Davis Cup captain in tears as he addresses Italy | Sports News

Italian Davis Cup captain Filippo Volandri was moved to tears as Italy clinched the World Cup of males’s tennis for the third consecutive yr, and for the primary time in entrance of a home crowd.

The victory was achieved regardless of the absence of the nation’s two top-ranked gamers, Jannik Sinner and Lorenzo Musetti, who opted out of the crew match this yr. Italy has made historical past by turning into the primary nation to win three Davis Cups consecutively, for the reason that USA bagged 5 successive trophies from 1968 to 1972.

It completed this feat with out sustaining an undefeated streak all through the Finals week. Flavio Cobolli and Matteo Berrettini rose to the event for his or her nation, with each males securing victories in all three of their singles matches this week. It comes after a Spanish participant misplaced his cool and hit the umpire’s chair.

However, Volandri didn’t neglect to acknowledge Sinner and those that had been lacking from the crew. During Sunday’s championship match towards Spain, Berrettini gave Italy the lead by defeating Pablo Carreno Busta 6-3, 6-4. World No. 22 Cobolli then staged a exceptional comeback to conquer Jaume Munar 1-6 7-6(5) 7-5 amid a full home on the SuperTennis Arena. The Italian squad joined him on the court docket to revel in their victory.

Sinner had been instrumental in Italy’s back-to-back Davis Cup wins in 2023 and 2024 in Malaga. However, the world No. 2 confronted criticism when he selected to skip this yr’s crew occasion to increase his low season, regardless that it meant lacking the chance to play in entrance of a home crowd in Bologna.

The crew was dealt one other blow when world No. 8 Musetti withdrew shortly after being knocked out in the group stage of final week’s ATP Finals.

But there was no motive for alarm, as Cobolli and Berrettini led Italy to their fourth Davis Cup title general, and their third consecutive championship. Following the triumph, crew captain Volandri acknowledged the contributions of your complete squad, together with those that weren’t current.

“It’s the third one in a row, but I’m crying, and I didn’t cry for the first one. It’s something unbelievable. We had a lot of tough moments, even if it doesn’t look like I.T., but we had it. But as a group what I said, we had the power to manage these moments,” the 44-year-old mentioned.

“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.”

Cobolli and Berrettini delivered excellent performances during Finals week, defeating Austria and Belgium en path to the ultimate. Cobolli survived seven match factors in a dramatic third-set tiebreak towards Zizou Bergs on Friday to secure their spot in the championship match.

The Italian pair share a longstanding connection – Berrettini was simply 14 when he met an eight-year-old Cobolli and started coaching with Cobolli’s father, Stefano, who grew to become his coach.

Stefano was current on Italy’s crew bench all through the Davis Cup Finals. On Sunday, Cobolli secured what stands out as the most important victory of his profession in entrance of his household and supporters, serving to his nation defend the trophy.

The 23-year-old expressed, “It’s impossible to describe this feeling, it’s impossible. I dreamed a lot for this night, I don’t know how I won because the match was tough, Jaume played so good. You know, we cannot lose for our country, so sometimes you learn, but you never lose. If you give all what you have in your heart.

“I believe Jaume performed very nicely in the primary set I used to be a little bit nervous, I used to be shaking a little bit. But on the finish I checked out my bench and I discovered one thing in my physique, in my coronary heart, and I gave the whole lot for this crew and on the finish, it was a great factor. Like I mentioned earlier than, I’m a world champion. It’s superb. I invite everybody that I actually need to come at the moment, my household is right here, my mates, my brother, my girlfriend so I’m simply completely satisfied.”