A few years ago, all eyes turned to Italy as the next major force in the world of tennis.  Indeed, Matteo Berrettini, a young Roman, was an upcoming star — as were Lorenzo Musetti, Lorenzo Sonego, Matteo Arnaldi, — and many others on the men’s circuit, including Jannik Sinner, a 19-year-old from Alto Adige.  Then injuries beset Berrettini, while Sinner was able to press ahead in the rankings to become number 4.

Now, the ultimate prize: Italy has won the 2023 Davis Cup, which is considered the premier international team event in tennis.  The competition began in 1900 as a challenge between Great Britain and the United States.  It is played annually.  The United States has won 32 titles, Australia 28 times, and Italy once before in 1976.

The format of the Davis Cup is similar to that of the World Cup in football / soccer.  It takes almost a year to reach the finals in the Davis Cup.  In 2023, the competition began in February with teams from 155 nations.  Then 16 teams competed in the group stage in September.  And 8 teams competed in the knock-out phase in November in Malaga, Spain.

The final eight teams were from Great Britain, Serbia, Italy, the Netherlands, Australia, the Czech Republic, Canada, and Finland.  After defeating the Netherlands, Italy faced Serbia in the semi-finals.  In this closely watched showdown, Jannik Sinner beat the top-ranked Novak Djokovic in both the singles and doubles matches to move Italy on to the finals against Australia.

First up was Matteo Arnaldi who managed to defeat Alexei Popyrin 7-5, 2-6, 6-4.  Popyrin won more points in the match, but Arnaldi won the most important ones.  “I was playing pretty bad” Matteo said, “but I had my team cheering a lot, and I think that helped”.

The last hope for Australia was Alex de Minaur.  But he was no match for Jannik Sinner who won 6-3, 6-0.  Sinner was in incredible form having beaten nine top-10 players since September, including two singles victories over Djokovic; he had already owned a perfect 5-0 head-to-head record against De Minaur.  Sinner unleashed powerful ground strokes throughout the tournament and displayed his strength and pace at every turn.

The Davis Cup has had ten different winners in the last 10 years, with no nation able to build a dynasty and dominate.  Perhaps Italy will change this dynamic.  As Sinner said, “We are all very young.  We are hungry to try to win it one more time…but having this feeling at least once, it is a really special feeling”.  All eyes will again be on Italy for 2024 not only for the Davis Cup but also for Sinner’s countdown to number 1 in the world ranking. 

Matteo Berrettini was not on the Italian team this year, but he was in Malaga supporting his countrymen.  “Thanks to Matteo”, Sinner said, “He has had a very tough year with a lot of injuries.  For all of us, that he came here, it means a lot.  He gave us a lot of positive energy”.