(Reuters) – Australia’s Davis Cup team is determined to come back to Malaga next year and win the title after losing their second consecutive final in the international men’s team tournament on Sunday. The Australians came up against a strong opponent in Jannik Sinner, who secured a 6-3 6-0 singles victory over Alex De Minaur, leading Italy to their first title in 47 years. This made the doubles rubber unnecessary.
Alex De Minaur was also part of last year’s loss to Canada in the final at the same arena. Despite the defeat, he pointed out how well Australia had performed since the finals format was changed to the best of three rubbers. “There hasn’t been another nation that’s gone back-to-back in the last two years, so we are showing a pretty good effort collectively,” he told reporters. “We are very, very close and it stinks like hell but, like I said last year in this same position, we’ll be back. We’ll get this. I mean, we’ve got a very, very strong future ahead of us.”
Australia last won the Davis Cup title in 2003, and have reached the last two finals without the presence of Nick Kyrgios, who is currently injured and last played in the tournament in 2019. Captain Lleyton Hewitt has built a strong team bond between players like De Minaur, world number 40 Alexei Popyrin, 55th ranked Jordan Thompson, as well as doubles pairing Matthew Ebden and Max Purcell.
A disheartened De Minaur admitted that he had been outplayed by world number four Sinner in the second singles match, following Popyrin’s defeat by Matteo Arnaldi in the opening match. “Jannik is riding this amazing wave of confidence … it’s seriously impressive the level he’s showing,” he added. “I will find ways to get better, to be able to hurt these types of players. Today I just didn’t have enough.”
“I’m disappointed I wasn’t able to give the boys a chance to play the doubles, that’s probably the biggest disappointment.”
(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney in Sydney; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
