Gaudenzi was born in Faenza,[2] Italy, in the province of Ravenna. He grew up in a tennis family. His grandfather founded a tennis club, his uncle was the fifth highest ranked player in Italy and his father also played. Gaudenzi started playing tennis at age 3.[3]
Gaudenzi graduated in law from University of Bologna and obtained an MBA with Honors at IUM.[4]
Tennis Career
Gaudenzi turned professional in 1990 after becoming Junior World Champion by winning both the French Open and US Open junior titles.[5] He reached a career high ATP singles ranking of world No. 18 in 1995. He has victories over Roger Federer in 2002 Rome, Pete Sampras in the 2002 French Open, Jim Courier in the 1994 US Open as well as Goran Ivanišević, Thomas Muster, Michael Stich and Yevgeny Kafelnikov. He represented Italy at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, where he was defeated in the third round by the eventual champion Andre Agassi,[6] and reached the Davis Cup Final in 1998,[7] semifinals in 1995 and 1996, playing both singles and doubles. He won three ATP Tour titles and six finals, and he reached the semifinals in the Monte Carlo Master Series in 1995, losing to Thomas Muster.
Post-Playing Career
Gaudenzi currently serves as Executive Chairman of the ATP Tour. He was first elected in January 2020 and in June 2023 was re-elected for a second term.[8] Gaudenzi is a board member of ATP Media,[9] the global sales, broadcast production and distribution arm of the ATP World Tour rights.[10]
Gaudenzi is also the non-executive Chairman of TDI,[11] a joint venture between ATP and ATP Media, to manage and commercialise data across a variety of global markets.
Previously he was Chief Revenues Officer at Musixmatch[12] and was the co-founder and CMO at Soldo.[13]