An achievement Serena Williams & Pete Sampras could never be part of: Jannik Sinner, Jasmine Paolini lead Italy to double team glory to end 2024

Italy successfully defended their Davis Cup title on Sunday, with Jannik Sinner and Matteo Berrettini winning their singles encounters against the Netherlands. With their female counterparts winning the Billie Jean King Cup last week, Italy became only the third team in 30 years to win the men's and women's competitions in the same year.

Facing off against Botic Van de Zandschulp in the first singles match in the final, Berrettini prevailed in straight sets, winning 6-4, 6-2 in under 75 minutes. Up next, Sinner took on Dutch No. 1 Tallon Griekspoor and took the opening set 7-6(2) in a tight tiebreaker.

After that, it was smooth sailing for the World No. 1, who closed out the second set 6-2 to give his team victory. Last year, the Italians beat Australia in the final. This was their third Davis Cup title overall, with the first coming all the way back in 1976.

Meanwhile, the Billie Jean King Cup final this year was contested between Italy and Slovakia, with Jasmine Paolini and Lucia Bronzetti winning their singles matches to seal the rubber. Last year too, the team had reached the final but fell short to Team Canada.

Since 1990, the only two countries to have completed the honor of winning the Davis Cup and the Billie Jean King Cup (then called the Fed Cup) in the same year are the Czech Republic and Russia. The Czech Republic did it in 2012, with Tomas Berdych and Petra Kvitova leading the line-ups. In Russia's case, 2021 was the year Daniil Medvedev and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova led their respective teams to glory.

Apart from these two teams, only two other countries have done the team double in tennis - the United States and Australia. The US did it most recently in 1990, when Andre Agassi led the men's team and Jennifer Capriati led the women's side. Strangely enough, two American stalwarts of the game - Serena Williams on the women's side and Pete Sampras on the men's side, have never accomplished what Sinner and Paolini have done this year.

Williams, a winner of 23 Grand Slam singles titles and 14 doubles Majors, won the Fed Cup only once, in 1999. Pete Sampras, who won 14 singles Slams, won the Davis Cup twice, in 1992 and 1995.

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Jannik Sinner becomes second man in Open Era to win at least one set each in every match he played in the season

Davis Cup Final - Italy v Netherlands Final - Source: Getty

By winning his final match of the season, Jannik Sinner did what only one other man in the Open Era had achieved -- winning at least one set each in every match he contested in the season.

The one to do it before him was Roger Federer, who accomplished this insane feat in 2005. Sinner will now the end the season as the World No. 1, with a 73-6 win/loss record.

He won two Grand Slam titles, the Australian Open and the US Open, as well as the ATP Finals before winning the Davis Cup with Italy.