Italy has become the first country in over 50 years to win the Davis Cup title for a third consecutive year after beating Spain 2-0 in the final.
The home nation sealed victory thanks to another heroic fight by Flavio Cobolli, who came back from a set down to beat Jaume Munar 1-6, 7-6(5), 7-5 in a marathon clash that lasted nearly three hours. 23-year-old Cobolli looked jaded early on in the match before weathering the storm to seal another remarkable win in the competition. Two days early, he won another marathon clash against Belgium’s Zizou Bergs, which ended with a roller-coaster 32-point deciding tiebreaker.
“It’s impossible to describe this feeling. I dreamt a lot for this night,” said Cobolli.
“I played an amazing match today. I don’t know how I won because the match was tough and Jaume played so good.”
“I gave everything for this team, and in the end, it was a great thing. I’m a champion.” He later added.
Cobolli was in the position of being able to win the tie for Spain thanks to his compatriot Matteo Berrettini, who won the first match of the tie. The former Wimbledon finalist surged to a 6-3, 6-4 win over Pablo Carreno Busta and is now on an 11-match winning streak in the competition. Overall, he has a 14-1 win-loss record in the event, including doubles.
“I was a bit tense this morning but I told myself I needed to make sure I felt good on the court,” Berrettini commented afterwards.
Italy are the first nation to have won three consecutive Davis Cup titles since America went on an unbeaten run between 1968 and 1972. Although they are the first team in history to achieve the hat-trick after the removal of the challenge round.
Captain Filippo Volandri has been in charge of Italy since 2021, impressively winning 21 out of 24 ties played. He also competed in the competition as a player between 2001 and 2010.
“It’s something unbelievable. We had a lot of tough moments, even if it doesn’t look like it,” said Volandri.
“As a group, we had the power to manage this moment. We also felt the players that are not here, but it was like they were here, like Jannik, Arnaldi and Musetti.
“It’s a big team and only if you have a big team can you reach this unbelievable result. It’s incredible.”
The triumph was achieved without the support of Italy’s two highest-ranked players, Jannik Sinner and Lorenzo Musetti. Sinner chose to skip the event in order to have a longer off-season. Meanwhile, Musetti’s absence is due to a combination of physical and family reasons.
In the ATP rankings, Italy currently has nine singles players in the top 100.
