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Matteo Arnaldi gave a touching tribute to the late father of his girlfriend after winning the opening singles rubber for Italy in the Davis Cup final. The world No 44 defeated Alexei Popyrin in three sets before Jannik Sinner sealed the deal for Italy, with the nation winning the tournament for the first time since 1976. Arnaldi and his partner looked tearful as he dedicated his victory to her dad.<\/p>\n
Italy were crowned Davis Cup champions on Sunday after defeating Australia 2-0. It was Arnaldi who delivered the first blow, winning a tight three-setter 7-5 4-6 6-2. The 22-year-old saved eight break points in the third and final set before pouncing at a crucial time to get the first point on the board for Italy.<\/p>\n
And the youngster looked close to tears after the match as he paid tribute to the late father of his girlfriend\u00a0Mia Savio. “It’s very emotional. More because a very important person passed away a month ago for me and for my girlfriend,” Arnaldi said on court.<\/p>\n
“So this is for him and she doesn’t know what it means to me.\u00a0Also for my country. It was very emotional to play. I didn\u2019t play much the last few weeks.” Arnaldi lost a close match during Italy’s quarter-final tie against the Netherlands earlier in the week before getting a crucial victory for his nation in the final and he explained just how much the win meant to him.<\/p>\n
Click here to join our WhatsApp community to be the first to receive breaking and exclusive tennis news.<\/strong><\/p>\n Just in <\/strong> Boris Becker gives crucial off-season advice to Alcaraz despite coaching rival[LATEST] <\/strong><\/p>\n The world No 44 added: “I was happy after the first match even if I lost. Now I won one of the most important matches of my life. I don\u2019t know what to say right now.” But Arnaldi wanted to make sure that he could use the moment to honour Savio’s father, adding: “This victory is for him. He will always be a part of my journey, and I hope I made him proud today.”<\/p>\n Arnaldi later said that his girlfriend’s dad gave him “power” as he reflected on his emotions after winning the first singles rubber. Speaking after the match, he explained: “Like I said on court, this match was very important and emotional for a few things. One, this year for me was the first time playing for your country. I played when I was junior, but Davis Cup is just different. So for all the ties that we’re watching, just one responsibility more.<\/p>\n “And then like I said, a month ago, three weeks ago, an important person passed away. I think he gave me the power to try to stay there, and I think I also blocked a bit for that, because I really wanted to win for all this reason. It wasn’t easy to play, but they gave me the power at the end to try to win the match.”<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/cdn.images.express.co.uk\/img\/dynamic\/72\/590x\/secondary\/Arnaldi-Savio-5087721.jpg?r=1701097389457\")
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