Tennis, Italy at the United Cup ready to win again: “Together we are good”

Journalist

January 1st – 5.50pm – MILANO

Continuity. It is the most complicated shot in tennis, yet Italy has now made it a trademark. The Davis Cup was the Italian triumph that closed 2025, already enhanced by the encore of the Billie Jean King Cup in September and now Italy is preparing to open 2026 with another team event, the United Cup. The tournament which begins on January 2nd between Perth and Sydney and will see our teams take to the field on the 4th and 6th, could be considered as the “summary” of the previous episodes of our national teams. Our King Cup and Davis protagonists will take to the court, Jasmine Paolini and Flavio Cobolli, masters of emotions and comebacks, and the group also includes Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori, masters of doubles and Slam champions, as well as Nuria Brancaccio and Andrea Pellegrino. And when a country manages to make its presence in the decisive weeks of team competitions a habit, it means that it is not just supported by the exploits of individuals but by an entire system that holds up. A system made up of apparently invisible elements: the daily quality of training, the network of clubs, the credibility of internal tournaments, the work of the technicians, the ability to accompany a player in critical passages without burning him. In recent years, Italy has put these elements together with a coherence that is carefully observed abroad: because it is not just about raising champions, but about building an environment in which the champions do not feel alone: ​​”On the circuit the more experienced players tend to help the younger ones and it’s nice, because it makes you feel part of something big”, Jacopo Vasamì told us.

perfect formula

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All this helps to unite, to create a group that loves being together as happens in Davis and the Billie Jean King Cup, where Italy has found a perfect formula: seriousness in preparation and lightness in everyday life, obsessive attention to detail and space for normality. In a sport where the pressure is almost always on the individual, the group knows how to lighten the pressure. The team does not eliminate tension, but distributes it. It does not take away the responsibility, but shares it. And the Azzurri are now masters of this. Having arrived in Perth, where Italy is playing in Group C, the Azzurri were immediately concerned with a fundamental operation: finding an Italian restaurant to celebrate New Year’s Eve. Andrea Vavassori talks about the atmosphere in the team: “We all feel good together, we have already trained and we will spend the end of the year as a group. There is a good atmosphere in the team and this event is the best way to get familiar with the time zone and conditions and then the blue suits us…”. In short, the start of 2026 with the United Cup has a meaning that goes beyond the calendar. It is a narrative and… chromatic continuity: same colours, same rituals, often the same protagonists. Jasmine Paolini and Flavio Cobolli in singles, Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori as the reference couple for mixed doubles. Italy today can afford to show up at an event like this as a protagonist and aspire to the title. The most interesting element is mixed doubles, because in contemporary tennis it is often a territory that is not completely codified: it is improvised, it is adapted, it is “brought out” when needed.

the protagonists

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Italy, on the other hand, arrives with a couple that is not a fallback, but a solution: Errani and Vavassori have transformed mixed into an art of balance between instinct and geometry, between hand and choices, between courage and percentages. This type of agreement cannot be improvised: it is communication, mutual trust, management of pressure. And in a tournament where mixed point can shift a challenge, having a recognizable pair is an advantage. This is the point that makes Italy an interesting case, even outside its borders. In years past, many nations have relied on a single phenomenon, hoping that it would be enough. Italy has chosen the opposite: to build a context in which the phenomenon, if it exists, is the summit and not the scaffolding. And in which the absence of a name does not become a collapse, but an opportunity for someone else to take a step forward. Starting again “from where we ended”, then, means bringing to Australia not so much the echo of the trophies, but the quality of the method. The United Cup is an opportunity to consolidate a habit: feeling like a team several times a year, not just when the calendar dictates it.