Panatta is the younger brother of 1976 French Open winner Adriano Panatta . He was Italian Junior Champion in 1978 and Italian national tennis champion three times between 1980 and 1982. In 1982 he was also in his first individual final on the ATP World Tour , but in Cairo he was defeated by Brad Drewett . In the following years his best results were quarterfinals, only in 1985 tournament successes followed again. That year he won his first and only individual title in Bari by beating Lawson Duncan in the final and the double titles in Bari and Nice . In total, he won six double titles in the course of his career, six more times he was in a double-final. He reached his highest ranking in the tennis world rankings in 1984 with position 46 in singles and in 1988 with position 45 in doubles.
His best individual results in Grand Slam tournaments were two third round participations in the French Open . In doubles, he reached the third round of the French Open twice and the third round of the US Open once .
Panatta played 13 singles and six doubles games for the Italian Davis Cup team between 1983 and 1987 . He was twice with the team in the quarterfinals of the world group, both games against Australia in 1984 and against Sweden in 1986 were lost 0-5; Panatta lost both of his singles and the doubles game.
Italy
Lawson Duncan
Cairo
Brad Drewett
Thierry Tulasne
Pavel Složil
Alejandro Ganzábal
Leonardo Lavalle
Joakim Nyström
Thomas Muster
Athens
Sergio Casal Emilio Sánchez Vicario
Carlos di Laura
Libor Pimek Blaine Willenborg