25 years after that success, Jannik Sinner was born in the small northern town of San Candido, on the border with Austria at the foot of the Dolomites. And at the age of 22, he has become one of the greatest rising stars in world tennis.

Sinner's rise has been meteoric since he stunned Spain's Carlos Alcaraz in the clay court final in Umag, Croatia, on 31 July, just over a year ago. That was his last title of the year, but in 2023 he won on hard courts in Montpellier, Toronto (Masters 1000), Beijing and Vienna.

He caused a sensation at the ATP Finals in Turin when he beat Russia's Danil Medvedev in straight sets in the semi-finals. However, despite playing in front of a passionate crowd, he could do little against the genius of Novak Djokovic (6-3, 6-3).

It was not enough, however, for Sinner to end the year in fourth place in the ATP rankings and he was determined to become the heart and soul of Italy. The Transalpines reserved Sinner in the qualifying rounds in September, but their star player was the key to their success in Malaga.

He defeated Griekspoor 7-6, 6-1 and won the doubles with Lorenzo Sonego in the quarter-finals against the Netherlands (2-1) and sensationally beat Djokovic in the singles game a week after losing to the Serb in the ATP Finals.

Sinner overcame a tired 'Nole' in three sets (6-2, 2-6, 7-5) and teamed up with Sonego defeated the Belgrader and Kecmanovic 6-3, 6-4 in the deciding doubles match. Italy were so dominant in the final that they did not even need to play Australia in the doubles.

Matteo Arnaldi opened the door to glory with a 5-7, 6-2, 4-6 win over Alexei Popyrin, and Jannik Sinner took a walk in the second match, breaking Alex de Miñaur from the first ball (3-6, 0-6).

"It was an incredible feeling I think for all of us and obviously we are really happy. We kept everything together. Yesterday we were one point away from elimination and now we can celebrate the win. I think we can all be very, very happy," said the new tennis star.