Italy swept Australia 2-0 on Sunday evening in Malaga, Spain to win the Davis Cup title for the second time overall and first time since 1976.
It has–mostly–Jannik Sinner to thank.
Sinner capped off a historic 5-0 week at the Davis Cup finals by clinching the trophy with a 6-3, 6-0 rout of Alex de Minaur in the second singles rubber. Following Matteo Arnaldi’s 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 victory over Alexei Popyrin, Sinner’s win was enough for the Italians to seal the deal in singles and avoid a decisive doubles match.
“This is a really important win for me and for the whole team and Italy together,” Sinner said. “We felt the pressure; we had a lot of responsibility. But still we managed. We were excited. Obviously everyone is really happy about the end result.
“This is something different–something really special–because you don’t play for yourself but you play for the whole team. I think every one of us, we were really excited to be part of this. I think the whole team, they pushed every one of each other, and this is maybe our key why we are standing here with this trophy.”
But it was Sinner, specifically, who put the team on his back. The world No. 4 went three-for-three in singles and two-for-two in doubles during Italy’s run to the title in Malaga. He also defeated Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor and Serbia’s Novak Djokovic in singles in addition to tie-clinching doubles wins with Lorenzo Sonego over both the Netherlands (Griekspoor and Wesley Koolhof) and Serbia (Djokovic and Miomir Kecmanovic).
The 22-year-old wrapped up his 2023 campaign with a 64-15 record that included four titles–highlighted by his first Masters 1000 triumph in Toronto–plus runner-up performances at the Miami Masters and Nitto ATP Finals.
Australia has now finished runner-up in each of the last two Davis Cup Finals. The Aussies lost to Canada 2-0 in last year’s championship tie. De Minaur also lost the second singles rubber in that matchup, falling to Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-3, 6-4.
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