“At the end, I looked at my bench and found something in my heart.”
For Flavio Cobolli, the faces cheering for him from the sidelines provided the extra impetus he needed as he fought to realise his dream of becoming a world champion.
The 23-year-old secured a historic third successive Davis Cup title for Italy by battling back from a set and a break down against Spain’s Jaume Munar to seal a 2-0 triumph in front of a jubilant home crowd in Bologna.
Cobolli’s gritty 1-6 7-6 (7-5) 7-5 victory, achieved two days after he confirmed Italy’s place in Sunday’s showpiece by winning an epic 32-point tie-break, followed Matteo Berrettini’s 6-3 6-4 win over Pablo Carreno Busta.
It was an Italian double act long in the making.
Berrettini worked with Cobolli’s father, former player Stefano, as a youngster. He would often be called upon to babysit Cobolli, six years his junior, and kept him occupied by playing tennis with him.
A video shared on social media by Italian outlet Spazio Tennis, external shows Berrettini towering above Cobolli as they walk off a tennis court after practising together in 2011.
Fourteen years later, Cobolli and the teammate he describes as being “like a brother” to me were walking off the court in Italy as Davis Cup champions, having gone unbeaten in singles in the tournament.
“It’s impossible to describe this feeling. I dreamed a lot for this night,” Cobolli said.
“We cannot lose for our country. Sometimes you learn, but you never lose.
“I don’t know what I did today. I don’t know where I am. The only thing I know is that I am a world champion.”
How ‘brotherhood’ inspired Italy to victory
It was a fourth Davis Cup title overall for Italy, who are the first nation to win three straight titles since defending champions stopped receiving automatic qualification to the final 53 years ago.
Both Italy and Spain reached the final despite missing key players. Spain were without the injured world number one Carlos Alcaraz, while second-ranked Jannik Sinner and 10th-ranked Lorenzo Musetti were missing for Italy.
But Cobolli and Berrettini owned their moments in the spotlight with three wins from three singles matches apiece.
The vast majority of the sell-out, 10,000-strong crowd chanted Cobolli’s name as he kept his composure to serve out his comeback victory to love, having forced the breakthrough in the 11th game of a tense deciding set.
That was no mean feat, given the emotional and physical fatigue from his heroics in the semi-finals two days earlier.
World number 22 Cobolli paid the price for a slow start as he conceded a one-sided opening set.
But he launched a necessary, immediate response after falling a break down at the start of the second, before once again delivering in a crucial tie-break and then finding the inspiration to complete his memorable win.
“We tried to recreate the spirit of the Italy team that won the [football] World Cup in 2006,” Cobolli said.
“Our brilliant fans are also part of this team. I’ve been repeating for three days but it’s the best day of my life.”
Berrettini, who had earlier taken his Davis Cup singles winning streak to 11 matches with an excellent performance against Carreno Busta, has been there for Cobolli ever since they first met when he was 14 and Flavio eight.
When Cobolli was struggling for form earlier this season, Berrettini advised him against entering the lower-tier challenger tournaments and instead return to a training block to rediscover his form.
“I just told him, ‘Don’t you worry, child’,” Berrettini said in an interview with the International Tennis Federation.
Cobolli then won his next ATP tournament in Hamburg.
“It’s actually crazy that we’re in the same team now. It gives me chills to think about this relationship over the years,” said Berrettini.
Berrettini lost his voice cheering Cobolli on during Friday’s dramatic semi-final against Belgium, and backed his childhood friend all the way on Sunday after getting the team off to a winning start.
“All the guys of the team are special for me,” Cobolli added.
“But Matteo is special for me because he’s like a brother. He’s very important for me.
“He helped me a lot during the match, like the brotherhood.”
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