Davis Cup, Filippo Volandri: "There"s more pressure but we are ready"

Captain of the Italian Davis Cup team Filippo Volandri two days before the quarterfinal match against Austria in Bologna takes stock of the mood of the summoned players and despite the absences of Jannik Sinner and Lorenzo Musetti is optimistic about defending the title. Here are the Livorno native’s words.

“Obviously we feel more responsibility this year, after the 2023 and 2024 victories: we feel the responsibility of playing here in Italy, but we are used to feeling this pressure, so we are looking forward to the competition”.

“I have been the captain for five years, so I am not surprised that Austria qualified, also because the Davis Cup is not a normal tournament, it is completely different and we know that ranking most of the time does not matter. I think this year’s scoreboard is pretty balanced, so we will all fight for the trophy”.

Filippo Volandri, 44, was world No. 25 as a player and has a prestigious victory over Roger Federer in the round of 16 of the 2007 Internazionali d’Italia to his credit, later reaching the semifinals. He has been non-player captain of the Davis Cup since 2021, and in 2023 and 2024 he led the Azzurri to win the silver bowl.