Despite missing their star player, Jannik Sinner, Italy still managed to clinch the Davis Cup victory for the third year running. The event, held in Bologna, finished with celebrations for the home team.

With the shift of the Davis Cup Final 8 from Malaga, Spain, to Italy, organisers hoped for bigger crowds and more interest in the competition, which is facing challenges to stay relevant in the tennis calendar.

Sinner's absence from the competition and Carlos Alcaraz's injury withdrawal representing Spain meant the tournament missed having big stars to attract global attention.

In the end, it was a great Sunday for Italy's Matteo Berrettini and Flavio Cobolli. They stepped up from Sinner and Lorenzo Musetti to win the Davis Cup for Italy.

Cabolli said, It’s impossible to describe this feeling. I dreamed a lot for the night. I performed an amazing match today. I'm unsure how I won. The match was tough. Jaume played so well. We cannot lose for our country. Sometimes you learn, but you never lose. If you give all you have in your heart… I don’t know what I did today. I don’t know where I am. The only thing I know is that I’m a world champion.”

He added, “I think Jaume played very well in the first set. I was a bit nervous. I was shaking a little. At the end, I looked at my bench, and I found something in my heart. I gave everything for this team. It was a great thing. Like I said before, I’m a world champion.

The captain of Italy's Davis Cup team, Filippo Volandri, said, “It’s the third one in a row, but I’m crying, and I wasn't moved to tears for the first one. It’s something unbelievable. We had a lot of tough moments, even if it doesn’t look like it, but we had them. But as a group, as I said, we had the power to manage these moments. We also felt the players that were not here, but it was like they were here, like Jannik, like [Matteo] Arnaldi, like Musetti. It’s a big, big team, and only if you have a big team can you reach this unbelievable result; it’s incredible. Thank you, time to enjoy.”

Sinner quickly responded on Instagram, saying, Congratulations on this incredible victory.”

Davis Cup organisers probably wanted the final to be won by higher-ranked players than Berrettini (world No. 56) and Cobolli (world No. 22), who beat Pablo Carreno Busta (world No. 89) and Jaume Munar (world No. 36). Yet, Italian tennis fans celebrated another big event in their nation's golden age of tennis.

The Italian team will now receive $2 million in prize money, which is less than the $2,678,571 Sinner and his fellow players won last year.

The diminished Spain team will share $1,500,000 after reaching the Davis Cup Final. Alcaraz’s absence hurt their performance and their final prize money.

Emma Raducanu might be a contender for major championships in 2026 because she has found some much-needed stability with her support group.

Raducanu ended the 2025 season ranked among the top 30 players on the WTA Tour. This is the highest she has finished a season since 2021, when she captured her first, and thus far only, Grand Slam title at the US Open.

She had a difficult time in the years after that due to frequent changes within her team and also because of injuries, which led to a lot of inconsistency. This seemed to change during the past season.

Raducanu performed well at times, reaching the semi-finals at the Citi Open, the quarter-finals at the Queen's Championships, and the quarter-finals at the Miami Open. Although she has not yet won another title since her memorable US Open victory, she is clearly moving forward positively.

One reason why Raducanu has been able to stabilise things could be her work with Francisco Roig. Roig is a seasoned coach who has previously worked with Rafael Nadal, and he has certainly contributed a lot.

Tim Henman, a former top 4 player, also believes that this is true. He talked with Sky Sports about Raducanu, and he emphasised Roig as a key factor in the British player's improvement.

"She's progressing well, and I believe we all recognised that she needed stability and consistency. She has Francisco Roig in her corner. It seems they are developing a strong partnership, and I am happy that it will continue into 2026. He brings a wealth of knowledge."
Laura Robson also commented on Raducanu during the same interview. The silver medallist from the 2012 London Olympics did not focus on Raducanu's team but instead on her demeanour both on and off the court towards the end of the 2025 season.

Raducanu seemed to be enjoying her time on the tour more, which could be very important for how well she does in the 2026 season. She is now in a position to be seeded for Grand Slams and does not have to worry about getting wild card entries or even playing in qualifying rounds.

"I can only imagine the amount of pressure she must have felt for a while with everyone expecting her to have the same level of success. It's incredibly difficult to follow up on that when you're healthy, let alone when you're recovering from injuries."
"We could see this at the US Open. She appears to be more relaxed. She played some golf in New York and is simply enjoying her time on the court, which is by far the most important thing. It's easy to forget how young she is."
Raducanu will almost certainly begin the 2026 season as a possible surprise contender at every major event. She has challenged the current world No. 1, Aryna Sabalenka, several times this year, showing that she can compete with the best players.