Luciano Darderi made a flying start to the 2025 season, but his troubles recently have threatened to derail an excellent campaign.
Darderi won three titles on the ATP Tour between April and July, but he has struggled to sustain that form more recently.
It really has been a poor end to the year for the Italian, who has risen to world number 26 and has won more ATP Tour titles than Lorenzo Musetti and Ben Shelton
Fans of the Italian will hope to see improvement at the start of 2026 – particularly at the Australian Open, where he will most likely be a seeded player.
Luciano Darderi has just lost his fourth consecutive opening round match
On Wednesday, Luciano Darderi surrendered a one-set lead against Miomir Kecmanovic before eventually losing 6-4, 2-6, 3-6.
Darderi, who was the third seed at the Athens Open, has now lost four consecutive opening rounds at ATP Tour-level events.
In fact, if you exclude Darderi’s Challenger title win in Genoa, the 23-year-old has won just two of his last nine matches.
His current four-match losing streak began at the Almaty Open, where he lost his opening match against former junior Wimbledon champion Shintaro Mochizuki.
At the Vienna Open, Darderi lost to Brandon Nakashima in his opening round. A week later, he lost to French youngster Arthur Cazaux at the Paris Masters.
| Tournament | Winner | Score |
| Chengdu Open | Alejandro Tabilo | 6-4, 6-3 |
| Japan Open | Luciano Darderi [bt. Yoshito Nishioka] | 7-6, 6-3 |
| Japan Open | Jenson Brooksby | 7-6, 6-1 |
| Shanghai Masters | Luciano Darderi [bt. Bu Yunchaokete] | 6-4, 6-4 |
| Shanghai Masters | Lorenzo Musetti | 7-5, 7-6 |
| Almaty Open | Shintaro Mochizuki | 6-3, 6-3 |
| Vienna Open | Brandon Nakashima | 6-2, 7-5 |
| Paris Masters | Arthur Cazaux | 7-6, 7-6 |
| Athens Open | Miomir Kecmanovic | 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 |
Darderi’s form has evidently nosedived. In April, he won the Marrakech Open, and in July, he won back-to-back tournaments in Bastad, Sweden, and Umag, Croatia.
Darderi’s ranking remains unaffected
As things stand, Luciano Darderi will remain as the world number 26.
This is because Darderi was not defending any ATP points from 2024 while competing at the Athens Open this week.
Consequently, as mentioned previously, Darderi will likely be seeded at a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in his career when he competes at the 2026 Australian Open.
The Italian will not travel to Bologna for the Davis Cup Finals, which are due to begin on November 18. Darderi was not selected to play for Italy by captain Filippo Volandri.
