Davis Cup Final Preview: ‘Brothers’ Matteo Berrettini, Flavio Cobolli lead Italy's three-peat bid against Spain

Coming into this week’s Davis Cup Finals, Italy and Spain were two of eight teams in contention to win the title.

Neither had their headliner available, with Jannik Sinner opting to sit out after leading his country to 2023-24 titles and Carlos Alcaraz withdrawing due to a hamstring injury sustained during his Nitto ATP Finals title match defeat to the world No. 2.

Even so, both nations have made it through to Sunday’s championship tie.

Italy’s three-peat bid has been led by veteran contributor Matteo Berrettini and rising countryman Flavio Cobolli. The duo have swept their four matches thus far, with Berrettini upping his singles win streak in the competition to 10. The former Wimbledon finalist has been a superb leadoff man for captain Filippo Volandri the past two years in the knockout phase of the competition, winning eight of nine sets.

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Matteo is special for me because he’s like a brother. He’s very important for me. Flavio Cobolli

Las month in Almaty, Cobolli told TENNIS.com, “I'm trying to be one of the five at the Davis Cup. That's been a good dream for me.”

On Friday evening in Bologna, the 23-year-old reveled in a dream moment when he staved off seven match points to topple Zizou Bergs. Berrettini couldn’t be prouder of seeing how far the two have come since first crossing paths as adolescents.

“I went to this tennis club in Rome called Aniane when I was 14 and Flavio was eight. I started working with his dad and Vincenzo, who became my long-time coach. That's where we met,” he shared.

“It's actually crazy that we're in the same team now. I look at him now, he's a man now. It really gives me chills to think about this relationship over the years.”

Following his 6-3, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (15) heroics against Bergs, Cobolli reflected on Berrettini’s impact during a press conference with Volandri.

“Matteo is special for me because he’s like a brother. He’s very important for me. Today he helped me a lot during the match, like the brotherhood.”

As for Spain, they aren’t short on bringing a gritty presence to the table either.

Former Olympic bronze medalist Pablo Carreño Busta sealed a decisive fifth rubber against Norway in September to secure Spain’s appearance here. The seven-time ATP champion bounced back from an opening defeat to Jakub Mensik to get the better of Jan-Lennard Struff, brilliantly recovering from 6-1 down in a second-set tiebreak to walk away with a 6-4, 7-6 (6) win.

Occupying the No. 1 singles spot, Jaume Munar impressed in a 6-3, 6-4 victory against Jiri Lehecka before narrowly losing to third-ranked Alexander Zverev in a pair of tiebreakers. With Carreño Busta and Munar each going 1-1 in the lead up, doubles could very well decide the fate of this final-round battle.

Marcel Granollers notably won all four doubles matches he played during his nation’s most recent title run six years ago. The 39-year-old, who triumphed at Roland Garros and the US Open with Argentine partner Horacio Zeballos earlier this season, has joined forces with Pedro Martinez to claim a pair of deciders—against Czecha Thursday and again Saturday over Germany.

Likely to stand across the net if singles action doesn’t determine a winner: Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori. While the two are yet to step out on court in Bologna, Bolelli and Vavassori have the advantage of being regular tour partners with three Grand Slam runner-up showings on their team resume.

Italy holds a 7-6 lifetime edge, with Spain taking their most recent tie in the 2006 World Group Play-offs. The hosts are aiming to become the first country to win three consecutive titles since the U.S. clinched five straight from 1968-72.