Tennis: Italy signs off its golden era

The third consecutive Davis Cup rises in Bologna — without Sinner, but with collective brilliance

When the lights came on at the Super Tennis Arena, many expected Sinner. What they found instead was something deeper: a team that no longer needs a chosen hero to command respect. Three consecutive Davis Cups — a milestone Italy had never reached — show that the Volandri project is no longer a promise but a structure.

Matteo Berrettini, rejuvenated and redeemed, returned to his sharpest form. No theatrics, no artificial epic: just surgical precision to dismantle Pablo Carreño Busta in under eighty minutes. Two decisive breaks at key moments and a quiet celebration, as if to say — without saying it — that he had never truly left.

Flavio Cobolli, meanwhile, travelled the opposite road: from early shipwreck to euphoric resurrection. He lost the first set 6–1 to Jaume Munar and, after dropping his serve at the start of the second, seemed headed toward a straightforward defeat. But Bologna roared, the kid reacted, and the match turned into an emotional pendulum worthy of a derby Sunday.

The second set became a long and nervous war, halted even by a medical emergency in the stands. Cobolli saved five set points, dragged the set into a tie-break, and there reclaimed his right to believe. Munar lost his composure, the arena heated up, and Rome — at least tennis Rome — got its own travelling Colosseum.

In the third set, the tension remained until 5–5, when the Italian pushed hard with his forehand and broke serve. The final game, served with a steady hand, sealed the victory: Bologna erupted in chants of “world champions”.

In a country where football has grown into a landscape of laments, tennis offers something like a promise: work, talent and measurable results. Angelo Binaghi knows it. That’s why he speaks of “equal rights” with the football national team — and of putting Cobolli, Berrettini and the rest on the biggest stage the RAI can offer.

Italy won without Sinner. And that is, today, the brightest headline of all.

2025 🎾 The Gentleman of the Baseline – SportJournal.pictures