The Davis Cup Final Eight has arrived for Italy, starting tomorrow at the «Super Tennis Arena» in Bologna Fiere until next Sunday. The start of the match for the Azzurri, hosts and reigning champions, will be the quarter-final debut against Austria scheduled for Wednesday. The objective – despite the orphans of Jannik Sinner and Lorenzo Musetti – is to defend the title won in 2023 and 2024. «After the two victories», underlined the captain of the Italian team Filippo Volandri, this year «we obviously feel the responsibility of playing here in Italy». But, he added, “we are used to feeling this pressure, so we can’t wait to start this competition.” Two days before the match against the Austrians, Volandri recalled that “he has been captain for five years”: I know, he specified, “that the Davis Cup is not a normal tournament, it is completely different, also because the ranking most of the time doesn’t count, so I am not surprised by the fact that Austria managed to qualify”. Indeed, speaking of the rival first team, the captain of the Azzurri recognized that “they played a great challenge before qualifying for the Final Eight, so we have great respect”, but we too, he then added, “know we are a very strong team”.
A certainty, this, which was also reiterated by the singles player Matteo Berettini: «We win and lose together, we know it will be a tough challenge, but we are a very united team and we are ready to see how it will go». Flavio Cobolli also agreed, underlining that he was «the youngest» and that he “does not feel like the leader in this team: on the contrary, we are all leaders, we have an excellent relationship even off the pitch and we always try to help each other at every moment of the day”. We can’t wait, Cobolli added, «to play the first match». Berettini also expressed his opinion on the fact that the final between Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alzaraz, at the 2025 ATP Finals in Turin, made register record audiences in Italy, with over seven million spectators. Something “unthinkable until a few years ago”, due to the fact that “Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz move a lot in Italy and in the world: it was a very important event”. The absence of the Italians Sinner and Musetti does not displease the Austrian opponents. of Austria – In the end it’s better for us”, said the captain. “I would say – he added – that the chances for us have increased slightly, but we have to play in the best way possible”, also because, “in the Davis Cup there have always been surprises even in past years and any nation can have a bad day: anything can happen, our team has played well in the last four matches, why couldn’t it go like this a fifth time too?”.