Jannik Sinner concluded an impeccable week by guiding Italy to its first Davis Cup title in almost 50 years.
Sinner extended his record to 5-0 this week by defeating Alex de Minaur 6-3, 6-0 in the second singles match of Sunday’s final. He secured a 2-0 win over Australia for Italy’s first Davis Cup title since 1976.
Matteo Arnaldi provided Italy with the initial point, securing a 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 victory over Alexei Popyrin.
The No. 4 Sinner defeated top-ranked Novak Djokovic in both singles and doubles matches in Saturday’s semifinal against Serbia.
The 22-year-old Italian needed 1 hour and 21 minutes to seal Italy’s victory against Australia.
“We are all very young. We are really hungry to try to win it one more time for our life, but having this feeling at least once, it is a really special feeling,” said Sinner, who has beaten nine top-10 players since September, although he lost to Djokovic in the ATP Tour Finals a week ago.
Arnaldi saved eight break points before securing a break of his own to close out the first match in the decisive third set.
“I think I won one of the most important matches of my life,” the 44th-ranked Arnaldi said.
The Italians, who had never won the title other than in 1976, had lost in the three finals they played against Australia, which was last year’s runner-up to Canada.
Australia eliminated Finland in the last four this year. The Aussies are 28-time champions but haven’t lifted the trophy at the men’s tennis top team event since captain Lleyton Hewitt was on the winning squad as a player in 2003.
“There hasn’t been another nation that’s gone back-to-back in the last two years, so we are showing a pretty good effort collectively,” De Miñaur said. “We are very, very close. It stinks like hell. We’ll be back. We’ll get this. I mean, we’ve got a very strong future ahead of us.”
This year, Australia became just the second nation to win 200 Davis Cup ties, with the United States being the other.
Matteo Berrettini was not in the Italian team because of an injury but was in Malaga, supporting his fellow citizens.
“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 means a lot. He gave us a lot of positive energy.”
The final eight of the Davis Cup Finals will stay in Malaga for another year.
Spain was awarded a wild card Sunday for the group stage in Valencia.
This year’s finalists, Italy and Australia, also go straight through to the group stage in September. So does Great Britain, which lost to Serbia in the quarterfinals.
The women’s Billie Jean King Cup Finals will remain in the southern Spanish city of Seville next year.
