The team captained by Filippo Volandri relied on the brilliant work of Jannik Sinner to lift the Cup.
The Italian team, spearheaded by world No. 4 Jannik Sinner, recorded a 2-0 victory over Australia in front of more than 9,000 fans in Malaga on Sunday. Matteo Arnaldi overcame Alexei Popyrin in three sets in the opening match of the final before Sinner defeated Alex de Minaur in straight sets to seal victory for his nation.
Italy had recovered from 0-1 down against both Netherlands in the quarter-finals on Thursday and Serbia in the semi-finals on Saturday, with Sinner saving match points in his semi-final singles clash against Novak Djokovic before returning to court alongside Lorenzo Sonego to defeat Djokovic and Miomir Kecmanovic in doubles and secure Italy’s place in the final.
The ascent to the top of the rankings comes as reward for four seasons of steady progress – after exiting in the group stage at the 2019 Finals, Italy were quarter-finalists in the combined 2020-21 season and semi-finalists in 2022. The victory on Sunday marked Italy’s second Davis Cup title, and their first for 47 years, with their only previous triumph coming in 1976, when they defeated Chile in the final in Santiago.
Italy become the 10th nation to hold the No. 1 ranking since the Davis Cup Nations Rankings were introduced in December 2001 – after Australia, Argentina, Canada, Croatia, Czechia, France, Great Britain, Russia and Spain.
