VIDEO SHOWS: NEWS CONFERENCE COMMENTS FROM ITALY AND BELGIUM TEAM MEMBERS AFTER DAVIS CUP SEMI-FINAL MATCH RESENDING WITH COMPLETE SCRIPT SHOWS: BOLOGNA, ITALY (NOVEMBER 21, 2025) (ITF – See restrictions before use) 1. (SOUNDBITE) (English) ITALY'S FLAVIO COBOLLI, SAYING: "At the end, I was happy. I didn't know about the match point. I asked the team what's the score that they won on the tiebreak because I didn't know. I didn't remember. But I was really happy about this match. Great roller coaster. But at the end, I was happy about my match. What I did in the match. I think I had a great attitude for following the match and now I'm a little bit tired, but I'm ready to recover for the next days." 2. WHITE FLASH 3. (SOUNDBITE) (English) ITALY COACH FILIPPO VOLANDRI, SAYING: "Yeah, two different teams, starting from the doubles, they have. Couple of specialists and mixed one. Spain has one double specialist and Pedro Martinez. But yeah, different rankings for the singles too. But I thought that Czech could beat Spain and then Spain won. Yesterday, before the match of Germany, we were supposed to have Germany easy, but in the end, they saved five match points. It's, yeah, it's tough for everybody, especially for us that we have to play finals and in the finals, teams' power rankings really don't count, especially in Davis Cup. But yeah, this week, I always wanted to start from ourselves. We saw a lot of numbers, a lot of data, but this week I always start with the guys, starting from our website. We are stronger, we have a good feeling, we have a great relationship, we push through each other, we help each other. So, great respect for both of the teams, but we are a strong one." 4. WHITE FLASH 5. (SOUNDBITE) (English) FLAVIO COBOLLI, SAYING: "No, the celebration was about Flavio, not about Novak (Djokovic). But he's my favourite player, but today I felt that I was trying to be like Hulk. And at the end… I'm doing gym every day, so… Yeah, I'm in shape, so… Just show, yeah. VOLANDRI: "He walks from the locker with the t-shirt high, because he's…" "Looking about, looking to the mirror." VOLANDRI: "He wants to show us he works out in the gym." 6. WHITE FLASH 7. (SOUNDBITE) (English) BELGIUM'S ZIZOU BERGS, SAYING: "Yeah, I don't think it gets more emotional than this. It's a combination of really, really enjoying being out there, as well as feeling so much love for your team and for the fans that are here. As well as, dealing with a very, you know, difficult crowd. So yeah, all those combinations make it a very emotional one. But at least I'm really happy that I enjoyed myself out there." 8. WHITE FLASH 9. (SOUNDBITE) (English) BELGIUM'S ZIZOU BERGS, SAYING: "Well, if you don't get tense at this stage, I don't know when you're going to get tense, because it just can't mean more to you than at this stage, you know? So you will do some stupid things. You will do some amazing things. And I did a stupid thing at six-four. Then I said, like, okay, let's try to do instead of like one hundred twenty percent, let's go look for that one hundred percent. In the end, I ended up doing the seventy percent, so too little. And then the drop shot is for me a choice that has made me win a match already this year at the exact same moment. So I said, like, okay, let's try it. Anyway, two of the three options are ballsy. I prefer it to be ballsy than to hold it back like I did at six-five. And Steve (Darcis), you know, he's helping me out, making sure I keep hitting those balls, trying to strive for that one hundred percent, not go for the one hundred twenty. Then we go back to the one hundred. So there were so many important points and. In those moments, you're going to fail and you're going to do the right things, and even though you do the right things, sometimes it doesn't mean you're going to get rewarded." STORY: Hosts Italy closed in on a third successive Davis Cup title as Flavio Cobolli saved seven match points to beat Belgium's Zizou Bergs in a thriller and seal a 2-0 semi-final victory on Friday (November 21). The 23-year-old Cobolli, roared on by frenzied home support inside the SuperTennis Arena, clawed his way to a 6-3 6-7(5) 7-6(15) victory with the third-set tiebreak one of the best ever seen in the competition's rich history. Both players produced some spellbinding tennis in a series of punishing rallies in the 32-point breaker with the aggressive ball striking of Bergs looking as though it would send the tie to the deciding doubles. But Cobolli, who also failed to convert his first six match points, would not be denied and eventually fired down an unreturnable serve to spark wild celebrations in the stands. Earlier, Matteo Berrettini powered past Raphael Collignon 6-3 6-4 to put Italy in front. It was Berrettini's eighth successive match win in the competition after he won all six he played last year, including doubles, as Italy retained the title by beating the Netherlands in the final. Italy will try to complete the three-peat in Sunday's (November 23) final against either Germany or Spain who face off on Saturday (November 22). Should they prevail, they would become the first nation to win three successive titles since the Challenge Round was abolished after the 1971 event. Cobolli, who was a regular in the 2023 title-winning side, is playing as Italy's number one in the absence of world number two Jannik Sinner and Lorenzo Musetti and has risen to the challenge in magnificent fashion. After thrashing Filip Misolic on Wednesday (November 19) to seal Italy's comfortable quarter-final win over Austria he was pushed much harder by the 43rd-ranked Bergs who battled back from a slow start to stretch Cobolli to the limit. Italy, who are on a 12-tie winning streak, are the first nation to reach three successive Davis Cup finals since Australia in 2001, although Australia lost two of those. (Production: Suramya Kaushik)
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