Pablo Carreno Busta was hit with a warning moments before suffering defeat in the first rubber of the Davis Cup final between Spain and Italy. The 34-year-old became frustrated as the Italian fans started cheering mid-rally while Matteo Berrettini was serving for the match.
Berrettini led 15-0 in the final game of the match, and the crowd started celebrating too early during the rally, twice thinking the Italian had won the point. Carreno Busta sent the ball long and approached the umpire, hitting the chair with his racket while voicing his frustrations.
“I think Carreno Busta understandably unhappy with noise from the crowd during the point. He is furious,” Lee Goodall said on commentary.
Arvind Parmar replied: “And he’s just struck the chair there as well with his racket. Won’t be surprised if he gets a warning here, you can’t strike the chair with your racket.”
Broadcasters showed a replay of Carreno Busta hitting the chair as Spain’s captain, Davis Ferrer, also argued that the crowd shouldn’t be interrupting the point. But the chair umpire gave the Spaniard a code violation, announcing: “Code violation, unsportsmanlike conduct, warning Spain.”
Goodall added: “David Ferrer now making the point here. This was the moment. And there we go, the warning comes.”
Berrettini served out the match to love, sealing a 6-3 6-4 victory to put Italy one match win away from clinching the Davis Cup trophy for the third year running. The current world No. 56 is now on an 11-match unbeaten run at Davis Cup level.
Italy are bidding to become the first country to win the World Cup of men’s tennis three years in a row since the USA won five consecutive titles from 1968 to 1972. Flavio Cobolli will face Jaume Munar in the second singles rubber. If Munar wins for Spain, the final will go down to a decisive doubles match.
After getting a win for his country, Berrettini said: “So proud of myself, proud of my teammates, my coaches, everybody that made this finals possible. Obviously, there is still a big step today in order to take this title.
“But I’m really happy for the fact that I’m here. I tried to enjoy today as much as I could. I’m really proud, I’m really happy. My family is here watching, just one of those moments that I’m going to remember for the rest of my life.”