; Anastasia Myskina of Russia in 2011; Billie Jean King of the United States in 2010; Mary Joe Fernandez of the United States and Silvia Farina of Italy in 2009; Miguel Margets of Spain in 2008; Lea Pericoli of Italy in 2007; Sabine Appelmans of Belgium in 2006; Françoise “Frankie” Dürr of France in 2005; Olga Morozova of Russia in 2004; Larisa Savchenko of Latvia in 2003; Virginia Wade of Great Britain in 2002; and Spain’s Arantxa Sanchez Vicario and Conchita Martinez in 2001.