Forza Italia! Italy Successfully Defends Davis Cup Title

Italy 2024 Davis Cup champions
Team Italy, 2024 Davis Cup champions (photo: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images for ITF)

MALAGA/WASHINGTON, November 24, 2024 (by Michael Dickens)

The Davis Cup rivalry between European nations Italy and the Netherlands goes back more than a century.

After the Netherlands won the first meeting between the two nations 101 years ago in 1923, Italy won nine consecutive ties against the Dutch. Now, make it 10 after the Azzurri won the Davis Cup final over the Netherlands 2-0 Sunday in Malaga, Spain.

Italy won the Davis Cup crown with both power and passion.

It began with 35th-ranked Matteo Berrettini of Italy defeating the surprising No. 80 Botic van de Zandschulp of the Netherlands, who earlier ended the storied career of Rafael Nadal in straight sets during the Netherlands’ 2-1 victory over Spain, 6-4, 6-2 at No. 2 singles. It ended with World No. 1 Jannik Sinner winning his 14th straight match of the season with his 7-6 (2), 6-2 triumph over No. 40 Tallon Griekspoor, which extended his streak of consecutive sets won to 26.

“It has been an amazing year. I’m very proud of the whole team,” Sinner said during an on-court interview before the start of the trophy ceremony. “There is a lot of work behind it and I’m very happy to hold this trophy again. It was a very difficult day today, because anything can happen.”

In the opener, Berrettini broke at love in the ninth game after van de Zandschulp netted a back hand return to strike first in the opening set. Then, serving at 5-4 – and with the loud backing of their blue-clad fans – Berrettini won the 38-minute first set 6-4 on the strength of seven aces and an 89 percent efficiency in winning points on his first serve.

Next, Berrettini moved ahead 2-1 in the second set with a break of serve, after van de Zandschulp double faulted. He consolidated the break with a pair of aces (his 9th and 10th) and a service winner to push ahead 3-1. Soon, the Roman gained a break point with a cross-court forehand volley winner and broke after van de Zandschulp sailed a volley forehand long for an insurmountable, 5-2 double-break advantage.

Serving for the match, Berrettini set up his first match point at 40-15 by delivering his 15th ace, but van de Zandschulp valiantly fought it off. Then, Berrettini struck his 16th ace, which gave him a second match point. He won the match after van de Zandschulp hit his first return long and wide to end the 76-minute tussle. Berrettini added a dozen winners, made 17 unforced errors and converted three of four break points while facing none on his serve. He outpointed van de Zandschulp 62-45.

With the first point of the final secured for Italy, Berrettini poured out his emotions in celebrating his victory and embraced his team captain, Filippo Volandri, on his way to hugging his teammates.

“It feels unbelievable,” Berrettini said during his on-court interview, “but, again, it feels really great to be on court. Obviously, if you win, it’s better. Being able to be healthy, to be here and enjoying the atmosphere is the most important thing for me. I missed that [last year] these moments. That’s why I’m really happy.

“Hopefully, just one more match to go, but the first step has been taken.”

With Italy ahead 1-0, it gave Sinner a chance to clinch the title and secure the Davis Cup for Italy with one more victory in the second match of the championship tie.

From the outset, Sinner fought off a pair of break points during his second service game to hold for 2-1, but didn’t face too much resistance from Griekspoor the remainder of the opening set. After he struck his eighth ace to hold for 4-3, back-to-back aces by the South Tyrolean – his 10th and 11th – enabled him to grab an easy hold for 6-5. Although Griekspoor maintained a steady demeanor and managed to get the first set to a tiebreaker, Sinner took control of it. He jumped ahead 4-1, then sealed it 7-2 with his 12th ace to wrap up the 50-minute opening set.

Next, needing to win just one more set to close out the final, Sinner made his move in the third game by breaking Griekspoor for a 2-1 advantage. It happened after the Dutchman netted a backhand return that ended a nine-shot rally.

However, Griekspoor gave his team and the Dutch fans something to cheer about after he broke Sinner in the next game to level matters at 2-all. But it was short-lived because Sinner immediately broke back to go ahead 3-2 after Griekspoor committed his third double fault. Sinner consolidated the break at love for a 4-2 lead, then garnered a double-break lead after Griekspoor lifted a third-shot forehand return long.

Serving for the title, Sinner quickly gained championship point with his 15th ace before Griekspoor dug in for one last defense. The Dutchman gained a deuce point before Sinner recovered and earned his fourth opportunity to close out the victory. This time, he got the job done, calmly and cooly, after Griekspoor netted a backhand return to end the 91-minute battle.

The 23-year-old Sinner, who already this season won the Australian Open, US Open and ATP Finals titles – and now the Davis Cup – to finish 2024 with a 73-6 win-loss record and eight titles overall, received the plaudits of the Martín Carpena Arena crowd and his teammates rushed out on to the court and hugged him.

Defending champion Italy in their second consecutive Davis Cup final – and fifth overall – became the first country to successfully defend the title since Czechia won in 2012-13. Last year’s championship run ended a 47-year Davis Cup title drought for Italy after defeating Chile to win the 1976 crown.

In this year’s Davis Cup Final 8, Italy kept their eyes on the prize. They defeated Argentina 2-1 in the quarterfinal round; Australia 2-0 in the semifinal round, and the Netherlands 2-0 in the final en route to garnering the most-sought after prize in men’s team tennis.

“I’m just so happy,” said Berrettini, who won both of his singles matches, against Australia and the Netherlands, and teamed with Sinner to win a crucial doubles point against Argentina. A year ago, he missed playing in the final due to an injury. “Obviously, last year I was here to support the team, and this year I brought some points to the cause. But  it doesn’t matter who is playing, we always put our heart on the court. Everybody is giving their best, that is the secret to our team.

“Also the guys who are back home, Flavio Cobolli, Matteo Arnaldi, they won some matches in the previous stage that were really important. It’s a really big team and I’m very happy with the trophy.”

This was the first meeting in a Davis Cup final between Italy and the Netherlands, with their previous highest-level meeting coming at last year’s quarterfinal stage.

By the numbers

Sunday was the 11th Davis Cup meeting between Italy and the Netherlands, and their third in two seasons after meeting in the quarterfinals last year and at the Finals group stage in September.

“Quotable …”

“For such a small country, what we are doing is more unique than, let’s say, Italy with the No. 1 player in the team. If they win it, they say, nice, well done, easy, yeah, it’s easy. For us to be in the final it’s such a much bigger feat than for them to win it.”

– Paul Haarhuis, team captain of the Netherlands, during his team’s post-tie news conference on Friday, after defeating Germany 2-0 in the semifinals to advance to Sunday’s Davis Cup final against Italy.

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