Matteo Berrettini has emerged as a talismanic figure for Italy in the absence of Jannik Sinner, revelling in the opportunity to lead his nation to glory.
And that is exactly what he achieved alongside Flavio Cobolli, who made it so their doubles teammates were rendered obsolete.
Throughout the finals, they stormed their way to victory without losing a single match.
However, in the final, the younger of the two singles stars seemed in serious danger of snapping that unbeaten streak and taking it to a decider.
Will Jannik Sinner regret not playing at the Davis Cup after Italy’s win?
Having lost the first set to Jaume Munar 6-1, Matteo Berrettini would have still been cooling down, attending to his press duties and wading through doping procedures. That was, until he got a text from his teammate calling him to action.
What Matteo Berrettini did after he won his Davis Cup final match
Telling the story of how Lorenzo Sonego elicited his swift return to courtside, Berrettini recalled: “It was stressful. Was stressful because I was elected for, like everyone else, doping. After my match, I had to do what I had to do. I was, Okay, I’m going to lose the first 20 minutes. The first 20 minutes was the first set.
“Lorenzo actually texted me, Come here, we need you.”
The 29-year-old continued, speaking with the Davis Cup reporters: “We started screaming as loud as we could. I think that’s the strength, the weapon that we have. We are so together. We play together. Doesn’t matter who’s playing. We’re playing in five every time, and six with the captain.
“It was a team effort even though we played just two singles. That’s why it feels special.”
Naturally, the absence of Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz made this final between Italy and Spain so much more different than how it could have been.
Even Berrettini admitted that Alcaraz and Sinner have changed tennis earlier this month, when speaking about his compatriot’s absence.
How a different Spain team could have won the Davis Cup final
Whilst Munar and Pablo Carreno Busta both performed admirably for Spain in the singles throughout the finals week, it could have been so different for this nation.
After all, Alcaraz was due to play, were it not for a hamstring injury picked up at the ATP Finals, which would definitely have made all the difference.
And, quite crucially, Spain’s captain David Ferrer made the bold decision to omit Alejandro Davidovich Fokina completely, despite the 26-year-old having had an outstanding year thus far.
These were Spain’s two highest-ranked players, sat first and 14th in the rankings respectively. Naturally, their absence was felt.
Had things been different and they had both been available and selected, it might have been them lifting the Davis Cup rather than Italy celebrating a third-straight triumph.
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