Jannik Sinner congratulated his Italy team-mates on completing their hat-trick of Davis Cup titles as Matteo Berrettini and Flavio Cobolli were the heroes against Spain in the final in Bologna.
Italy became the first team since the United States in 1971 to win three consecutive Davis Cup titles, and they did so without their top-two ranked players in Sinner and Lorenzo Musetti. Sinner had opted to withdraw from the Italy team in order to start his preparations for next season.
Instead, Italy won all three ties without losing a match as former Wimbledon finalist Berrettini and the 23-year-old Cobolli won three matches each to complete the clean sweep in front of their home fans.
Cobolli, who reached the Wimbledon quarter-finals this season, rose to the occasion and pulled off a stunning comeback against Jaume Munar to help Italy over the line against a Spain side who were without the injured Carlos Alcaraz.
After Berrettini dispatched Pablo Carreno Busta 6-3 6-4 in the opening match, the 22-ranked Cobolli battled from a set and a break down to beat Munar 1-6, 7-6(5), 7-5, sparking wild scenes in Bologna.
World No 2 Sinner, who was instrumental to Italy’s triumphs in 2023 and 2024, posted on Instagram shortly after their hat-trick, saying “Congratulations on this incredible victory.”
Cobolli’s win over Belgium’s Zizou Bergs in the semi-finals also defied belief, with the Italian saving seven match points to win a 32-point third-set tiebreak, and he was overcome with emotion after leading Italy to victory.
“It’s impossible to describe this feeling, it’s impossible,” Cobolli said. “I dreamed a lot for this night. I played an amazing match today. I don’t know how I won. The match was tough. Jaume played so good.
“We cannot lose for our country. Sometimes you learn, but you never lose. If you give all you have in your heart… I don’t know what I did today. I don’t know where I am. The only thing I know is that I’m World Champion.”
Italy’s Davis Cup captain Filippo Volandri said completing the Davis Cup hat-trick felt even more special. “It’s the third one in a row, but I’m crying, and I didn’t cry for the first one,” Volandri said.
“It’s something unbelievable. We had a lot of tough moments, even if it doesn’t look like [it], but we had it. But as a group what I said, we had the power to manage these moments. We felt also the players that were not here, but it was like they were here, like Jannik, like [Matteo] Arnaldi, like Musetti.
“It’s a big, big team and only if you have a big team, you can reach this unbelievable result, it’s incredible. Thank you, time to enjoy.”
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