Italy Owes Its Davis Cup Finals Success To Its Sense Of Togetherness

Team Italy, 2025 Davis Cup champions
Team Italy: Andrea Vavassori, Simone Bolelli, Matteo Berrettini, Flavio Cobolli, Lorenzo Sonego, team captain Filippo Volandri (photo: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images for ITF)

BOLOGNA/WASHINGTON, November 24, 2025 (by Michael Dickens)

Italy’s favorite son, World No. 2 Jannik Sinner, was no where to be found inside SuperTennis Arena in Bologna Sunday evening. But guess what? It didn’t matter. That’s because Italy remained King of the Davis Cup, a trophy which it won for the third-consecutive year and fourth time overall.

The Italians beat Spain 2-0 in back of the one-two punch that Matteo Berrettini and Flavio Cobolli provided in singles to win the Davis Cup Finals title. They got the job done. Like they had done against Austria in the quarterfinals and Belgium in the semifinals, Berrettini and Cobolli provided Italy with a pair of winning efforts against the Spaniards. As it turned out, doubles specialists Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori, ranked World No. 7, did not have to play a single point all week long.

Against Spain, the 56th-ranked Berrettini defeated No. 89 Pablo Carreño Busta, 6-3, 6-4, in one hour and 18 minutes. Then, World No. 22 Cobolli rallied from a set and a break down to beat No. 36 Jaume Munar, 1-6, 7-6 (5), 7-5, in two hours and 56 minutes. Cobolli broke Munar in the 11th game of the decider to go ahead 6-5 and served out the title victory.

The championship tie never got to the doubles rubber for Spain, which had World No. 6 Marcel Granollers and Pedro Martinez waiting in the wings. The dynamic duo had garnered deciding points for the Spaniards twice during earlier tie wins over Czechia and Germany.

“It was a very, very close tie,” Spain team captain David Ferrer said afterward. “Italy in important moments, they play really good. It’s not easy for us to play in Italy against Italy.”

Munar added: “It was a great atmosphere I think. This is Davis Cup. Nothing more than congratulate Italy and the whole team because they did also a fantastic job.”

While Sinner, who won the ATP Finals title a week ago, opted out of playing in the Davis Cup Finals in order to get a head start on preparing for the 2026 season and World No. 8 Lorenzo Musetti also did not make himself available, Spain was also without its biggest star, World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz, He missed the entire Davis Cup Finals week due to an injury he sustained a week earlier at the ATP Finals in Turin, where he finished runner-up to Sinner. His late withdrawal left the Spaniards with just a four-player roster for the entire Davis Cup Final 8.

As a result, the lack of Sinner and Musetti provided Berrettini with the opportunity to break into Italy’s line-up, and it elevated Cobolli into the No. 1 singles position. Ditto for Munar at No. 1 singles with Spain, in place of Alcaraz. It became apparent from the outset of the week that Berrettini and Cobolli embraced their new roles in Bologna.

Once Cobolli secured championship point to beat Munar in a grueling and dramatic rubber that began terribly for him, he was mobbed by team captain, Filippo Volandri, and the rest of his Italian teammates. Then, Cobolli knelt down and kissed the very hard-court surface he secured his Davis Cup triumph on.

Soon after, once Team Italy had received their champion’s medals, singing their national anthem, “Il Canto degli Italiani” (“The Song of the Italians”), never felt so good. Together, Volandri, Berrettini, Cobolli, Bolelli, Vavassori and Lorenzo Sonego sang loudly and proudly. Afterward, together they hoisted the Davis Cup trophy – and the celebration was on: for them and for their fans, both in Bologna and across Italy.

“It’s [an] amazing feeling,” Volandri said during the team’s champion’s news conference after the trophy ceremony. “Yeah, Lorenzo [taught] me to say ‘amazing’. ‘Unbelievable’, too. It’s a really amazing sensation. Yeah, we won three Davis Cups, but this one is completely different in front of our crowd, in our country.

“From my side, I didn’t cry for the first two, but I cried for this one because it means a lot for me. I have to only say thanks to these guys. They’re amazing, their effort. This unbelievable trophy. I’m so proud. We all have to be proud of these guys.”

Cobolli was asked by a reporter what allowed him to be able to make such a big comeback against Munar, especially after he spotted him a double-break 5-0 lead, lost the opening set 6-1, then fell behind early in the second set. 

“I think I was a little bit nervous at the beginning of the match,” said Cobolli, who never got too down on himself and kept plugging away, point by point, game by game. “It means a lot this trophy for me. I was a little bit tight. But at the end I tried to play my game, take energy from the bench, from the crowd. I tried to stay positive also at the beginning of the second set, but it’s not easy to play this kind of match.

“Yeah, at the end I’m really happy because I play my best tennis on the crucial moment. … And this is the best day of my life.”

Cobolli’s best-day-of-my-life comment drew laughter from Volandri and the rest of the team – but he made a good point.

After Berrettini won his rubber, he returned to Team Italy’s bench after taking a mandatory drug test. Only then did he become his team’s biggest cheerleader. Berrettini was asked what it was like watching Cobolli, 23, six years younger than him, but someone he’s known since they were both kids. 

“It was stressful,” he explained. “Was stressful because I was elected for, like everyone else, doping. After my match, I had to do what I had to do. I was, ‘Okay, I’m going to lose the first 20 minutes.’ The first 20 minutes was the first set. 

“Lorenzo actually texted me, ‘Come here, we need you.’

“We started screaming as loud as we could. I think that’s the strength, the weapon that we have. We are so together. We play together. Doesn’t matter who’s playing. We’re playing in five every time, and six with the captain. It was a team effort even though we played just two singles. That’s why it feels special.”

Later, Berrettini was asked to describe how winning this year’s Davis Cup title differed from the other ones Italy won in 2023 and 2024. “I feel like every year is different for different reasons,” he said. “First time, I watched it from outside. I couldn’t touch it and lift it. I used that kind of energy to come back and win it last year.

“This year, I used the motivation to play here in Bologna during the summer when I wasn’t feeling my best. I have to say the Captain, the Federation, Umberto Rihanna, who is not here but is a big part of this team, helped me and always gave me the confidence to tell me if I was fit, I would have been considered, which I don’t give it for granted.”

Although Berrettini was the lowest-ranked singles player, behind Cobolli and No. 39 Sonego, Volandri had the confidence to put the 29-year-old Roman into the starting lineup at No. 2 singles in each of Italy’s three ties – and he produced positive results with a win each time. With his three triumphs in Bologna, he’s now strung together 11 straight Davis Cup singles victories.

“It’s a special feeling,” Berrettini continued. “I have to say that we have such a long team, a lot of players that could have played. These guys [Bolelli and Vavassori] played another unbelievable season in doubles.

“Again, I’m going to say the team is really strong because the connection is really strong between us. We know each other since a long time. It’s just so nice to play with them.”

Volandri made a point to emphasize that with or without Sinner and Musetti, who were part of the 2024 Italian Davis Cup championship team, what made the difference – and ultimately enabled Italy to win its third-consecutive Davis Cup title – was the connection with everybody.

“We have a great connection,” Volandri said. “We have great players. Some players like [Luciano] Darderi, No. 26 in the world, is not here. They all deserve to be part of the team. I can only bring five players.

“Still, I’m just thinking about these guys that made again something unbelievable.”

The bottom line, Cobolli emphasized, is playing together as a team is something special to the Italian players. “It’s something different for me to play on this team, for these guys,” he said. “I try to play for them, not only for me.

“At the end, I think every point about the team, not only for me. I think this was the key to make the difference on this match.”

 

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