BOLOGNA, Italy: Italy remains the king of the Davis Cup – and didn’t even need Jannik Sinner this time.
Matteo Berrettini and Flavio Cobolli were the stars for the Italians without the absent Sinner, both winning their singles matches to earn an unassailable 2-0 lead over Spain in the final on Sunday.
It’s a fourth Davis Cup title for Italy, and a third in a row. The last nation to win three straight titles was the United States, which won five on the bounce from 1968-72.
The second-ranked Sinner, who led Italy to men’s tennis biggest team trophy the past two years, opted out of playing this week, preferring to prepare for next season instead. No. 8-ranked Lorenzo Musetti wasn’t playing, either.
Italy didn’t need them, winning all three of its matches 2-0 this week in the SuperTennis Arena in Bologna after eliminating Austria in the quarterfinals and Belgium in the semifinals.
Spain was also without its star player — top-ranked Carlos Alcaraz.
In Sunday’s final, Berrettini beat Pablo Carreno Busta 6-3, 6-4 before Cobolli fought back to beat Jaume Munar 1-6, 7-6 (5), 7-5 and clinch the winning point — as he has all three times this week. Cobolli dropped his racket to the ground and was lifted in the air by his Italy teammates.
Italy first won the Davis Cup in 1976, before wins in Malaga in 2023 and ‘24. This is the first time it has won on home soil.
Six-time champion Spain was playing in the title match for the first time since 2019.
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Not snubbed, says tennis federation
Meanwhile, the head of the International Tennis Federation insisted that top players had not snubbed the Davis Cup despite the absence of stars Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz.
“There’s this false feeling out there that top players don’t represent their nation. That’s not true,” David Haggerty told reporters ahead of Sunday’s final.
“Some of those top players that played in the qualifier round or the second qualifier round didn’t make it to the finals. And so we had many top players that have played,” added Haggerty.
“And while Jannik and Carlos would be nice to have here, their teams are competing with the spirit of the strength that they provide to their teammates.”
American Taylor Fritz, Australian Alex De Minaur, Dane Holger Rune and Norwegian Casper Ruud — all in the top 20 of the men’s rankings — featured in the early rounds of the competition without managing to lead their country to finals in Bologna.
Spain’s Alcaraz pulled out injured on Tuesday while his Italian rival Sinner announced weeks ago that he wouldn’t participate in order to rest ahead of the 2026 season.
Italian fans were also denied the chance to see Lorenzo Musetti play for his country after the world No. 8 withdrew following his elimination from the ATP Finals earlier this month.
Musetti cited his physical condition and the imminent birth of his second child as the reasons for him not taking part on home soil.
