The rise of Italian males’s tennis has been forecast by many for years as a particular technology of younger, gifted gamers regularly climbed up in the direction of the highest of the sport. It’s honest to say that they’ve arrived. One yr on from their second ever triumph within the competitors, Italy gained the Davis Cup for a second straight yr by defeating the Netherlands 2-0 in Malaga.
In a rematch of Italy’s group-stage victory in September, Matteo Berrettini opened the tie with a dominant 6-4, 6-2 win over Botic van de Zandschulp, offering the proper platform for the world No 1 Jannik Sinner. After edging out a troublesome opening set over a powerful Tallon Griekspoor, Sinner opened up his shoulders and marched to a 7-6 (2), 6-2 victory.
This yr marks the primary time in tennis historical past that the Billie Jean King Cup and Davis Cup finals have each overlapped and have been performed in the identical metropolis. The 2 competitions produced equivalent outcomes, with Italy additionally successful the BJK Cup within the stadium subsequent door on Wednesday as Jasmine Paolini, the French Open and Wimbledon finalist in singles and Olympic gold medalist in doubles, appropriately closed out her breakthrough season. Italy is the fifth nation to win the 2 titles in the identical season.
There are presently 9 Italian male gamers ranked contained in the ATP prime 100, six of whom are below 23 years outdated. This title run has been a mirrored image of their unimaginable depth, with a big pool of gamers contributing to their success over the previous two years. Sinner didn’t even compete within the September group stage in Bologna, whereas Flavio Cobolli, the Italian No 3 who performed a key position in Italy’s qualification, was injured this week. Berrettini, in the meantime, was injured and watching from the sidelines final yr but he contributed to a few key wins this week.
Italy possesses quite a few succesful gamers who can enter the fray and defeat high quality opponents, however no participant on any crew is as beneficial as Sinner. His victory over Griekspoor closes out a exceptional season, among the finest within the twenty first century and definitely by far the very best season from a participant born after Novak Djokovic. Along with main his crew to a different Davis Cup title, Sinner has gained eight particular person titles this yr, together with the Australian Open, US Open and ATP Finals.
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Whereas he continues to dominate on-court, Sinner’s future stays unclear after WADA appealed the decision of his anti-doping case to the Court docket of Arbitration for Sport. Sinner had obtained a ruling of no fault or negligence and he was cleared to return to courtroom after testing constructive for the banned substance Clostebol earlier this yr.
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