Volandri: "I asked Flavio to want it a little more than his opponent"

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Third consecutive final for Italy in the Davis Cup. Results may be deceiving, some may think it’s easy, but anyone who watched this Friday's tie against Belgium will know it was quite the opposite.

It fell to Flavio Cobolli to be the hero of this tie, saving seven match points against Zizou Bergs and leading his country once again to the final stage of the Davis Cup Finals. The reigning two-time champions withstood the storm when it was at its strongest, which is why Filippo Volandri, Italy's captain for years, was exultant both in the celebration and during the subsequent press conference. A glorious day for the host team, now awaiting Spain or Germany to determine which nation they will face on Sunday for this prestigious trophy.

Italy Press Conference after defeating Belgium 2-0

FILIPPO VOLANDRI

“The team psychologist did a great job with us, he asked us to stop counting from the second half of the tiebreak. I'm trying to find an answer to the question, but I think this kind of match can only be experienced in the Davis Cup. Today, we saw two great players fighting for their country, both did an incredible job, but only one could win. That's what I told Flavio, I asked him to want it more than the opponent. I'm very proud of Flavio, also of Matteo, of the whole team. The crowd was amazing, we had 10,500 people pushing us to the limit. It was a great match, now it's time to recover.”

“In the final? They are two different teams, both have specialists, and good rankings for singles as well. I thought the Czech Republic could beat Spain, but Spain won. Yesterday, before Germany's match, it was supposed to be an easy win, but they ended up saving five match points. It's hard for everyone, especially for us, who are already in the final. Here the rankings don’t matter as much; this is the Davis Cup. This week we saw a lot of numbers, a lot of data, but from the start, we only wanted to focus on ourselves. We are strong, we have a good feeling, a great bond, we push each other and help each other.”

“We're not looking at statistics, we're not trying to win the third consecutive Davis Cup. We simply try to win the 2025 Davis Cup. It means, having done what we did, we always expect something more. Your job is to focus more on the data, but we just think about the Davis Cup 2025. Darren Cahill wrote to me a while ago, reminding me of this, I was thrilled that he remembered me. We still have a final ahead, so we must prepare for it to go as well as possible.”

FLAVIO COBOLLI

“In the end, I was very happy, I wasn't counting match points anymore, I even asked the team what the tiebreak result was because I didn't know, I didn't remember. I was very happy about the match; it was a roller-coaster, but in the end, I was very satisfied with my performance and everything I did. I think I had a great attitude the whole time, now I'm a little tired, but I'm ready to recover for the coming days.”

“I don't know if I would have won this match if not for being here, in the Davis Cup, because we are not on the ATP Tour now. I won this match because, as Filippo said, I really wanted to win it. Today, I believed in myself for three hours, luckily we played a fantastic tiebreak in the end.”

“All the guys on the team are special to me, we're a great team, a very solid unit. We've been working with each other for days, but Matteo will always be special to me because he's like a brother. He worked with my father when he was young, so I've known him since he was young. I started playing tennis watching his matches, so he's very important to me; today he helped me a lot during my match.”

This news is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Volandri: “Le pedí a Flavio que lo quisiera un poco más que su rival”