If it hadn’t been for the match won by Cerundolo on his debut against Lorenzo Musetti, we would have won the third Davis Cup in our history (almost) yawning. And this consideration gives, better than others, the idea of ​​what Italian tennis has built and achieved in recent years. Not only do we have the number one and two-time Slam champion; not only one of our players signs two consecutive finals in the majors between Roland Garros and Wimbledon; not only do we come home from the Olympic Games with a gold and a bronze. But now, in the competition for which for decades reaching the semi-finals represented a semi-miracle, winning is no longer important, but a pleasant habit.

The best national team in the race

Let’s be honest: Italy was by far the best national team competing in Malaga. Captain Volandri allowed himself the luxury of leaving two top 40 players at home and bringing the fourth pair in the world without letting them take the field in the only decisive doubles occasion. Sinner, today, can only lose on the indoor fast if they blindfold him and tie his hands and feet. And how many teams have a player of Berrettini’s value to field as number 2? The only regret is Musetti’s “sacrifice”. For the season he painted from Wimbledon onwards he would have deserved a second chance (also because Cerundolo would have made life complicated even for our “The Hammer”), but it is also true that the surface and playing conditions are not yet particularly congenial to him. And now Matteo’s return to very good levels was enough to make the Australian and Dutch practices a pure formality.

A strong team

As long as Jannik shows up at the Davis finals, no more bets will be accepted, but even without our main champion the Azzurri will still be the team to beat in the next editions. Musetti has the tennis to push himself into the top 10 and then anything can happen from there; Cobolli and Arnaldi have top 20 athletic and technical skills; Darderi will continue to grow, just as Nardi remains a talent to be protected like the pandas. And I wouldn’t even consider Lorenzo Sonego to be finished: as a singles or doubles player (with Sinner but also with lifelong friends Vavassori and Berrettini) the Turin native will still be able to have his say with the blue shirt.

The Cup won in 2023 was more unexpected. Saved by Sonego in Bologna, the Azzurri then had to overcome the Serbia obstacle in a semi-final for strong hearts. The three consecutive match points canceled by Sinner against the then number 1 Djokovic, and then Jannik himself capable of defeating Nole also in the doubles with his friend Sonny… Absolute joy which then pushed us to defeat the Aussies in the final and bring us back to Italy the silver salad bowl 47 years after the success in Chile of Panatta & C.

The second consecutive victory was never in doubt. In Malaga everyone wanted to say goodbye to Rafa Nadal and avoid taking the field against Sinner. Having archived the sumptuous career of the greatest fighter in the history of tennis (ah, too many absentees at the Mallorcan’s last performance!), it immediately seemed clear that none of the other rosters in the competition could have defeated the team in two out of three matches of Volandri. Neither Coria’s Argentina (Baez against Jannik was a featherweight against a heavyweight), nor Di Minaur’s Australia, who will change their sport if they play against our number 1 again in the next few weeks. And not even the Netherlands of captain Paul Haarhuis, the only one in the world convinced that without Sinner they would have won. And so, a few days after the triumph of the extraordinary girls at the Billie Jean King Cup, here is the tricolor seal also in Davis, a worthy closure of 2024 which has confirmed an idea that has been widely widespread for some months: we are the strongest tennis movement of this planet.

And Berrettini?

If a symbolic match was missing from this triumph, the most beautiful cover was given to us by the two most representative players. “Next year we will win it with Matteo on the pitch” Sinner promised twelve months ago. Since in addition to being a phenomenon with the racket in his hand Jannik is also a boy of his word, we had no doubts that this national team would provide Berrettini with the opportunity for redemption. Before the Jannik era, the man of dreams was this Roman boy all about grit, forehand and serve: Wimbledon 2021, the Martian Djokovic on one side and Matteo on the other ahead by a set in the final of the Championships. Damn how much we believed… We don’t know how much tennis of that level is left in Berrettini, but we know that what is left Matteo will squeeze it to the hilt. Will it be enough to see him play for a Slam title again? Difficult prediction, but no one would want to meet him on the Wimbledon grass, that’s for sure.