Italy claimed a third Davis Cup in as many years on Sunday after beating Spain 2-0 in front of delighted home fans in Bologna and completing a treble without star player Jannik Sinner.
Italy's Matteo Berrettini (centre) surrounded by teammates lifts the Davis Cup trophy. Photos by AFP
Flavio Cobolli sparked loud celebrations by coming back from a set down to beat Jaume Munar 1-6, 7-6 (7/5), 7-5 and ensure that Italy retained their title.
Matteo Berrettini had earlier cruised to a 6-3, 6-4 win over Pablo Carreno Busta, setting Filippo Volandri's team up for victory without the doubles match needing to be played.
"This was my dream, we're a really united team, and we tried to recreate the spirit of the Italy team that won the (football) World Cup in 2006," said Cobolli.
"I'm really proud of everyone and our brilliant fans are also part of this team. I've been repeating for three days but it's the best day of my life."
Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori haven't been employed in a doubles contest in northern Italy as the hosts won the Davis Cup without losing a match.
It's an impressive feat by Italy who competed without their two highest-ranked players in superstar Sinner and Lorenzo Musetti.
Both players sit in the top 10 of the men's world rankings and were major absences for the tournament, especially as they chose not to take part in the title defence on home soil.
"It doesn't matter who goes out there for us, we have a deep squad and we have a lot of great lads who play great tennis," said Berrettini.
Spain too were missing their top player in world number one Carlos Alcaraz, but the six-time Grand Slam winner would have played had he not suffered a hamstring injury during his ATP Finals showdown with Sinner a week ago.
Their bid for a seventh Davis Cup came up short after returning to the final for the first time since 2019.
"It was a very, very, very close tie," said Spain captain David Ferrer. "We were really close."
"Italy in important moments, they play really good," he added. "It's not easy for us to play in Italy against Italy."
Earlier on Sunday, the head of the International Tennis Federation insisted that top players were not snubbing the competition.
"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 the 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."
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 reach the finals with their respective nations.
ALSO READ: